Apple is delivering some clever new features to your AirPods with a free update later this year. The forthcoming functionality was announced alongside the iOS 18 reveal for iPhone owners, macOS Sequoia for MacBook and desktop PC owners, iPadOS 18 for iPad users, and Apple Intelligence features for millions of device ownersconfirmed during Apple's annual developer showcase, known as WWDC.
During the packed almost two-hour keynote, Apple software guru Craig Federighi unveiled a raft of new features coming to AirPods via a free software update in the coming months. First up, AirPods Pro owners will be able to accept or dismiss an incoming phone call by nodding or shaking their heads, respectively.
If you have a pair of second-generation AirPods Pro, you'll benefit from a boost to call quality with Voice Isolation working on-device for the first time and gesture controls to nod or shake your head to accept or dismiss incoming calls
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In a brief demo of the incoming feature, Apple showed a man in a packed elevator with his hands when an incoming call starts to play in his wireless earbuds. Siri announces the name of the caller and with a quick shake of his head, the call is dismissed.
The clever feature, which relies on the H2 system-on-a-chip developed by Apple for its earbuds, is designed to let you interact with notifications when you might not want to speak out loud. Dubbed Siri Interactions, Apple will let you shake or nod your head to control much more than just incoming calls — it also works to interact with text messages, dismiss notifications, and more without speaking.
When you do take a call on AirPods Pro, the next major software update will bring much clearer calls. It's all thanks to the arrival of Voice Isolation, which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to strip out disruptive background noise — like the sound of wind — and boost your voice.
Apple added Voice Isolation to calls on Mac, iPhone, and iPad two years ago, but it's brilliant to see the same functionality make the jump to AirPods.
Like Siri Interactions, Voice Isolation requires an H2 system-on-a-chip, so you'll need the second-generation AirPods Pro to take advantage of the incoming software upgrade.
The final update coming to Apple's line-up of wireless earbuds and headphones is gaming support for Personalised Spatial Audio. iOS 18 includes a dedicated Gaming Mode, which shuts down background processes to maintain a high frame rate in graphics-intensive mobile games at all times, so it makes sense that Apple has included some enhancements on the audio side too.
Apple has worked to reduce audio latency when gaming on your iPhone, and brings the dynamic head tracking of personalised Spatial Audio to your favourite game too. If you're using voice chat to talk with other players in-game, Apple says it's improved call quality for AirPods Pro users by including 16-bit, 48kHz audio.
"The same immersive experience that has transformed music and movies puts you right in the middle of the action of your favourite games," Apple has promised in the marketing material for the next update.
Firmware updates are delivered automatically when your AirPods are charging and in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad or Mac connected to Wi-Fi. There's no need to dive into the Settings menu to trigger the update — like you'll need to do on iPhone or iPad.
Apple hasn't shared a release date for the AirPods software boost, but it made the first beta version of the update available to developers to test with their applications last week during its WWDC event. If Apple sticks with its usual release schedule, we'd expect to see the upgrade coming to AirPods Pro (second-generation), AirPods Max, and AirPods (third-generation) launch sometime in September.
