iOS 26 May Update AirPods With Major Features: What iPhone Users Should Know

Apple’s upcoming Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025, scheduled to take place on June 9, will feature several announcements, with the spotlight on iOS 16. The next-generation iPhone software is expected to pack several upgrades, including features for the AirPods, according to a new report, which will enable certain actions through gestures, control cameras on the iPhone, and access Audio Mix.

9to5Mac reported that Apple has planned as many as five new features for AirPods with the next iPhone software. They include new head gestures for granular controls, sleep auto-pause, camera control, audio mix, and wider classroom support. But how will these features help AirPods users?

Enhanced head gestures

According to the report, iOS 26 will expand head gestures to allow functions such as adjusting Conversation Awareness volume. Introduced last year on the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4, head gestures allow touchless interaction with Apple’s wireless earbuds, enabling controls such as accepting or declining Announce Calls by nodding up/down and side to side. This year’s update would let you make adjustments to Conversation Awareness volume before original noise-control settings are restored.

Sleep auto-pause

Select AirPods models will also gain the ability to automatically pause music when they detect you have dozed off while listening to music or a podcast. The sleep auto-pause feature could turn off music for all apps. The current mechanism involves you setting up a sleep timer, but not every app supports this functionality. AirPods may be able to detect when you have slept during a session, but whether this will be a standalone feature or would require the Apple Watch to work is unclear.

Camera control

After years of anticipation, Apple may finally enable its wireless earbuds to control iPhone cameras. The company may introduce an AirPods Camera Control functionality to let you trigger the iPhone or even the iPad camera with the AirPods stem.

Audio mix

The iPhone 16 was launched with the Audio Mix functionality, which the company says “uses machine learning to identify and separate background elements from speech and lets you choose from three voice options.” Essentially, the iPhone automatically decides the different sound and voice sources to offer an immersive audio experience in a video through in-frame, studio, and cinematic options. Similar options are now expected to come to AirPods.

Wider classroom

Apple may roll out a feature to enhance the AirPods pairing experience in a classroom with a shared iPad setup. This could allow classrooms with multiple students to synchronise input and output with less friction.

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