The Best AirPods Pro Settings Everyone Should Be Using

Apple’s AirPods Pro are among the best wireless earbuds you can buy, especially if you’re already entrenched in the Apple ecosystem. Like many Apple products, AirPods Pro are pretty simple to setup and use. However, there are also plenty of settings you should be using (and changing) from the default.

Because many of the features are found in the same settings page, we have a little advice here: When we refer to AirPods Pro settings, we’re talking about Settings > [Your AirPods] (iOS). You’ll also find these options in Settings > Bluetooth (iOS), or System Preferences > Bluetooth (macOS), then by tapping the (i) (iOS) or Options (macOS) next to your AirPods Pro in the list. Your AirPods Pro will also need to be connected to your device to access these settings.

In the market for AirPods Pro? AirPods Pro, the original, were the first AirPods with active noise cancellation, Transparency Mode, and interchangeable silicone tips, while AirPods Pro 2 improve upon these settings while adding a larger battery, better Bluetooth, volume adjustment, and an extra size for the silicone tips:

AirPods Pro (1st generation)
AirPods Pro (2nd generation)

Disable device auto-switching

If you have multiple Apple devices, you might notice something interesting when using AirPods Pro: When you play media on a device not connected to your AirPods Pro, they’ll automatically connect to that device. This feature is great in theory, but can be a real pain if you need to use multiple devices at once. Tapping a video on your iPhone will move your AirPods Pro from your Mac to the phone, even if you don’t want it to happen.

While you can simply select the notification that appears on the original device to return the connection, there’s a way to disable this feature if it isn’t right for you. In your AirPods Pro settings, head to Connect to This iPhone or Connect to This Mac. Now, choose “When Last Connected to This iPhone” or “When Last Connected to This Mac” and your AirPods Pro won’t automatically switch to that iPhone.

Quickly switch between devices with just a tap

Here’s the method for switching between devices that I prefer: When you want to move your AirPods Pro to another one of your devices, head to Control Center, press the AirPlay button in the top-right corner of the Now Playing window (Sound window on Mac), then choose your AirPods Pro from the list. Give the earbuds a moment to connect, and you’re all set.

One really cool iOS feature that works with compatible headphones is the ability to share audio to two different sources at once. That means you can listen through your AirPods Pro while your friend listens through their AirPods or Beats.

To get set up, head back to the AirPlay button in your Control Center’s Now Playing window. Tap “Share Audio.” If pairing AirPods or AirPods Pro, hold them close to your device with the AirPods inside the case and open the lid. If pairing AirPods Max, hold them close to your device. If pairing Beats wireless headphones, put them in pairing mode and hold them close to your device.

The stems are full of controls

Apple packed quite a few controls into the stems on AirPods Pro. You can long-press them to switch between Noise Control settings (Noise Cancellation, Transparency Mode, and Off), but you can also use quick presses to control other areas:

One press to play or pause.
One press to answer or hang up a call.
Double-press to skip forward.
Triple-press to skip back.

Adjust the volume directly from the stem (AirPods Pro 2 only)

If you have a pair of second-generation AirPods Pro, you can also adjust the volume of the audio from the stem. Just use your finger to drag up or down on the stem to increase or decrease the volume accordingly.

Adaptive Transparency (AirPods Pro 2)

Transparency Mode is a great feature that pumps in the ambient sound around you, so you can either keep up with a conversation or be aware of traffic. AirPods Pro 2 improve upon Transparency Mode with something called “Adaptive Transparency,” which blocks sounds that reduces sounds that reach 85dB or higher in real time. Some have even worn their second-gen AirPods Pro to concerts because of how well this feature works: They hear everything below 85dB as it is, and any noise louder than that comes through comfortably, like dynamic, high-tech earplugs.

You can enable Adaptive Transparency from your AirPods Pro settings menu. Make sure Transparency Mode is enabled, then scroll down and enable “Adaptive Transparency.”

Quickly Switch Between Noise Control Modes from Control Center

Credit: Jake Peterson

Instead of using your AirPods Pro stem to switch between Noise Control modes, you can do the same from Control Center. Just long-press or click on the volume slider, then tap the “Noise Control” option in the bottom left. Here, you’ll find your three Noise Control options, “Noise Cancellation,” “Off,” and “Transparency.”

Customize your stem controls

By default, pressing the stem on your AirPods cycles between the Noise Control modes (well, all but “Off,” but more on that in a second). You can actually customize these settings. You’ll find the options under Press And Hold AirPods in your AirPods Pro settings. You can choose “Left” or “Right,” depending on which AirPod you want to customize.

At the top, you’ll find the option to have a stem press activate Noise Control, or Siri. If you choose Noise Control, you can opt into any and all of the three options listed. This is a great opportunity to add “Off” to your list, since Apple doesn’t include it by default. I enjoy using that setting when I can to save battery life.

