Firmware Update Brings New Conversation Boost Feature to AirPods Pro

Apple on Wednesday began updating all AirPods models (AirPods, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max) to firmware 4A400. While normal, non-Pro, and non-Max AirPods don’t seem to have gained much from this update, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max have received new “Find My” features, and AirPods Pro now supports a feature called “Chat. Boost ”.

In the previous firmware, it was possible to ping your AirPods with Find My to locate them among the sofa cushions or to see where your AirPods were when they were last synced with your iPhone.

But now AirPods Pro and Max can also use the same Find My network of hundreds of millions of iOS devices that are used to locate lost AirTags. If you lose your headphones, other people’s iOS devices can find them nearby and update your Find My app with their location. (The owner of the other iOS device has no visibility into this process.)

You can also use Find My’s “Find Near” feature to locate your AirPods Pro or AirPods Max, although with less accuracy than a lost AirTag, and you can receive a notification when your AirPods are separated from your phone. .

The firmware update also adds Conversation Boost to the AirPods Pro. If you’ve used AirPods Pro before, you’ve heard Transparency mode in action; Think of it as a kind of reverse noise cancellation, in that it uses the same principles behind this feature to amplify incoming audio from the outside rather than removing it.

Conversation Boost becomes a bit more precise and focuses on vocals, taking advantage of the headset’s beamforming microphones. The feature should let you understand who is talking to you when you have your AirPods Pro in your ears, even if you are listening to music and in a noisy room.

Conversation Boost is not another default noise control mode that can be toggled in Control Center like transparency or noise cancellation. Rather, it can be enabled through the Accessibility panel in the Settings app.

Unfortunately, there is no way to manually trigger an AirPods firmware update; it is automatically transmitted to your headphones via your phone. But you can check in your iPhone’s Settings app to see which version you are currently using.