AirPod Settings: What They Are and How to Use Them

This article explains how to use AirPod settings to customize how your AirPods work. Instructions here cover all AirPod versions, including the 1st generation (Lightning case), 2nd generation (wireless case), and AirPods Pro.

How to Change AirPod Settings

However you want to customize your AirPods, you always begin with the same set of steps. For all of the sections in the rest of this article, start with these four steps:

1. On an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, tap the Settings app to open it.

2. Tap Bluetooth.

3. Tap the i icon next to your AirPods to open the AirPods settings screen.

   Your AirPods must be connected to change the settings. If they're not listed as Connected on this screen, connect them first.

How to Change AirPods Name Settings

By default, your AirPods are named "[your firstname]'s AirPods." You won't see the name of your AirPods often—just when you try to connect them to a device or if you use Find My AirPods to look for them when they're lost.

Still, you may want to give them a different (and maybe more fun) name. To find out how, check out how to rename AirPods.

How to Change AirPods Double-Tap Settings

You can cause different actions to happen when you quickly double-tap your AirPods, including playing/pausing audio or activating Siri. You can control the action happens on the double-tap and assign different settings to each AirPod by following these steps:

1. In the Double-Tap on AirPod section, tap Left or Right to choose which AirPod's settings you want to change.

2. On the next screen, choose the action you want to trigger when you double tap that AirPods. Options include Siri, Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track, and Off.

   If you select Off, that doesn't turn your AirPods off. Instead, it just means that nothing happens when you double tap the AirPod. Lean more in How to Turn Off Your AirPods.

3. Tap the back arrow in the top left corner and then tap the other AirPod and choose your settings.

How to Change AirPods Automatic Ear Detection Settings

By default, when you put your AirPods in your ears, the audio playing on devices that you've connected your AirPods to—like an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or other device—automatically gets sent to the AirPods. This is smart and convenient, but you may not want it to happen. To stop your AirPods from automatically picking up any audio that's playing when you put them in your ears move the Automatic Ear Detection slider to off/white.

How to Change AirPods Microphone Settings

Both AirPods have a microphone in the bottom that picks up your voice when you're making a phone call or using Siri. By default, either AirPod work as the mic, which means you can just have one in your ear and it still works. You can also choose to have just one AirPod always have the microphone work, while the other never will by following these steps:

1. Tap Microphone in the AirPods settings screen.

2. The default setting, which is to use both AirPods, is Automatically Switch AirPods. You can also choose either Always Left AirPod or Always Right AirPod.

Change AirPod Settings on Mac

In addition to changing AirPod settings on the iPhone and iPad, you can also change them using a Mac. Here's how:

1. On a Mac that has AirPods set up to work with it, click the Apple menu in the top left corner and click System Preferences.

2. Click the Bluetooth icon in the System Preferences screen.

3. Single-click your AirPods in the list of attached devices in the Bluetooth screen. Click Options and customize the same settings as already discussed earlier in this article.