Tips, tricks and customizations for your new AirPods Pro

Apple’s new AirPods Pro are packed with new features, and it can be a bit overwhelming to make sure you take advantage of all it has to offer.

Let’s talk about the basics of using AirPods Pro.

First, you are controlling the playback. Apple abandoned the tapping gesture for the Pro and replaced it with force sensors on the stems. A simple short squeeze is all it takes to control your music or video.

A single squeeze plays / pauses the current content. Two grips will jump to the next track and a triple grip will rewind.

Force sensors on the stem AirPods Pro

The highlight function – Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) – can be activated by pressing any one of the AirPods Pro stems and holding it there for a long time until an audio chime confirms the mode change.

The “Hey Siri” support is here, allowing you to summon the virtual assistant with the key phrase.

AirPods Pro in iPhone battery widget

Battery life can be determined by opening the case near your iPhone, as well as from the battery widget in Today view. If you have an Apple Watch, tapping the battery icon in the Control Center will also give you the battery life of your AirPods Pro. Siri can also intervene in this if you choose to go hands-free.

AirPods Pro is widely customizable and customizable. Settings range from setting, to controls, to use on all your devices.

AirPods Pro fit test results

Customizing the fit is crucial. With the wrong setting, the audio quality will be affected. Rather than relying on your initial perception, a quick test will give you a better idea of ​​the seal of the headphones with the internal microphone.

Go to Configurations, Bluetoothand find your AirPods Pro. Tap the me next to them while connected. Then just touch the fit test. Apple recommends trying all three sizes and trying different sizes on different ears. When changing the silicone tips, pay attention to the orientation because they are not a circle, but an oval.

Multiple sizes can taste good, so it’s up to you to decide which one is the most comfortable.

In that same configuration menu, you can do much more. For example, you can change the name of your AirPods Pro.

AirPods Pro setup menu

You can also adjust the controls for each of the AirPods Pro headphones. You can choose between Siri or noise control and if you choose noise control, it will toggle between transparency, ANC, and off, or any combination of those three. These can be configured differently for each ear. So maybe the right toggles ANC and the left toggles transparency or maybe the right is configured for noise control and the left is configured for Siri.

Finally, in that configuration it is also where you can choose which microphone you prefer. AirPods Pro automatically chooses the microphone you think is best, but you can always have it default for one or the other.

Announce messages with Siri

Speaking of Siri, AirPods Pro can automatically announce messages with Siri as they appear, making it easy to communicate using only the headphones.

AirPods Pro uses Apple’s H1 chip and works seamlessly with all of your other Apple devices. It can connect directly to Apple Watch for when you leave your phone behind, transferred to your Mac or iPad, and it can even be great for watching content on your Apple TV.

Now let’s see how you can get even more out of your AirPods Pro.

Loading AirPods Pro from iPad Pro

In the box, Apple includes a USB-C Lightning cable to charge the headphones. With that cable, you can charge AirPods Pro directly from the latest iPad Pro that has a USB-C port on the bottom. You can also get rid of the cables entirely and charge the case with any Qi charger.

Looking again at noise cancellation, there are many ways to control it. You can ask Siri to turn audio transparency or noise cancellation on and off. Or you can jump to the Control Center and dive into the audio slider to go between the three modes.

If you have an Apple Watch, tapping the AirPlay icon with AirPods Pro connected is another way to enable / disable ANC.

Knowing what the lights mean on your AirPods can come in handy. For example, when you remove your AirPods and the light turns amber, this means that less than a full charge remains in the remaining case. When you remove AirPods and the light is green, it means there is at least one full charge left in the tank.

The light is also used when AirPods are paired with other devices. Just press and hold the button on the back of the AirPods case for a few seconds until the light blinks white. This means that it is in pairing mode and can be paired with any non-Apple device, such as a Samsung Galaxy phone, a Windows PC, and more.

Listen live using AirPods Pro

AirPods Pro also has a feature called Live Listen that allows you to use a single AirPod as a listening device. It is designed for accessibility, focused on users who need hearing assistance, but a single earpiece could also be used for listening in a room or as a baby monitor if needed.

Place one earpiece where you want to listen, put the other earpiece to your ear, move away and activate the function in the Control Center. Enable it by going to Settings, Control Center, Customize Controls and tap the Hearing control.

Finding AirPods Pro out of place in the Find My app

If you ever lose your AirPods Pro, the last known location will be displayed in the Find My app. Also, if you lose an individual earpiece, or both, you can see if they are close and even reproduce a noise to help locate them. You can reproduce the noise in both, or choose one specifically.

Share audio with AirPods

Finally, new in iOS 13.2, is to share audio. While listening to music, move another device or the device to which yours is connected to open Audio Share mode. Or just open the AirPlay menu and choose “Share Audio …”

This allows audio to go to two AirPods games at the same time so that a couple of people can listen to music, watch a movie, or even play a game together.

AirPods Pro