Although a dedicated “AirPods” app doesn’t appear to be in the cards, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is working on software improvements related to how users can change settings on their AirPods and AirPods Pro.
Bloomberg reports that iOS 27 will significantly change the layout of the AirPods menu in the Settings app. The new design will be “more functional, better organized and cleaner”.
The AirPods settings screen automatically appears at the top of the Settings app when a pair of AirPods is connected to your phone.
But over time, the layout of controls inside that screen became quite cluttered and overwhelming. Apple has added many new features to the AirPods product experience over the past few years – like head gestures, hearing aid functionality, sleep detection and more – and each new addition has essentially been integrated into the same settings UI that dates back to the original AirPods.
It looks like Apple is finally giving this screen a much-needed overhaul, which should improve the information hierarchy to make it more organized and promote key features.
While Apple Watch and Vision Pro have a dedicated companion app on the iPhone’s home screen, AirPods will still be limited to settings.
Bloomberg reports that these new AirPods Settings UI changes are expected to be part of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27. Apple will officially unveil the new operating systems at its WWDC conference in just a few weeks.
The keynote speech will begin at 10 a.m. PT on June 8. The main focus of the new operating systems will be a major overhaul of Siri, now geared towards a more modern chatbot-like experience and supported by new AI models using Google Gemini technology.
Stay tuned to 9to5Mac for complete coverage of all announcements.
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