Apple AirPods might look like simple wireless earbuds, but the latest models can do considerably more than just play music.

Over the years, Apple has added noise cancellation, Spatial Audio, translation, hearing-health technology, fitness tracking and increasingly intelligent audio features.

If you already own a pair of AirPods, there may even be features available that you aren’t using.

Here are 10 of the best AirPods features you should know about.

1. Active Noise Cancellation

One of the biggest reasons to buy higher-end AirPods is Active Noise Cancellation.

Microphones detect surrounding noise and the AirPods generate opposing sound to reduce what reaches your ears.

It can make a huge difference when you’re travelling on a train or plane, working in a noisy office or simply trying to concentrate.

Apple says AirPods Pro 3 provide up to twice as much unwanted-noise removal as AirPods Pro 2 and up to four times as much as the original AirPods Pro.

AirPods 4 are also available in a version with Active Noise Cancellation, meaning you no longer necessarily need the Pro design to get ANC.

2. AirPods Can Translate Conversations

One of the most interesting newer AirPods features is Live Translation.

Compatible AirPods can help you communicate with somebody speaking another supported language.

You hear their speech translated into your preferred language through your AirPods, while your translated response can be displayed on your iPhone.

If both people have compatible AirPods, Apple also supports a more natural hands-free conversation experience.

Live Translation works with supported AirPods and an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, although language and regional availability varies.

This could become one of the most useful AirPods features for travelling.

3. Personalised Spatial Audio

AirPods can make music, movies and games feel as though sound is coming from around you rather than simply from two earbuds.

Apple calls this Personalised Spatial Audio.

Your iPhone can create an audio profile based on the shape of your head and ears.

Dynamic head tracking can then change the position of the audio as you move your head, creating a much more immersive experience.

It can be especially impressive when watching compatible movies and TV shows.

4. Adaptive Audio Automatically Changes With Your Surroundings

Sometimes you want to block the outside world completely.

At other times, you need to hear what’s happening around you.

Adaptive Audio is designed to handle this automatically.

It intelligently adjusts how much external noise reaches you depending on your environment rather than forcing you to constantly switch between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes.

That means AirPods can become quieter when your surroundings become louder and more open when hearing the outside world is useful.

It’s the sort of feature you quickly stop thinking about — which is arguably what makes it so useful.

5. AirPods Pro Can Monitor Your Heart Rate

AirPods are increasingly becoming fitness devices as well as headphones.

AirPods Pro 3 include heart-rate sensing that can measure your heart rate during workouts.

Apple uses LEDs that pulse invisible light hundreds of times per second alongside other AirPods sensors to calculate heart-rate and workout information.

AirPods Pro 3 can therefore help track metrics such as your heart rate and calories burned while exercising.

For people who regularly run or exercise with headphones, it reduces the need for an additional heart-rate device.

6. AirPods Can Test Your Hearing

Perhaps the most surprising AirPods feature has very little to do with listening to Spotify or Apple Music.

AirPods Pro 3 include Apple’s Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection features in supported regions.

The Hearing Test allows users to perform a hearing assessment using their AirPods.

The Hearing Aid feature can then provide personalised assistance for people with certain levels of hearing loss, while Hearing Protection is designed to reduce exposure to excessively loud environmental sound.

Availability varies between countries because some of these features are regulated health features.

It’s an interesting indication of where wearable audio technology may be heading.

7. Voice Isolation Makes Calls Clearer

AirPods are also becoming increasingly good communication devices.

Voice Isolation uses computational audio to reduce background noise while concentrating on your voice.

Apple says it can improve voice clarity even when you’re talking somewhere noisy or windy.

That could be particularly useful if you regularly make phone calls while walking outside, commuting or working from busy environments.

Instead of simply improving what you hear, the AirPods are also improving what the person on the other end hears.

8. AirPods Automatically Work Across Apple Devices

This might not sound as exciting as Live Translation or heart-rate tracking, but it remains one of the best reasons to use AirPods if you’re already inside Apple’s ecosystem.

AirPods can pair with devices connected to your Apple Account and work across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and other Apple devices.

For example, you could be listening to something on your Mac and then answer an incoming call from your iPhone without manually disconnecting and reconnecting your headphones.

It sounds simple.

But removing those little pieces of friction is one of the things Apple does particularly well.

9. Find My Can Help You Find Lost AirPods

Losing tiny wireless earbuds is surprisingly easy.

Fortunately, AirPods integrate with Apple’s Find My network.

Compatible charging cases also contain a speaker, allowing them to make a sound when you’re trying to locate them.

AirPods 4 with ANC, for example, have a charging case with a built-in speaker for Find My.

It’s one of those features that doesn’t seem particularly important until the first time your AirPods disappear behind the sofa.

Then it becomes one of the best features they have.

10. AirPods Can Automatically Tune Music to Your Ears

Everyone’s ears are slightly different.

Rather than using exactly the same sound profile for everyone, AirPods use Adaptive EQ to adjust audio based on what you’re actually hearing.

Inward-facing microphones analyse the sound reaching your ear and automatically adjust frequencies in real time.

AirPods Pro 3 go further with personalised listening features that can adapt audio based on your ear geometry, fit and listening preferences.

You don’t need to continually play with an equaliser.

The AirPods effectively make those adjustments in the background.

What Can Apple AirPods Actually Do?

Modern AirPods are becoming much more than wireless headphones.

Depending on which model you own, AirPods can:

• Cancel external noise
• Translate conversations
• Create personalised Spatial Audio
• Automatically adapt to your surroundings
• Monitor your heart rate
• Test your hearing
• Function as a hearing aid in supported regions
• Improve call quality
• Switch between Apple devices
• Help you locate lost AirPods
• Automatically tune music to your ears

Apple is gradually turning AirPods into a combination of headphones, wearable computer, fitness sensor and communication device.

And that might ultimately be the most interesting thing about them.

The future of AirPods probably isn’t simply better sound.

It’s having increasingly intelligent technology sitting in your ears throughout the day.