Apple plans to take care of adjusting sound levels and ANC modes on AirPods, so you don’t have to, the company announced at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The two new features, Personalized Volume and Adaptive Audio, are separate modes that can be activated or disabled just like ANC, Spatial Audio, and Transparency Mode. When enabled, the features will use machine learning to adjust the volume level and active noise-cancelation modes on your AirPods automatically. Previously, users had to adjust these settings manually through the Control Center.
The updates will not be available today, and will instead come later in the fall alongside the releases of iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma. However, when they do arrive, the new features will make it easier to hear your music and your surroundings when needed. Adaptive Audio will adjust the levels of active noise-canceling and transparency modes automatically based on your external environment. A supporting feature, called Conversation Awareness, will enable transparency mode when your AirPods and iPhone detect that someone is talking to you. It will also lower the volume of your music, making it easier to hear the person talking to you.
Personal Volume solely affects the volume level of your AirPods, and can adjust it based on your listening habits. The feature will learn how you typically listen to your music and adjust the volume level accordingly. Like the Adaptive Audio feature, Personal Volume will be supported by machine learning.
Though the new features coming to AirPods will not be available publicly for some time, they may be accessible through beta versions of iOS 17. The developer beta of the upcoming software update will likely be available shortly after WWDC ends, and a public beta will be made available sometime in early July. For people who don’t want to install a beta software update, the full release will be available in the fall.
