Image credit: James Yarema

The new feature only works on AirPods Pro and AirPods Max with a compatible iPhone or iPad.

With the recent arrival of Apple’s new update, iOS 15, users can now enjoy spatial audio with dynamic head tracking when listening to songs in Apple Music. 

To access the feature and enable it you need to head to Settings>Accessibility>AirPods and then simply tap the “Spatial Audio Head Tracking” tab. 

Before iOS 15, dynamic head tracking was only available for movies or videos on a compatible device, such as the iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV. Now music fans can listen to Dolby Atmos music in spatial audio with dynamic head tracking while listening to audio-only content in Apple Music. 

Dynamic head tracking takes advantage of the gyroscope and accelerometer in AirPods Pro or AirPods Max to track the wearer’s head motion and devices to pinpoint their location virtually. Essentially this means that the audio remains accurate even as the user’s head moves around. 

Apple describes the feature in their support page as: “Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking brings theatre-like sound that surrounds you from the movie or video you’re watching, so that it seems as if the sound is coming from all around you. The sound field stays mapped to the device, and the voice stays with the actor or action on screen.”

iOS 15 is available on the iPhone 6s and above.