6 underused AirPods tricks

Key Takeaways

• AirPods were first released in 2016.
• They are constantly receiving updates from Apple with new features, often overlooked by users.
• Many of these AirPods features are underutilized if they can improve the listening experience.

AirPods are one of the best products ever released by Apple, hands down. They may not have been the best wireless earbuds on the market, but it’s impossible to argue that Apple wasn’t the company that made them popular. I remember working for a telecom carrier when AirPods started hitting store shelves and calling my boss to hold a pair for me until my shift ended while I worked elsewhere. Since the release of the first generation of AirPods in 2016, Apple has been delivering new and important features year after year.

Here are six amazing features of AirPods Pro (first generation and second generation), four of which are original and support AirPods (third generation), which are used very little.

1 Rename your AirPods

Something that will make them easier to see

Insert your AirPods and go to Settings> Bluetooth> press the ‘i’ to the right of your AirPods> Name. Here, you can rename your AirPods to whatever you like. Personally, I recommend renaming them to something that makes them more recognizable and unique to you. Also, if you bought (or intend to buy) a custom pair of AirPods, rename them to match.

2 Answer the phone calls

And, finish them

After podcasts, one of the biggest uses for my AirPods is taking phone calls. If you also don’t use your AirPods to make calls, you definitely should. Let’s say you’re listening to something on your AirPods when you get a call — press once to answer the call and twice to hang up. You can also change the hang up call to one press by navigating to Settings > press your AirPods > End call > select Press Once.

3 Silence yourself during calls

With one click

If you’re on the phone with your AirPods, you can mute them with one press. If you changed the mute to single press, the mute is double. If you’d like to change single tap to double tap, like I did, go to Settings > tap on your AirPods > Mute & Unmute > select Double Tap.

Interestingly, muting with your AirPods also works with Zoom.

4 Customize your tap gestures

Press and hold

If you haven’t already done so, you need to jump to Settings > select your AirPods > press Left and Right under Press and Hold AirPods. Within those menus, you can change whether a long press on your AirPods activates Siri or switch between two noise canceling modes.

I prefer to use ‘Hey Siri’ to activate Siri and switch between transparency and noise canceling modes. Change this to fit what’s best for you.

5 A personalized volume

Volume automatically based on your location

Personal volume is a neat feature of AirPods Pro where the volume is automatically adjusted based on the sound of your environment. You can enable this feature by navigating to Settings > select your AirPods > scroll down and turn on Personalized Volume to enable it. Now, if you are near noisy places, your volume will automatically increase and decrease when quieter.

6 Awareness of conversation

Lower the volume when you speak

Like Personalized Audio, Conversation Awareness is another feature that automatically adjusts audio based on your location — it’s also available on AirPods Pro. But this time, the volume is adjusted based on the voice heard. When voices are heard, your volume goes down a lot and then up again when the conversation is over. You can turn on Conversation Awareness by navigating to Settings > select your AirPods > scroll down and turn it on.