AirPods just got a long-requested feature in new public beta

AirPods received a long-requested feature through new public beta firmware from Apple. The release landed alongside the iOS 27 public beta and was largely overshadowed by that larger software drop. Coverage of the firmware update came via 9to5Mac.

The change ships as AirPods firmware, not as an app store update or a one-off setting toggle. That means the feature rides on device-side software that pairs with the broader Apple ecosystem during a public beta cycle. Builders who work on audio accessories or companion apps should treat this as a firmware-channel release, with the usual beta caveats around stability and staged rollout rather than a finished production ship.

For engineers and product builders, a public beta on AirPods is a signal that Apple is iterating on earbud software the same way it does on phones and computers. If you ship audio products, latency-sensitive apps, or accessories that depend on AirPods behavior, this is the window to test pairing, feature discovery, and fallback paths before the firmware leaves beta. Teams that only retest when a final release notes page appears will miss the period when early user reports and edge cases show up first.

In market terms, Apple is advancing AirPods while attention is fixed on the iOS 27 public beta. That split focus is common when a platform OS beta and an accessory firmware beta land together: the phone story dominates headlines, while the earbud change reaches a narrower set of power users who opt into beta firmware. Competitors watching Apple’s accessory software cadence should note that long-requested AirPods capabilities can ship on the firmware track without a separate hardware announcement.

What to watch next is whether this long-requested feature graduates from public beta firmware into a stable AirPods release, and how cleanly it works across devices running the iOS 27 public beta stack. Until that happens, treat the feature as available to beta participants only, verify behavior on your own hardware, and plan product messaging around a post-beta ship rather than the current public beta firmware.