Your AirPods are getting even better with iOS 13

The unveiling of iOS 13 at WWDC this week came with a lot of great stuff to get psyched about. But two things, in particular, caught the ear of every AirPods owners in the crowd.

The second-generation AirPods only came out in March, and already Apple is announcing new features for them! Alongside all the other updates coming to your iPhone with iOS 13 in the Fall.

It’s definitely an exciting time to be in the Apple ecosystem.

Related:

• AirPods case flashing green: What does it mean and how do I fix it?
• I Lost My AirPods! How To Find Your Lost AirPods or AirPod Case
• From speed to battery life, these 7 iOS 13 features will improve your digital ‘quality of life’
• 11 things you can do in iOS 13 that you couldn’t do in iOS 12
• How-To Clean Your AirPods and other Wireless Earphones

1. Notifications

There are lots of times when it’s inconvenient to reach for your iPhone. You might be hitting the gym, going out for a run, getting caught in the rain, or eating your lunch. If a notification comes in, you probably hesitate to reach down and read it.

Well, for AirPods owners that is a concern of the past!

With AirPods and an iPhone running iOS 13, Siri automatically reads your latest notification when it comes in. Your message stays private because it just comes through your AirPods, and you can dictate your reply straight away without summoning “Hey Siri.”

Of course, you can turn this feature off if you don’t want it, but we’re guessing it automatically mutes when you’re on Do Not Disturb mode anyway.

AirPods notifications are compatible with third-party messaging apps as well — not just iMessage. And with Siri’s improved voice, thanks to neural TTS in iOS 13, your notifications will sound more natural than ever!

It has never been easier to engage in a text conversation without needing to look at or touch your iPhone.

2. Shared listening

Have you ever sacrificed one of your earphones to share some music with a friend? It used to be we had to lean close together so the headphone wire would reach. That all changed with wireless AirPods, and now it’s changing again in iOS 13.

Connect two sets of AirPods to one iPhone and share whatever you’re listening to with a friend. You can both listen in stereo and you each have individual volume controls.

This is particularly great if one of you slightly deafened yourself from too many loud gigs when you were younger…Ahem, anyway.

Shared listening lets you listen to anything from your iPhone. Share your favorite new songs, watch YouTube videos together, or settle in for a film during a long flight.

It’s unclear if this feature is coming to iPadOS or macOS Catalina since Apple only makes mention of an iPhone. But if that’s all we get for now, it’s a great start!

Let us know your favorite news from WWDC 2019 in the comments. Or if you don’t know what’s new, take a look at iOS 13 preview by Apple.

Dan Helyer( Senior Writer )

Dan is a freelance writer based in South West England.

He spent two years supervising repairs as a Genius Admin for Apple Retail and uses that knowledge to keep our troubleshooting guides up to date.

Long before that, Dan turned to Apple products from a musical background. Having owned iPods for years, he bought a MacBook to learn sound recording and production. It was using those skills that he gained a first-class Bachelor of Science in Sound Technology.