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Your AirPods Are Getting a Simple Yet Cool Hi-Fi Feature

A decade after the first AirPods, your current models are getting a long-awaited upgrade.

White wireless earbud inserted in a person's ear.Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol
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By Tucker Bowe

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At today’s WWDC 2026, Apple gave us a brief introduction to the next-generation operating systems coming to your various Apple devices (including iPhone, Mac and iPad), as well as highlighting some of their upcoming features.

The vast majority of these features take advantage of improvements to Siri and Apple Intelligence (or more accurately, Siri AI, which combines the two to create a way more capable, conversational voice assistant). But there were a few hidden gem features sprinkled throughout the presentation.

One of those brings a long-awaited feature to the AirPods you currently own (provided you bought a new pair in the last year-and-a-half).

White wireless earbuds with silicone tips next to an open charging case on a wooden surface.
The AirPods Pro 3 is one of four new AirPods models that’ll support the upcoming custom EQ feature.
Photo by Tucker Bowe for Gear Patrol

Apple’s AirPods are notoriously feature-rich. You can access a wide array of customization options via the Settings app, which allows you to tweak volume, noise-cancellation, spatial audio and head-tracking settings. And that’s just scratching the surface.

However, one feature that Apple hasn’t given to AirPods in all their years is customizable EQ. But a decade after the first AirPods were released, this appears to be changing.

A 3-band equalizer

White wireless earbuds in an open charging case in front of a smartphone displaying an equalizer music app.
You’ll be able to adjust a 3-band (low, mid or high) equalizer directly from AirPods Settings.
Apple

EQ customization is something that many of today’s flagship headphones and wireless earbuds (by the likes of Sony, Bose, Sennheiser and Bowers & Wilkins) have supported. By accessing a companion app, you’ve been able to tweak the bass, treble or midrange of your music, or pick between various EQ presets.

Now, when iOS 27 is released later this fall, you’ll be able to do the same thing. The new software will add a custom Equalizer feature for AirPods in the Settings app. Once selected, you’ll gain access to a 3-band equalizer for adjusting low, mid and high frequency ranges.

Smartphone screen showing the Equalizer settings with options "Recommended" selected and "Custom," and a description about AirPods sound profile customization.
This EQ feature will be supported by iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27.
Apple

To date, the consensus on AirPods is that they sound fairly neutral: neither bass-heavy nor prioritizing midrange and vocals. However, everyone has their own preferences and listens to different music genres. And with the upcoming customizable EQ, you’ll be able to tweak their AirPods’ sound as they deem fit.

Which AirPods will support it?

According to Apple, customizable EQ will come to these models: AirPods Max 2, AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 (both w/ and w/o ANC).

This means if you’ve purchased AirPods before September 2024, they won’t support the new custom equalizer feature.

To learn more about this feature, as well as Apple’s many other announcements from WWDC 2026, check out the company’s Newsroom posts.

About the Author: Tucker Bowe has been on Gear Patrol’s editorial team since 2014. With a passion for consumer tech and hi-fi, he tracks everything from headphones and turntables to smartphones and wearables. If it lights up or makes noise, he probably covers it.

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