Airpods Pro Tips and Tricks
1. Check AirPods Battery Life with Siri
You get a full day battery life on the AirPods Pro, so if you ever want to know the exact battery level on your AirPods, just ask Siri. It would tell you AirPods percentage right to the dot. It can also tell you the case percentage if at least one of the AirPods is in the case. In fact, you can check the battery level from any device. Neat, right?
To check AirPod battery stats on Android, you can use third-party Android apps such as the free AirBattery app in the Play Store. Once installed, the app shows you similar popup as you get with iPhone i.e. battery stats for the case and each AirPod will be displayed. If you are on macOS Catalina, you can use the popular AirBuddy ($5) app to see the similar popup animation on your Mac, as you get with iPhone.
2. Check if the AirPods case is charging
When you charge your AirPods Pro case wirelessly, the light doesn’t stay on at all times. It would be counter-intuitive to just pick up and open the Case to see if the AirPods case is fully charged. To overcome this, Apple added a nifty feature. When you lightly tap the LED light of the AirPods case and it flashes the LED showing you the charging or charged status. The red light means it’s charging while the green light means it’s fully charged. When charging the case using the lightning cable, you still have to open the case to see if the AirPods are charging or not.
3. Switch to Transparency Mode
There are multiple ways to access the transparency mode on the AirPods Pro, you can do it by pressing and holding the stem of the AirPods, manually navigate to the sound panel in the control center, or simply ask Siri to do it for you. If you enable Hey Siri, you can even call Siri without taking out the iPhone from your pocket. It’s as handsfree as it can get.
4. Live Listen
This feature has been around since iOS 12 and works really well. You can use your AirPods to hear sounds picked up by the mic. You can use it to monitor your baby from across the room, while having conversations without taking out the AirPods (even though we have Transparency Mode now) or eavesdrop on some gossip. To enable Live Listen, Go to Settings > Control Center > Enable Hearing.
5. Announce messages
Siri can do boring tasks like setting up reminders, change settings, and reply to your messages, just like your personal assistant. When you enable this feature, Siri would read out any incoming messages to you and let you send a reply back seamlessly. This feature works with both AirPods Pro and AirPods 2nd generation. To set it up, go to settings > Notifications > Toggle ‘Announce Messages with Siri’.
6. Find your AirPods
Find My app is a lifesaver when it comes to finding lost Apple devices. If you lose one or both of your AirPods in your house or anywhere, you can increase the probability of finding those by playing a sound. You can do this from your iPhone as well as any web browser. It also detects if one of your AirPods is in your ear and warns you that a loud sound would play on your AirPods.
7. Temporarily share audio with other people
Okay, it’s actually an iOS 13 feature but you will need AirPods (some Beats Headphones will also do) to effectively use it. Let’s say you’re binging Netflix or playing some music on Spotify and you wish to share the audio with your friend. You can either pair their AirPods with your iPhone or temporarily share the audio instead. Just open the mini player in the Control Center and tap on Share Audio. Now, bring the other AirPods or even the iPhone it’s connected to, near your iPhone. It’s quick, easy, and best of all temporary. No more holding the back button on the case.
8. Turn Active Noise Cancellation in just One AirPod
If you’ve used AirPods Pro for a while then you would know that it only turns on Noise Cancellation when both AirPods are in your ears. If for some reason, you can’t or don’t want to use both AirPods at the same time but still want the ANC on just one AirPod then you can get it by enabling the feature in Accessibility settings. It would come in handy for people with partially impaired hearing. Go to Settings > Accessibility > AirPods > Noise Cancellation with One AirPod.
AirPods Pro Tips, Tricks, and Features
These were some of my favorite features that enhance your experience with AirPods Pro. While some are technically iOS features like Live Listen, share audio, etc, it still works in perfect sync with the AirPods. What do you think of these features, let me know in the comments below or join me on Twitter?
