Learn how to use touch or force controls on your AirPods Pro to control music playback, switch between noise cancellation modes, adjust the volume, and more.
AirPods Pro 1st generation have force sensors, turning the flat stem section faced outwardly when an AirPod is in your ear into a multi-purpose gestural control. With force controls, you can switch between noise modes, pause music, end calls, and more by pressing the stem.
And if you own AirPods Pro 2 or Pro 3, they have touch sensors that, in addition to all the above, can also adjust the volume by swiping.
How to use AirPods Pro controls
Use the following force gestures or touch controls on your AirPods Pro to control music, calls, and more:
- Press: Press the stem once to play/resume music or answer calls.
- Double-press: Press the stem twice to advance to the next track.
- Triple-press: Press the stem thrice to return to the previous track.
- Press and hold: Hold the stem to switch between active noise cancellation, Transparency Mode, and adaptive audio. You can also set AirPods to invoke Siri when holding one of the stems.
- Swipe up and down: Swipe the AirPods Pro 2 or Pro 3 stem to increase or decrease volume.
Don’t forget you can always ask Siri to do more with your earbuds, like placing a call, getting directions, or playing a specific playlist. You can also use head gestures with AirPods Pro 2, Pro 3, and AirPods 4 to accept or decline calls and reply to messages or dismiss them by nodding your head up and down or shaking side to side.
Activating Siri instead of noise control
Follow these steps if you’d like to configure one of the earbuds to activate Siri instead of cycling through the noise modes when you press and hold the stem:
- Connect your AirPods to your iPhone.
- Open the iOS Settings app and tap your AirPods’ name at the top.
- Tap Controls & Gestures if you’re on iOS 27. Skip this for previous versions of iOS.
- Select Left or Right side under the Press and Hold AirPods heading.
- Select Siri if you’d like to invoke the assistant upon holding the stem.
Set the noise control options to cycle through
Your AirPods will cycle through the available noise-canceling modes when you hold a stem, but you can change the available modes for this gesture:
1) Go to iPhone Settings and select your AirPods.
2) Tap Controls & Gestures and select either the left or Right side that’s set to Listening Mode.
3) Set Listening Mode (formerly Noise Control) to cycle through the following when holding that stem:
- Off: Nothing happens when you hold the stem.
- Transparency: This mode mixes certain external sounds into your music so you’re aware of your surroundings while listening.
- Adaptive: Adaptive audio dynamically adjusts noise-cancellation and transparency modes in response to external noise.
- Noise Cancellation: Active noise cancellation blocks out external sounds.
Holding the stem will cycle through the selected noise control modes instead of cycling through all of them. For example, I’ve set the force-sensing control on my left earbud to invoke Siri and on my right earbud to cycle through all noise modes.
Also, check out: 9 things to love about the new AirPods Pro 3