{"id":48870,"date":"2025-07-31T01:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/48870\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T01:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T01:04:10","slug":"enhanced-audio-recording-camera-remote-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/48870\/","title":{"rendered":"Enhanced audio recording, camera remote and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the new iOS 26 features<\/a> that Apple previewed at WWDC<\/a> in June, AirPods updates<\/a> were only briefly mentioned. Studio-quality audio recording and improved call clarity got top billing, while the addition of a camera remote control was also quickly discussed. However, when the beta software arrived last week, it turned out there were actually more features than described at the event, making this a meatier update for Apple\u2019s recent AirPods than initially indicated. I\u2019ve spent some time testing all of the new tools, so here\u2019s what you can expect when you decide to use them.<\/p>\n

How to get the latest AirPods features<\/p>\n

All of these updates are available for AirPods that have the H2 chip. Those include AirPods 4<\/a>, AirPods 4 with ANC<\/a> and AirPods Pro 2<\/a>. You\u2019ll have to download the public betas<\/a> of both iOS 26 and the latest AirPods firmware to use these features. If you\u2019re not feeling adventurous, all of these items will arrive this fall when the final versions of Apple\u2019s OS updates roll out. That\u2019s likely to happen for iOS and AirPods in early September, around the time the new crop of iPhones debuts.<\/p>\n

Studio-quality audio recording<\/p>\n

Apple may have framed the voice quality improvements on its AirPods as a boost for creators, but I\u2019d argue the upgrade will be a welcome change for all. Sure, people who create content will benefit considerably from what Apple calls \u201cstudio-quality audio recording,\u201d but the improved performance in noisy environments is something anyone will appreciate.<\/p>\n

The company hasn\u2019t offered much detail on exactly what it did to produce higher-quality audio, only describing the change in an initial press release as the result of a mix of the AirPods\u2019 H2 chip, beamforming microphones and computational audio. That last update is likely doing the heavy lifting here, assisted by Apple\u2019s audio chip, of course. I asked Apple for more specifics, but have yet to hear back.<\/p>\n

Improved audio recording is available across iPhones, iPads and Macs, working in apps like Camera, Voice Memos, Messages (for dictation), Webex and more. Apple also says there\u2019s upgraded vocal sound quality for calls, offering \u201cmore natural vocal texture and clarity\u201d for Phone, FaceTime and other CallKit-enabled apps. As the voice upgrades are the most notable new features, I was eager to test them, and have spent the last several weeks doing just that (via the developer beta).<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Billy Steele for Engadget<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re recording in a quiet room, you\u2019ll notice that enhanced texture and clarity Apple promised. In my samples captured in Voice Memos, there\u2019s not a huge difference between new and old firmware, but there is a noticeable one. The bigger improvement came when I moved to a noisy spot. Here, Apple dialed back its noise suppression in favor of voice clarity. While you\u2019ll hear the slight roar of background noise in my audio clip, I actually sound better overall. That\u2019s a trade I\u2019ll bet many users will gladly make over the highly processed, digital-sounding results AirPods used to give us in less-than-ideal surroundings.<\/p>\n

I also noticed that both of my samples with the new software were captured with a 48kHz sample rate. This isn\u2019t new for AirPods audio recording\/quality per se, but before this update some of my clips were still 24kHz \u2014 like my noisy sample with the old firmware. It seems like Apple is now defaulting to 48kHz as part of the overall sound boost, but that\u2019s currently unclear and is something else I\u2019ve asked the company for more info about.<\/p>\n

Camera remote<\/p>\n

The less exciting, but equally handy update for AirPods that Apple announced at WWDC is the addition of a camera remote control. Since newer AirPods have either force sensors or touch controls on their stems, the company saw fit to let you use those to take a photo or start and stop video recording. All of these tasks are done with either one press or a press and hold (you select which one you prefer when you enable the camera remote function).<\/p>\n

For photos, you get a three-second countdown before your device snaps the picture. This gives you ample time to put your hand down after pressing the AirPods stem so you don\u2019t ruin the selfie. For video, there\u2019s no countdown, but there is a second or two delay before the recording starts. So, if you\u2019re quick about it, you can get your hand away from your ear before showtime. However, you\u2019ll still have to reach for an AirPod or your phone when the time comes to stop recording, so there will be some editing to do there. This all works well, but just remember you have to enable the camera remote feature as it\u2019s not activated by default after the firmware update.<\/p>\n

Sleep pausing and CarPlay switching\"Despite<\/p>\n

Billy Steele\/Engadget<\/p>\n

Most AirPods users have probably fallen asleep with one or both of the earbuds in their ears. Apple\u2019s update will add automatic pausing when you\u2019ve dozed off to help you not miss much of your TV show or podcast you were watching or listening to. However, it\u2019s unclear how this works. All we know is it\u2019s a simple on-or-off switch, and it\u2019s disabled by default. Some have speculated<\/a> that it uses sleep data from the Apple Watch, but that hasn\u2019t been confirmed. Since AirPods have accelerometers, it\u2019s possible the feature may rely on detecting movement, but I\u2019ve asked for a firm answer on what\u2019s going on here.<\/p>\n

Another item on the list of AirPods updates is automatic switching for CarPlay. This is supposed to seamlessly transfer the audio to your car\u2019s infotainment system from the earbuds when your phone connects to your vehicle. Again, there hasn\u2019t been much discussion of this, and my attempts to trigger it were unsuccessful. That may be due to the fact that it requires wireless CarPlay, but I\u2019m not seeing specific options for this in my AirPods settings. I\u2019m waiting for more info from Apple on this feature too, and hopefully I\u2019ll have more details to add to my observations soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the new iOS 26 features that Apple previewed at WWDC in June, AirPods updates were only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[38002,38001,517,3498,518,10183,74],"class_list":["post-48870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-airpods-4","tag-airpods-pro-2","tag-apple","tag-feature","tag-gear","tag-ios-26","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}