Use Adaptive Audio with your AirPods

Features on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 (ANC), such as Adaptive Audio, Personalised Volume and Conversation Awareness, respond to your environment automatically to optimise your audio experience.

Turn on Adaptive Audio features

You can turn on Adaptive Audio features on your iPhone, iPad or Mac. The settings carry over to your other devices when your AirPods switch devices.

Turn on Adaptive Audio features on iPhone or iPad

1. With your AirPods in your ears and connected to your device, open Control Centre.

2. Touch and hold the volume control, then choose the features you want to turn on.

   • To enable Adaptive mode, touch and hold Noise Control, then choose Adaptive. Find out more about Adaptive mode

   • To turn on Conversational Awareness, tap Conversation Awareness. Find out more about Conversation Awareness

3. To turn on Personalised Volume, go to Settings > Bluetooth, tap the More Info button next to your connected AirPods, then turn on Personalised Volume. Find out more about Personalised Volume

Turn on Adaptive Audio features on Mac

1. With your AirPods in your ears and connected to your device, open Control Centre.

2. Click Sound, then click your AirPods.

3. Choose Adaptive to enable Adaptive mode. Find out more about Adaptive Noise Control

4. To turn on Conversation Awareness, click the Conversation Awareness On button. Find out more about Conversation Awareness

Use Siri to turn on Adaptive Audio features

Get Siri’s attention, then say something like “Turn on Personalised Volume” or “Turn on Adaptive”.

About Adaptive mode

Adaptive mode blends Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode together to control the level of noise you hear in your headphones based on the changing noise conditions in your environment. You can customise Adaptive Audio to allow more or less noise.

Customise Adaptive Audio on iPhone or iPad

1. With your AirPods in your ears and Adaptive Audio turned on, go to Settings > Bluetooth.

2. Tap the More Info button next to your AirPods.

3. Tap Adaptive Audio under Audio.

4. Move the slider to the left or right to adjust the amount of ambient noise allowed into your AirPods when in Transparency mode.

Customise Adaptive Audio on Mac

1. With your AirPods in your ears and Adaptive Audio turned on, choose Apple menu , then choose System Settings > Bluetooth.

2. Click the More Info button next to your AirPods.

3. On Mac, click AirPods Settings or AirPods Pro Settings.

4. Under Adaptive Audio, move the slider to the left or right to adjust the amount of ambient noise allowed into your AirPods when in Transparency mode.

Find out how to switch between noise-control modes

Find out how to customise which noise-control modes to switch between

About Personalised Volume

Personalised Volume will adjust the media volume on your AirPods based on environmental conditions and your volume preferences. It learns your listening preferences over time to fine-tune your media volume in response to your surrounding environment.

About Conversation Awareness

When you start talking while you’re wearing your AirPods, Conversation Awareness will seamlessly lower your media volume and enhance voices in front of you. When your conversation ends, Conversation Awareness automatically turns up the volume and brings you back to your original noise-control setting. You can also end a conversation manually by pressing and holding on the AirPods stem or swiping up on the stem.