Spatial Audio

Spatial Audio is a three-dimensional audio experience that follows the movement of your iPhone. (You can also choose to keep spatial audio fixed in place.) It can make supported music and videos come to life when listening through your AirPods Pro. Enabling it is easy: Just open Control Center, long-press on the volume slider, then make sure that Spatial Audio is turned on in the bottom right.

Personalize your Spatial Audio experience

Spatial Audio doesn’t have the be the same for everyone. In fact, you can use your iPhone to take a scan of your ear and head shape in order to personalize your Spatial Audio experience. Your iPhone uses this scan to crease a Spatial Audio profile for you, which syncs across your Apple devices. That way, Spatial Audio will render the sound the same when listening on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.

To get started, head to your AirPods Pro settings, choose “Personalized Spatial Audio,” then hit “Personalized Spatial Audio” once more to walk through setup.

Wireless charging light indicator

All AirPods Pro come with a wireless charging case, unlike AirPods, which require you to buy the wireless charging model. As such, they all have this neat trick: With your case on the wireless charger, tap the top of the case to bring up the charging indicator. Orange indicates that your AirPods Pro are still charging, while green means you’re good to go.

Don’t forget: Newer versions of the AirPods Pro charging case, including all of the cases for AirPods Pro 2, are MagSafe-compatible, meaning you can connect it to a MagSafe charger magnetically. You can also charge with your Apple Watch charger, should you have it nearby.

If you’re looking for a MagSafe charging setup for your AirPods Pro and iPhone:

Apple’s MagSafe charger
Apple 20W USB-C power adapter

Find the perfect fit

Credit: Jake Peterson

Another difference between AirPods and AirPods Pro concerns the varying sizing options. Unlike the one-size-fits-all approach of AirPods, the Pro models give you three or four different sized tips to use. If you don’t want to pick a size yourself, your iPhone has you covered.

Head back to your AirPods Pro settings on iOS, then tap “Ear Tip Fit Test.” Tap “Continue,” make sure your AirPods Pro are tight in your ears, then tap the play button to get started. Your iPhone will begin playing music, testing the seal created by your AirPods. If the test finds all is good, you’ll see “Good Seal” underneath your AirPods. If not, you might see “Adjust or Try a Different Ear Tip.” It’s possible you’ll need a different size for each AirPod.

Rename your AirPods Pro

“Jake’s AirPods Pro” is fine, but what if I wanted to call these earbuds something a little more fun? Luckily, Apple makes it easy to change your AirPods Pro’s name. Just head to Name in your AirPods Pro settings, then type whatever name you’d like into the text field. On macOS, right-click on your AirPods Pro from the Bluetooth list and choose “Rename.”

You can ping your misplaced AirPods Pro

If you ever lose your AirPods Pro, don’t panic. If they’re within range of a connected Apple device, you can have them make a chirping sound letting you know where they are.

To start, open Find My, then tap the Devices tab. Locate and tap on your AirPods Pro, then tap “Play Sound.” If they’re within range, iOS will let you know your AirPods are playing a sound. It actually gets quite loud, so you might want to double-check that nobody is wearing them first.

See exactly where your second-gen AirPods Pro are

While you can ping your AirPods to find them fast, you might not even need to with AirPods Pro 2. The newest Pros support precise location, which means you can see exactly where both earbuds and the charging case are through the Find My app. Just tap Devices, then the name of your AirPods, then Find.

The music doesn’t have to stop when you remove an AirPod Pro

At this point, it’s a bit of an AirPod staple to have your music stop when you take out one of the earbuds. While certainly useful, some of us would prefer to disable this feature, especially if you frequently trigger it when readjusting your AirPods. Plus, you can pause music on AirPods Pro with a quick press of the stem, so it’s not quite as essential a feature as it is on standard AirPods.

To disable the feature, just tap the toggle next to Automatic Ear Detection in your AirPods Pro settings.

Choose which AirPod Pro you want to be the mic

Both of your AirPods have microphones in them, but only one of them is ever active at once. By default, the system switches between mics automatically, but you can choose to have one microphone always active. This is particularly useful in cases when one of your AirPods’ mics is broken.

To choose, head to Microphone in your AirPods Pro settings, then tap “Always Left AirPod” or “Always Right AirPod.”

Keep your AirPods Pro above 80% when charging

AirPods Pro have what’s called Optimized Battery Charging. This basically means your AirPods Pro charge up to 80%, then hold the charge there until it thinks you’ll need them fully charged. It’s a great feature in theory, because it cuts down on battery degradation, but it does mean that sometimes your AirPods Pro are only charged to 80% when you go to use them.

