One of the most unnoticed announcements from WWDC23 has to do with AirPods. Even though the Apple Vision Pro was the absolute novelty of the event, capturing all eyes and attention, those from Cupertino presented a series of very interesting software-level innovations for AirPods, the most relevant being adaptive audio.
Adaptive audio is available on second-generation AirPods Pro and combines transparency mode with active noise cancellation mode. Basically it will cancel the noise that we have around us, but if it detects something important like someone starting to talk to us, it will let that sound through, lower the volume of what we are listening to and block the rest of the noise from outside. At the moment it is only available in beta format, and although its installation is somewhat complicated, it is well worth it.
You need a Mac, an iPhone and (obviously) the AirPods Pro 2
Unfortunately, if you do not have any of these three devices, you will not be able to install this beta to enjoy adaptive audio. You don’t need to install the macOS Sonoma beta, although you will need to install the iOS 17 beta, otherwise the new functions will not work.
The first thing you will have to do, once you have iOS 17 on your iPhone, is go to Settings> Privacy and Security> Developer mode. Most likely, as is my case, it is not there. To make it appear, you will have to follow the following steps (if for whatever reason it appears to you, you can skip all this):
Go from your Mac —that has at least Ventura 13.3 installed— to the Apple developer website and sign in with the same Apple ID that is linked to your iPhone. Most likely, it will ask you for some kind of double verification, so keep an eye on your phone because you will surely have to confirm the login.
Once inside, you must click on “Tools and Resources” and under the “Software Downloads” option press “View Downloads”. There it will take you to a page where you can see all the available betas. You will have to press “Applications” at the top right, and as soon as you see something that says “Xcode 15 Beta 2” you will have to press “View Downloads” just below. There it will take you to another page where the first thing you will see will be “Xcode 15 Beta 2” and below something that says “View details”. Click there. It will display a menu from which you will have to deselect the iOS 17 optionand then click on “Xcode 15 Beta 2 and selected platforms” which will download it to your Mac.
The file weighs about three gigabytes and the time it takes to download will depend on your internet connection, although it shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes if you’re using fiber optics. Once you install it, open it and plug in your iPhone (important that you have iOS 17 installed) by cable to your Mac. You will have to give “Trust” on your iPhone to continue.
If everything has worked as it should, once you go to Settings> Privacy and Security you will find a function called “developer mode”. You will have to access it, activate it and restart the iPhone. As soon as you turn on the phone, make sure to click “Activate” in the message that will appear as soon as you unlock it. Otherwise you will have to repeat this process.
Now you will have to go back to the phone Settings, go to a new option called “Developer”, there you will have to scroll to the bottom, access “Pre-release beta firmware” and activate the “toggle” next to your Second generation AirPods Pro. Please note that since you hit “Pre-release beta firmware” until that tab is opened it can take a few seconds. It will seem that it has been blocked, but it is not. Give it 15 or 20 seconds and it will work.
From there, all you have to do is wait for your second-generation AirPods Pro to update. There is no button or option to do it on the fly like there is on the iPhone, instead It is an automatic process over which as such we have no control.. Of course, there are methods to force it, although that is already something that you have to assess.
We hope this tutorial has helped you test the new features of the second generation AirPods Pro before most. Of course, remember that betas are betas, and so they are likely to be buggy, problems, bugs and more. Always proceed carefully and assess whether it is worth not waiting until September, which is when the final official version is expected to come out.
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