Apple's AirPods are about to get a lot smarter. With iOS 26 expected to debut at WWDC next week and software updates rolling out later this year, AirPods users can look forward to some genuinely useful new capabilities that go well beyond the usual audio improvements.
Here's what's coming:
- New Head Gestures – Building on last year's nod-or-shake-your-head-to-answer feature, Apple is adding more head movements to control your AirPods. You'll be able to adjust Conversation Awareness volume with a simple gesture instead of fumbling for the stem.
- Auto-Pause for Sleep – This is a neat solution for anyone who dozes off with their AirPods in. Potentially working alongside Apple Watch sleep data, the earbuds will detect when you've fallen asleep and automatically pause whatever you're listening to.
- Camera Trigger – Remember when you could snap photos using wired EarPods? That functionality is making a comeback. A press on the AirPods stem will trigger your iPhone camera.
- Microphone Enhancement – AirPods are getting a "studio quality" mic mode similar to the Audio Mix feature on iPhone 16. This sounds like it could make them compete with dedicated studio microphones.
- Live Translate – Coming later this year with iOS 26, AirPods will handle real-time translation of conversations. The iPhone will detect speech, translate it, and relay the results directly to your ears.
Most of these features should work with existing AirPods models. That might sound overly generous of Apple, but the company has actually introduced several AirPods features via firmware in recent years.
Apple's WWDC 2025 keynote kicks off on Monday, June 9, and Apple plans to unveil iOS 26 and macOS 26. That's where we're likely to learn more about any new AirPods functionality that's coming alongside the software updates.
The keynote starts at 10:00 a.m. and while Apple will livestream it, if you can't watch, you can follow along here on MacRumors.com or on our MacRumorsLive X account.
