While most of the new features announced at WWDC today are coming to Apple’s major OSes, the AirPods weren’t completely left out of the fun. Today, Apple revealed a couple of enhancements coming to the AirPods line this fall.
First up is a new camera remote feature. Users will soon be able to take a photo or start a video recording in the Camera app and compatible third-party apps on the iPhone and iPad by pressing and holding on the stem of their AirPods. If a video is already being recorded, a press-and-hold gesture will end the recording. This will be a nice replacement for the camera timer when you’re taking a group photo, and it will also come in handy for many online creators.
The other big addition to AirPods this fall will be what Apple calls “studio-quality audio recording.” The company has improved the quality of audio recordings as well as call quality on H2-powered AirPods, saying that this enhancement combined with Voice Isolation makes the AirPods a tool that can be used by podcasters, musicians, and interviewers.
I’m interested to see how these features fit into my workflows in practice. Starting a video with my AirPods Pro is something I could definitely see myself doing, and even if I don’t end up recording a podcast with them, I’ll never complain about better voice quality.
These new features will be available for AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and AirPods Pro 2 this fall, with a public beta starting next month.
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