Stay up-to-date on the latest AirPods news and learn how to get the most out of your AirPods with our comprehensive tutorials and guides. Discover new features, troubleshooting tips, and more!
AirPods allow you to easily summon Siri just by double-tapping either earbud, and you can optionally assign other actions to each earpiece with specific controls such as Play, Pause, Next Track, Previous Track and more.
Until iOS 11, you could only choose between activating Siri, or Play/Pause media when double-tapping either the left or right AirPod. But with the release of iOS 11, Apple gave AirPods users a few more options as to what a double-tap gesture can do. Indeed, we have a couple more controls available, and we can also choose specific controls for both the left and right AirPod.
iOS 11 has been finally released to the public. We shared Apple's official release notes yesterday, but we've spent a little time of our own coming up with any changes and features not present in iOS 10.
There is an unbelievable amount of things to touch on, so we highly recommend watching our video to see it all in action.
Apple didn't discuss its wireless earbuds at Tuesday's event beyond announcing an AirPods wireless charging case that, however, was not on display for the press.
A leaked iOS 11 Golden Master release candidate reveals that Apple's internal hardware identification number for AirPods has been bumped from “AirPods1,1” to “AirPods1,2”, which indicates that a minor revision is in the works and probably slated for release soon.
Of all the updates we expected for Tuesday's iPhone 8 event, AirPods weren't on many people's lists. Thanks to the iOS 11 GM build leaked to 9to5Mac, we now have a good idea that Apple will be releasing a minor refresh to the world's most popular Bluetooth earbuds.
Designed by former Pebble creator Eric Migicovsky, PodCase is a brand new Kickstarter project that aims to make juicing up your wireless Apple earbuds a little easier by integrating an AirPod charger directly into an iPhone case.
The ecosystem of third-party accessories has always been vast. You can find nearly anything you'd need for almost any Apple product. One thing I didn't expect to see a lot of accessories for? AirPods.
There isn't a limit to what accessory makers will come up with, because as it turns out, you can by an Apple MFi-certified charging dock for your AirPods: the Oittm Charging Station for AirPods.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published Apple's patent filing for an “In-ear speaker hybrid audio transparency system” that would give future AirPods an advanced noise-cancelling system not unlike that on Bose headphones, but with a twist.
One of the little things in iOS 11 includes the ability to set up the AirPods double-tap action to skip forwards and backwards between tracks, cancelling the need to invoke Siri to change songs. As iDownloadBlog reader Harshit Yadav has discovered and shared with us, you can also get this next/previous track control functionality to work on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with iOS 10, here's how.
First of all, your AirPods must be running the firmware version 3.7.2 or later, which enables you to customize double taps independently for both the earbuds. To find out your AirPods current firmware version, go to Settings → General → About → AirPods on your iPhone.
Your AirPods must be connected to your iPhone to appear there.
TUTORIAL: How to install software updates for your AirPods
To ensure your AirPods have the latest available firmware, put both the earbuds inside their charging case, then close the case and connect it to a charger or a USB port on your computer. Your iPhone must be paired with your AirPods and connected to Wi-Fi in order for the firmware to download and install.
With the 3.7.2 firmware installed on your AirPods, do the following:
1) Connect your AirPods to an iOS device running iOS 11. This is very important that your AirPods be connected to an iOS 11 device. If not, the option to customize Left and Right ear will not appear.
2) Go to Settings → Bluetooth on your iOS 11 device.
3) Tap the “i” next to your AirPods.
4) Tap Left underneath the Double Tap on AirPod heading, then choose Previous Track from the list of double-tap actions for your left earbud.
5) Tap Right underneath the Double Tap on AirPod heading, then choose Next Track from the list of double-tap actions for your right earbud.
6) Close out the Settings app and play some music to verify that double-tapping either AirPod takes you to the next or previous track.
7) You're done.
With your AirPods updated to the firmware version 3.7.2 and the double-tap action set to next/previous track, you can now pair them back to an iOS 10 device and they will continue to work.
It's important to note that attempting to change your AirPods settings on iOS 10 will overwrite any changes made on your iOS 11 device, meaning you'll loose the next/previous track functionality.
Let us know in the comment section below how it went for you.
The most common complaint about AirPods is their inability to change the currently playing song directly on the earphones, without invoking Siri. Well, YouTuber Appsolutely Tech has discovered that iOS 11 solves this customer pain point by adding the ability to skip forwards and backwards between tracks with a double tap.
On iOS 11, your AirPods settings include some handy new options for choosing a double-tap action separately for the left and right earbud.
TUTORIAL: Tips and tricks for using AirPods like a pro
You could, for example set your left AirPod to skip to the next track and your right AirPod to go to the next track. Or, you could leave Siri as the default action for one of your AirPods and set the other one to go to the next track when double-tapped.
Watch Appsolutely Tech's video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsQ9J1mwU78
Simply tap the “i” next to your AirPods in Settings → Bluetooth on your iOS 11 device.
You will see you can now set a different double-tap action for each of your AirPods:
Siri Play/Pause Next Track Previous Track OffIt's unclear if Apple might bring this new feature to iOS 10 via a future AirPods firmware update.
Apple today released AirPods software 3.7.2, bringing unspecified improvements and bug fixes to the company's first Bluetooth earbuds featuring the in-house designed W1 wireless chip.
According to the German-language publication Macerkopf.de (Google Translate), which first spotted the new firmware, it's possible that it addresses the reported Bluetooth connectivity issues where AirPods would lost connection with their paired iPhone during phone calls.
To install the new AirPods firmware, put both earbuds inside their charging case, then close the case and connect it to a charger or a USB port on your computer. Your iPhone must be paired with your AirPods and connected to Wi-Fi in order for the firmware to download and install.
TUTORIAL: How to install software updates for your AirPods
Keep the charging case within a few inches of your iPhone or the AirPods firmware won't be updated. Keep in mind that updating your AirPods may take a few minutes to complete.
During the update process, your AirPods may be unavailable for use.
You can find out your AirPods firmware version in Settings → General → About → AirPods on your iPhone when the earbuds are connected to the phone.
AirPods originally released with firmware version 3.3.1.