You’ll soon be able to answer or reject phone calls with a nod or shake of your head, Apple said Monday.
AirPods Pro will gain the ability to answer calls or reject them by silently nodding or shaking your head, Apple said during Monday’s WWDC keynote.
AirPods Pro to get hands-free yes or no gestures
There are already several ways to answer or reject iPhone calls using accessories like Apple Watch, which can silence incoming calls by placing your hand over the watch’s screen.
Now, Apple is adding similar capability to AirPods Pro using the earbuds’ built-in gyroscopes.
“For those instances when you may not want to speak out loud in response to Siri, like on the bus to work, or in those places that are a little too crowded, we’ve created the ability to simply nod your head yes, or gently shake your head no to interact,” said Ron Huang, VP, Sensing and Connectivity.
Apple showed a video of a man in a crowded elevator receiving a call, which is announced over his AirPods Pros. Siri asks the man if he wants to take the call, and he responds by shaking his head. The call goes unanswered.
Apple did not say when the feature would be available, or if it would be coming to other Apple or Beats headphones or earbuds. It appears, however, to be a feature exclusive to AirPods Pro.
AirPods get better voice isolation
Apple also said AirPods will get better voice isolation when taking calls in windy conditions, or when there are loud background noises.
“To ensure your voice will sound crystal clear, no matter your environment, we’re bringing voice isolation to AirPods Pro powered by advanced computational audio,” said Huang.
Again, Apple showed a demo video of a woman making a call while passing a loud construction site. The person she’s talking to says her voice is perfectly clear, and he appears not to hear any background noise.
Personalized Spatial Audio to include gaming
Photo: Apple
Apple will also expand Personalized Spatial Audio to include gaming. Personalized Spatial Audio anchors audio to a precise location in space, so it appears to come from the same location when the user moves their head.
“You’ll be in the middle of the action like never before,” said Huang.
Apple will make a new API (application Program Interface) available to game developers to build personalized spatial audio into their titles.
Tencent Games popular Need for Speed mobile game will be one of the first titles with personalized spatial audio, coming this fall.
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander is an expert on:
Apple and Apple history
Steve Jobs, Jony Ive, Tim Cook and Apple leadership
Apple community
iPhone and iOS
iPad and iPadOS
Mac and macOS
Apple Watch and watchOS
Apple TV and tvOS
AirPods
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
