Your AirPods do far more than just play music from your iPhone, iPad and
Mac.
No matter which set of Apple's wireless AirPods earbuds you choose from --
the second-generation AirPods from last March
<https://www.cnet.com/reviews/apple-airpods-2019-review/> or the new
AirPods Pro that arrived in October
<https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-airpods-pro/> -- you can't go wrong.
Both models for 2019 have a bundle of excellent features, including an
always-listening Siri voice assistant, a promised 5 hours of battery life
and a charging case that works with the same wireless charging pads as
Apple's iPhones.
There are a few differences, of course. The AirPods Pro
<https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-airpods-pro/> have a refreshed design,
noise cancellation and a cool new transparency feature so you can listen to
music and still hear what's going on around you. We have a handful of tips
specifically for AirPods Pro
<https://www.cnet.com/news/9-cool-airpods-pro-tips-and-tricks-to-try-with-yo
ur-new-earbuds/> , but here, we'll focus on the overlap between the standard
AirPods and the Pros.
AirPods can do far more than just stream music into your ears. We'll start
you out with some essentials, and also how to save battery, share music, and
use Siri and customize controls for your completely wireless earbuds. And
P.S., if you're looking to supersize your experience, here are the best
AirPods accessories
<https://www.cnet.com/news/best-apple-airpods-accessories/> .
Pairing is a breeze
The pairing process for the AirPods takes three seconds
<https://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-pair-airpods-with-iphone-apple-watch-ipad-
mac/> -- literally. Open the charging case, wait for the prompt on your
phone, tap Connect and you're done. You don't have to worry about repeating
these steps on the rest of your Apple <https://www.cnet.com/apple/> devices
as long as you use the same iCloud account. Yes, that means after you pair
your AirPods to your iPhone, your AirPods are automagically paired to your
Apple Watch, iPad, Mac or Apple TV. It's pretty cool.
Seriously, pairing your AirPods is too easy.
Yes, you can pair them with non-Apple productsNotice that small, flush
button on the back of the charging case? That's what you'll use to pair
AirPods to an Android device or anything else that doesn't work with Apple's
proprietary chips.
To start pairing to anything new, put the AirPods in their case, then flip
the lid up and press and hold the small button on the rear of the charging
case until the little LED light starts pulsing white. They should then show
up in any Bluetooth-pairing settings on an Android phone, or computer, or
TV. Complete instructions can be found here
<https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-pair-airpods-with-an-android-device/> .
Keep in mind that when you're paired with a non-Apple product, they lose
some of their magic. Taking an AirPod out of your ear won't pause music, and
playback controls won't work either. Android users can install this app
<https://www.cnet.com/news/how-to-check-airpod-battery-stats-on-android/>
for checking AirPods battery level.
To go back to using AirPods with your iPhone
<https://www.cnet.com/products/apple-iphone-11/> , just reselect "AirPods"
from your iPhone's Bluetooth settings and they'll re-pair.
To save battery life, keep one in and keep swapping buds
I've never run out of AirPod battery life in a single day, but if you're a
power user making lots of phone calls, you might find them running low. One
AirPod can work on its own as a Bluetooth headset
<https://www.cnet.com/topics/headphones/products/wireless-headphones/> .
Keep the other in the case to charge, and then swap as needed. The other bud
takes over seamlessly.
Listen to stereo streaming with one bud
If you want to listen to a livestream while doing other things casually, pop
a single bud in while the other is in the case. It'll pump a stereo signal
into one bud. Otherwise, with both AirPods out, it'll only get one ear's
worth of stereo.
Check the battery using your iPhone
You have a couple of options when it comes to checking the battery status of
your AirPods and the charging case.
You can either open the charging case next to your iPhone (it works on iPad
and iPod touch, as well), which should prompt your phone to display a popup
with battery status. Or, you can add the battery widget to Notification
Center's Today panel using the instructions in this post
<https://www.cnet.com/how-to/monitor-your-battery-percentage-from-notificati
on-center-on-ios-9/> . Keep in mind, the Battery widget will only include
AirPods if you are actively using them.
Check the battery status on an Apple Watch
If you own an Apple Watch <https://www.cnet.com/reviews/apple-watch-review/>
, here's a cool trick: Place your open AirPods case next to your watch, then
open Control Center
<https://www.cnet.com/reviews/caavo-control-center-preview/> and tap the
battery option. In addition to displaying battery stats for your watch, you
will also find stats for your AirPods and the case.
Hey, Siri!
The second-gen AirPods and AirPods Pro will recognize the Hey Siri wake
command. So if you've got the AirPods in and your iPhone in another room,
you can say "Hey, Siri" and control volume or music playback, ask for a
message to be sent or any of the other commands you can give to Siri. If
you're using your AirPods with an Apple Watch, Hey Siri still works as long
as your watch has a data connection.
After saying "Hey, Siri," the volume of whatever you're listening to will
lower, indicating Siri is listening and ready for your command.
Have Siri read your messages to you
With iOS 13.2 installed on your iPhone or iPad, Siri can read your incoming
messages directly to you
<https://www.cnet.com/news/airpods-pro-owners-have-siri-read-text-messages-r
ight-into-ears/> through your AirPods without you having to do a thing. You
can then reply to the message with a quick voice command. It's pretty cool.
Rename your AirPods on iOS.
There's no dedicated app for altering settings and customizing your AirPods.
Instead, you'll need to do it through your Bluetooth settings.
With your AirPods connected to your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings >
Bluetooth. Then tap on the "i" icon next to your AirPods' name. Next, tap on
the Name field and enter your preferred name. The new name will sync to the
rest of your iCloud-linked devices.
Assign tap interactions to each AirPod.
While viewing your AirPods' settings, you can also change the double-tap or
press-and-hold function for either earbud. Once again, with your AirPods
connected to your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Bluetooth. Then tap on
the "i" icon next to your AirPods' name. Tap on Left or Right to alter the
functionality of each AirPod, or disable any interaction at all.
Use AirPods as a hearing aid with iOS 12.
, Apple added a feature, called Live Listen, which essentially turns your
AirPods into on-demand hearing aids. There's a bit of setup you'll need to
do, but once it's done, you can place your phone on a table closer to the
person you're talking to and it will send audio to your AirPods.
On your iPhone go to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls and tap
on the green "+" symbol next to the Hearing option. Then, when you need to
use the feature put in your AirPods and open Control Center on your iPhone
and select the Hearing icon followed by Live Listen. Turn off the feature by
repeating those final steps in Control Center. If you want to use AirPods
to listen to all audio coming from your Mac, you will need to select it as
an audio output device. To do that, click on the Bluetooth icon in the menu
bar and select your AirPods > Connect
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