iOS 17 AirPods Pro users get new feature that stops them from yelling ‘Huh?!’

iOS 17 is introducing a wealth of cool new features to supported iPhones, including Live Voicemail, Check In, NameDrop, and more. However, if you have an AirPods Pro 2, you’ll get to enjoy even more iOS 17 updates.

Although Apple didn’t publicly announce this feature, AirPods Pro 2 owners will get a new Adaptive Audio perk that is a catch-all term for three features: 

• Personalized volume (adjusts your sound’s volume as you transition from loud to quiet areas)
• Adaptive Noise Control (adjusts noise-cancellation levels to ambient)
• Conversation Awareness (reduces the volume when it senses that you’re talking to someone)

Interestingly, 9to5Mac found a cool new addition to iOS 17 with Conversation Awareness. As it turns out, Siri will say something like, “Just so you know, AirPods lowered the volume due to Conversation Awareness.” In this way, you won’t be confused as to why your AirPods’ volume suddenly dropped.

Where to buy? You can get the AirPods Pro 2 @ Amazon for $219.99

More about Conversation Awareness

As mentioned, Conversation Awareness will turn down the volume if you’re engaging in a conversation with someone, kicking off transparency mode. Consequently, you don’t need to yell “huh?” anymore as someone mouths unintelligible words to you through your music.

Conversation Awareness is not to be confused with AirPods’ Conversation Boost feature, which is designed to help amplify the voice of the person speaking in front of you.

If you’re concerned if Conversation Awareness will kick in when you don’t want it, it’s smarter than you think. 9to5Mac’s Michael Potuck tested the feature and said, “A slick aspect of Conversation Awareness is it knows when you’re talking with someone versus being near others who are talking.”

However, it’s not completely free of faults. According to Potuck, Conversation Awareness kicked in when while he was singing along with his music — laughing triggered it, too.

How to turn off Conversation Awareness

If Conversation Awareness isn’t something you want for your AirPods Pro 2 experience, you can turn it off by heading to Settings > AirPods > Audio. From here, you can toggle off Conversation Awareness.

Interested to see what other cool tricks are coming via the next major update? Check out our iOS 17 article that dives into the most highly anticipated features.

IOS 17 is expected to get an official release in September alongside the new iPhone 15 line.