Apple’s pricey (and goofy-looking) AirPods may have been easy to make fun of at first, but after a couple of years (and the launch of the AirPods Pro), there are plenty of reasons to splurge on a pair.
But if you’re going to pay a premium for wireless earbuds, you’ll want to know how to get the most out of them—so we’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks for maximizing your AirPods experience.
Note: these apply to both AirPods and AirPods Pro unless otherwise indicated.
Check your AirPod battery
Generally, AirPods get about five hours of listening time or three hours of talking time. But the charging case, which charges them while they’re inside, can provide them a total of 24 hours of listening time and 18 hours of talking time.
That’s all well and good, but you still need to know when it’s time to charge. You can check your battery life (both the charging case and the individual AirPods) using any of your connected devices:
With your connected iPhone or iPad:
From your home screen (with your phone locked or unlocked), swipe right.
Scroll down to the Batteries widget. You should see your AirPods charge level.
If you don’t have the Batteries widget set up, scroll to the bottom of the screen, tap Edit, hit the plus sign to add it and select Done in the upper right corner.
With the charging case itself:
Have your connected Apple device nearby.
Place your AirPods in the charging case.
Open the charging case next to the Apple device. You’ll see a pop-up with the battery levels of the AirPods and the charging case itself.
On your Apple Watch:
Swipe up on the Control Center from the home screen.
Tap on the battery icon to see the AirPod battery level (as long as they’re out of the case).
On your Mac:
Click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar.
Hover over your AirPods to see the battery life.
Last but not least, ask Siri about your battery life. Simply say, “AirPods battery,” and you’ll be good to go.
Reminder: your AirPods must be actively connected to your device (either with the case lid open or the earbuds in your ears) to see battery life.
Set up call announcements for your AirPods
You can use your AirPods as a hands-free headset and answer calls by double-tapping one of the pods. Trouble is, you have to take out your phone to know who is calling and whether you want to answer—unless you set up call announcements.
On your connected iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Phone > Announce Calls.
Choose “Headphones Only.”
Now when you get a call and you have your AirPods in, you’ll be told who’s calling you while your phone rings (as long as you have them in your address book).
To actually answer (or end) a call, double-tap one of your AirPods or squeeze the stem on one of your AirPods Pro.
Set up message announcements for your AirPods
If you want to keep track of incoming messages without having to pick up your phone, you can set up Siri to announce and read them out loud.
On your connected iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Notifications > Announce Messages with Siri.
Toggle on.
Under “Announce Messages From,” select whose messages you want notifications for (favorites, recents, contacts or everyone).
This feature works with 2nd generation AirPods and AirPods Pro only.
Pair AirPods with non-Apple devices
AirPods pair with other Apple products in a literal instant, but they can still be used as Bluetooth headphones with other products. Here’s how:
Stick your AirPods in the charging case.
Open the charging case lid.
Hold down the flat button on the back of the case (yes, that’s a button) until the white light in between your AirPods starts to flash. This indicates your AirPods are in pairing mode.
Find the AirPods in the Bluetooth menu of the device you’re trying to pair them with.
That’s all it takes! Keep in mind, however, that you may lose some functionality with non-Apple devices.
Change the double-tap commands for your older AirPods
If you have 1st or 2nd gen AirPods, you can simply double-tap either AirPod in your ear to perform different tasks. They’re initially set to activate Siri, but you can customize what each pod does.
On your connected iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Bluetooth.
Look for your AirPods under “My Devices,” then tap the blue “i” icon next to it.
In the section “Double-Tap On AirPod,” choose what you’d like each earbud to do.
My preferred setup is “Play/Pause” for my left ear and “Next Track” for my right ear—this makes things really easy for me when I’m running.
Change the press-and-hold settings on your AirPods Pro
AirPods Pros don’t use double-tap actions, but you can change what happens when you press and hold the stems of your earbuds. Options are to switch between noise control modes (Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency and Off) or to activate Siri.
On your connected iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Bluetooth.
Look for your AirPods under “My Devices,” then tap the blue “i” icon next to it.
Under “Press and hold AirPods,” tap the earbud you want to change and select the function you want it to perform.
You can have both earbuds set up for the same action or have one do Siri and the other noise control.
Control the audio on your AirPods Pro
Older AirPods have customizable double-tap commands (as outlined above) for playing, pausing, skipping tracks, etc. but AirPods Pro have set “squeezes” for specific actions:
To play or pause, squeeze the stem on either AirPod Pro once.
To skip a track, squeeze twice.
To go back a track, squeeze three times.
Locate your AirPods with “Find My”
AirPods are very easy to lose. They stay in my ears pretty well, but it’s way too easy to stick them in your pocket and forget about them. If you’re an absentminded person, Apple’s Find My feature is handy for keeping track of all of your devices.
If you have Find My set up on your connected iPhone or iPad, the feature is automatically enabled for your AirPods too. To see your AirPods’ location, open the Find My app on your device, tap the Devices tab and select your AirPods. From here, you can tap on “Play Sound” to have your earbuds emit a tone.
You can also sign in to iCloud with your Apple ID on your computer.
If your AirPods are dead, out of their case, or too far away, you’ll simply see their last connected location on the map.
Low battery? Charge one AirPod at a time
AirPods have a pretty good battery life and they charge relatively fast, but there will still be times when you’re low on juice and want to keep listening to music or stay tuned into a Zoom call. In those situations, it’s time to do the “swap and charge.” Use one AirPod at a time while you charge the other, then swap them out.
Fortunately, the AirPods both have a microphone in them if you need to make a call, and they can automatically deliver stereo sound without the other AirPod present.
Boost the bass with custom foam covers
The AirPods Pro have really decent sound quality, but if you’re an audiophile rocking older AirPods, you may want to upgrade your earbuds to have a little more bass power. YouTuber PoltergeistWorks has an AirPods sound tutorial that involves buying some foam earbud covers and poking holes in them in the right spots so the AirPods’ sensors will still work properly.
This piece was originally published in June 2018 and updated on June 25, 2020 by Emily Long. Our updates include the following: added tips for AirPods Pro, added screenshots and rewrote the introduction.