(Credit: Tim Gideon/PCMag)
Apple is rumored to be lining up some interesting upgrades for its AirPods.
An earlier report had tipped live translation support with iOS 19 (or possibly iOS 26), and a new 9to5Mac report says the AirPods could get new head gestures, camera control, sleep auto-pause, and more at WWDC next week.
The new sleep-detection feature will pause playback when you doze off listening to your AirPods, a source tells 9to5Mac. The tech behind the feature is unclear. It could be a standalone feature for the earbuds or be connected to the Apple Watch, which already tracks sleep.
The other interesting feature reported by 9to5Mac is camera control. Users might soon be able to click pictures on their iPhone or iPad just by tapping on the stem of each earbud.
The head gestures introduced with AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 are also getting an update. Currently, with the earbuds plugged in, when Siri asks questions about an incoming call or notifications, users can nod their head for a "yes" or shake it for a "no." Soon, similar gestures might be extended to Conversation Awareness, which reduces the volume when somebody nearby starts a conversation and restores the original volume once it ends. At the moment, users have to press and hold the AirPods stem or swipe on it to enable it.
Apple is also working on a "studio quality" mic mode for AirPods. It functions like the Audio Mix feature on iPhone 16, allowing users to remove background noise and choose from three voice options: In-frame, Studio, and Cinematic.
Pairing multiple AirPods to a shared iPad might also be on the way, 9to5Mac reports, which could be helpful in classrooms where multiple students use the same iPad.
All of these are rumored features, but we don't have to wait for long to find out if they actually make it to the AirPods. The WWDC keynote scheduled at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET on June 9.