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It is no secret that AirPods carry out at their greatest when paired with different Apple gadgets, and uncommon ought to it is advisable make extreme adjustments to maximise their audio efficiency. Nevertheless, I like to recommend reviewing your AirPods and Apple Music settings (in the event you're subscribed) to make sure each greenback spent is price it.
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Some options you would not discover until you poke round in your system settings, particularly in the event you glossed over the preliminary AirPods setup. Listed below are my favourite ones that helped me elevate my AirPods expertise.
1. Sleep detection goes past the mattress
In September's iOS 26 replace, AirPods obtained a sleep detection characteristic. This characteristic permits your AirPods to detect whenever you've fallen asleep and pause the media in your system. Customers with AirPods Professional 3, AirPods Professional 2, and AirPods 4 can entry this characteristic, which is disabled by default. To allow it, you will have to enter your settings.
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To show it on, join your AirPods to your iOS system, faucet in your AirPods settings under your Apple account title card, and scroll all the way down to “Pause Media When Falling Asleep.” That is each useful whenever you're sleeping to white noise and whenever you're dozing off on a flight.
2. Head gestures are refined and helpful
Head Gestures is my absolute favourite AirPods characteristic. If you happen to're like me and at all times have your AirPods in, acknowledging notifications hands-free is one of the simplest ways to remain on prime of time-sensitive alerts whereas your palms are full.
If you happen to obtain a telephone name whereas carrying your AirPods, you possibly can nod your head “sure” to simply accept it or shake your head “no” to say no it. You may also reply to Message notifications by nodding “sure” after which saying your reply, or shaking your head “no” to dismiss it.
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To make use of Head Gestures, you may must allow “Announce Calls” or “Announce Notifications” first. In your system settings, discover “Apple Intelligence & Siri.” Then, scroll all the way down to “Announce Calls” and “Announce Notifications.”
I desire to make use of Head Gestures solely to simply accept or decline telephone calls, and to not acknowledge textual content messages or different notifications. I do not prefer it when my YouTube video, music, or TV present is interrupted, even by essentially the most pressing notifications.
As soon as you have determined which notifications you need Siri to announce by way of your AirPods, return to your AirPods settings under your Apple account title card, and scroll all the way down to “Head Gestures.”
3. An equalizer really exists
Though AirPods do not have a local equalizer characteristic, you possibly can alter their sound with choose Apple EQ presets. Nevertheless, you want an Apple Music subscription for this characteristic to work. To seek out the presets, open your system settings and scroll all the way down to “Apps.” Discover “Music,” then scroll to “EQ.” Apple's audio presets are genre-specific, permitting customers to toggle between modes that Apple has tuned for particular music genres, similar to Latin, Jazz, Pop, or Digital.
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After I first opened my AirPods Professional 3, they did not have sufficient bass for me, so I adjusted my Apple Music settings to “Elevated Bass,” which helped resolve the problem. Regardless of the characteristic tweak, I feel my ears grew to become accustomed to the AirPods' sound profile over time.
In the end, in my eyes, AirPods are a passive listening system, and their greatest options lie of their integration along with your iPhone, somewhat than their music-playing capabilities.