To disable this feature, head to your AirPods Pro settings on iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Optimized Battery Charging. You’ll have the option to Turn Off Until Tomorrow, if you only want to disable the feature temporarily, or Turn Off to shut the feature down for good. You can read more about this feature and why it can be really helpful here.

Enable noise cancelation when using one AirPod Pro

You don’t need to be wearing both AirPods to enjoy noise cancellation. To unlock noise cancellation when only wearing one AirPod, head to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods on your iPhone, then tap the toggle next to Noise Cancellation with One AirPod.

Announce Messages with Siri

Whenever you receive a new message with Announce Messages with Siri, the digital assistant will politely interrupt whatever you happen to be doing when listening to AirPods in order to read incoming texts. It’s a great feature, but it’s not for everyone. Here’s how to manage it.

On iOS, head to Settings > Siri & Search > Announce Messages. To disable the feature entirely, tap the toggle next to “Announce Messages with Siri.” You can also tap the toggle next to any app in the list to disable the feature for that app only. If you tap “Messages,” not only will you find this toggle, but you can also choose whether Siri will announce messages from Favorites, Recents, Contacts, or Everyone.

There’s also Reply without Confirmation. Disabled by default, this setting lets Siri send your responses without reading it back to your first. It can be convenient, but also dangerous. You won’t know if the assistant misheard you before sending off your reply.

Tune your audio to your liking

While AirPods Pro sound great by default, you might be someone who enjoys fine-tuning their audio experience. Apple lets you do that on your iPhone in Settings > Accessibility > Audio Accessibility Settings > Headphone Accommodations. Here, you can tune your audio for Balanced Tone, Vocal Range, or Brightness, and have soft sounds boosted slightly, moderately, or strongly. Apple lets you change these settings around and tap “Play Sample” to hear the differences.

You’ll find an even more custom experience by tapping Custom Audio Setup. Apple will walk you through customization for phone calls, movies, music, and Transparency Mode (more on that in the next section. By the end, you’ll have a totally unique sound experience with your AirPods Pro.

Customize Transparency Mode

Just as you can fine-tune your general AirPods audio settings, you can also adjust your Transparency Mode experience. Head back to Settings > Accessibility > Audio Accessibility Settings > Headphone Accommodations while wearing your AirPods Pro, then choose “Transparency Mode” and enable “Custom Transparency Mode.”

Here, you can adjust the mode’s amplification, balance, tone, and ambient noise, to find the settings that work best for you. The goal is to be able to wear your AirPods Pro in the real world and forget they’re even there.

Enable Conversation Boost

Conversation Boost is a great feature tucked away in these Transparency Mode settings. When enabled, your AirPods focus on the person in front of you while reducing other noises, making conversations easier to hear in noisy environments. You can learn more about Conversation Boost from our guide here.

Enable Live Listen

Live Listen turns your iPhone into a microphone that can help you hear your surroundings better through your AirPods. To enable the feature, head to Settings > Control Center on your iPhone, then tap the (+) next to Hearing. Next, open Control Center, tap “Hearing,” then tap “Live Listen.” When you do, your AirPods will pump in all the sounds it can pick up. You can also fine-tune your Transparency Mode settings here, if you tweaked it in Custom Audio Setup.

Control your AirPods Pro modes with your Apple Watch

If your AirPods Pro are connected to your Apple Watch, you can switch between Noise Control modes from there. Just swipe up from the bottom of the watch, then tap the AirPlay button. Here, you can choose between “Off,” “Noise Cancellation,” and “Transparency.”

Unpair your AirPods if they’re acting up

If your AirPods Pro just aren’t acting right, sometimes the best thing to do is to simply unpair them. You can do this easily on iPhone by heading to your AirPods Pro settings, then by tapping “Forget This Device.” Tap “Forget This Device” once more on the pop-up, and your AirPods will be removed from your device’s memory. You can do the same on Mac by right-clicking your AirPods from the list and selecting “Remove.”

Now, you can just hold the case open by your iPhone as you did when you first got your AirPods Pro to re-pair them.

Jake Peterson is Lifehacker’s Senior Technology Editor. He has a BFA in Film & TV from NYU, where he specialized in writing. Jake has been helping people with their technology professionally since 2016, beginning as technical specialist at New York’s 5th Avenue Apple Store, then as a writer for the website Gadget Hacks. In that time, he wrote and edited thousands of news and how-to articles about iPhones and Androids, including reporting on live demos from product launches from Samsung and Google. In 2021, he moved to Lifehacker and covers everything from the best uses of AI in your daily life to which MacBook to buy. His team covers all things tech, including smartphones, computers, game consoles, and subscriptions. He lives in Connecticut.

Source: lifehacker.com