Happy iOS 18 day to those who celebrate! Whenever Apple updates its operating systems it often adds a few bits to its AirPods software too, but this year it's surpassed itself: if you're the owner of a set of AirPods Pro 2, whether Lightning or USB-C, there are some significant new features available from today – and more to come when Apple rolls out its AirPods hearing aid feature later this fall.
Here's what's coming to your earbuds today.
Voice Isolation
This is active noise cancellation for your mouth rather than your ears. It uses the same kind of computation as ANC but this time applies it to your AirPods inputs, not their outputs, so it can reduce the noise around you while you're talking. Think wind noise, traffic, construction noise and other things that can make it harder to hear you in voice calls.
Improved Adaptive Audio control
Until now your Adaptive Audio controls have been simple: you can have it switched on, or you can have it switched off. Now you've got a slider to adjust the level of on-ness so that you can set the amount of noise you want your AirPods to let you hear. Instead of on/off there are now three options when Adaptive Audio is enabled: default, less noise or more noise. It's still adaptive, so it responds to changes in the environment around you, but the slider enables you to set a different baseline from Apple's default.
Shaky-head Siri
There are times when you don't want to talk to Siri, such as when you've just rocked a baby to sleep or when you're hidden in the HVAC ducts of your arch-enemy's headquarters. The new Siri interactions mean you can now accept and decline calls simply by nodding or shaking your head, and the same applies to other kinds of notifications too – so you can decline that call from your mom while you're defusing bombs and forgot to turn on Airplane Mode. I've tested this at home and I can confirm it makes you feel a bit less silly and less likely to surprise your dog.
Spatial Audio in gaming
There won't be much to listen to immediately, but this could be a big deal for iPhone and iPad gamers. The same Personalized Spatial Audio tech you hear in movies and music is now available to game developers too, so they'll be able to take advantage of 3D sound and head tracking to deliver even more immersive audio. That's not going to make a big difference in most casual games, but for things like shooters where situational awareness makes a big difference, it could give you the edge over your AirPod-less rivals.
Lower latency
Latency has long been the downside of wireless headphones, particularly Bluetooth ones: it's the slight delay between the signal being sent and the sound arriving in your ears, and if it's significant it can be a bit disconcerting. The new AirPods update reduces audio latency “significantly”, and Apple says it's particularly good for gamers. As with situational awareness it's one of those things that really matters in fast-response games where even a slight lag can be a matter of life or death for your character.
Better voice quality in games
In addition to voice isolation for improved vocal clarity, the AirPods Pro 2 also get better voice transmission quality in games – up to 16-bit, 48kHz, which is slightly higher than CD quality. That means your voice should sound much more natural, and the people on the other end should be able to hear you much more clearly too, avoiding any confusion over what you're actually trying to plan.
