How to adjust the audio settings for your AirPods (and why you should) – Engadget

AirPods are perfectly functional out of the box, but you don’t have to settle for their default settings if there are aspects you want to change. What you can customize depends on what model you have, so we will specify which models have the features we discuss in this post. To start with, if you’re wondering why your AirPods suddenly sound different, it may be because you’ve accidentally switched “Listening Modes” without meaning to. 

On the AirPods 4 and on AirPods Pro models, you can switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode, which lets ambient noise in, by pressing and holding the force sensor on the stem of your left or right earbud. If you pinch the stem of your AirPods in the front and back, you’ll feel it click. That’s when the Listening Mode switches. This mode-switching feature is on by default, but you can change it by going to the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac computer, then into the section that says [name] AirPods or AirPods Pro. Take note that you must be using your AirPods or at least have their charging case open to be able to access this control center.

In the device’s settings menu, scroll down to Press and Hold AirPods, where you’ll be able to customize Listening Mode for each earbud. You can choose to stick with Transparency and Noise Cancellation, but you can also select Adaptive mode, which automatically changes how much external noise you hear based on your surroundings.

There’s also the “Off” option, which completely turns off advanced noise control features. If you choose more than two modes, your AirPods will cycle between all of them when you press and hold the stem of your earbud. Having a quick way to change Listening Modes can be very useful if you’d rather not take your iPhone out of your bag when you’re out, for instance, and would like to be able to hear your surroundings in public for safety purposes.

You don’t need to have Listening Mode controls on both AirPods, though. It’s also possible to set the press-and-hold action to summon Siri instead. So, you can program one AirPod to activate Siri and the other to switch between Listening Modes, if you wish. In your AirPods Control Center, you can also switch on Personalized Volume, which will adjust the volume of what’s playing on your device in response to your environment. See the Conversation Awareness option? If you enable it, your AirPods can lower the volume of your media and reduce background noise when you start speaking to other people.

Toggling on Loud Sound Reduction will reduce loud sounds you’re exposed to. And if you added the Adaptive option to your Listening Mode, you can customize it to allow more or less noise in through the Control Center, as well. There’s also an option to activate Personalized Spatial Audio, which renders audio in 3D and makes it seem like sounds are coming from around you when you turn your head. 

This is where you can activate Hearing Assistance, as well. You can use your AirPods as a hearing aid if you have mild to moderate hearing loss, as they can amplify voices and sounds around you. To be able to activate the feature, you will have to either add the results of a hearing test or go through Apple’s built-in hearing test feature. The setup process will ask you to share some information about yourself, such as whether you’re currently experiencing allergies or a sinus infection, and will ask you to find a quiet place to ensure the test results are as accurate as possible. 

Apple is launching Custom EQ with iOS 27 when it arrives this fall, which will give you access to a native equalizer that lets you adjust low, mid and high-frequency tones. You can try it right now if you install the beta version of iOS 27, but take note that beta software could have bugs that the developer has yet to fix. You can apply to Apple’s Beta Software Program if you’re interested, but there are things you can do now to change the quality of your AirPods’ audio without installing iOS 27 beta. 

To amplify softer sounds and adjust frequencies, you can enable Headphone Accommodations on the AirPods 2, 3 and 4, all models of AirPods Max and all AirPods Pro models. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing > Audio & Visual > Audio > Headphone Accommodations and toggle it on. You’ll now see the new Audio Tuning section and its three options: Balanced Tone, which provides a boost over a range of frequencies; Vocal Range, which optimizes for vocal range and boosts middle frequencies; and Brightness, which boosts high frequencies. Choose one and adjust the slider below the section to boost sounds slightly, moderately or strongly. 

Make sure to hit Play Sample below that section to listen to audio as you make adjustments. At the bottom, you can toggle on Media to apply the changes you made to music, movies, podcasts, audiobooks, Siri, voicemail and Live Listen, which transforms your iPhone or iPad into a microphone to help you hear conversations more clearly in loud environments. If you toggle on Phone, the custom settings will apply to phone calls, FaceTime calls and any third-party video call apps.

From the Audio & Visual menu in Accessibility, you’ll also be able to toggle on Mono Audio to make the left and right channels play the same content. If you want to adjust the volume balance between the left and right channels to accommodate any hearing issue you may have, you can drag the Balance slider left or right. 

You can customize the audio coming out of your AirPods from within your streaming apps, as well. For Apple Music, go to Settings > Apps > Music on your iPhone, and then tap on EQ to choose one of the many pre-defined EQ settings. You can also toggle Sound Check on to normalize the volume level of your audio. On a Mac, open the Music app and then go to Window > Equalizer. From there, you can choose a preset option or drag sliders up or down to adjust the volume or a specific frequency. 

For Spotify, go to Settings and privacy > Playback on your phone. Switch Equalizer on and then choose a preset or drag the dots on the equalizer to customize your audio further.