This new AirPods feature automatically adjusts volume — how to enable it

How To
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Personalized Audio adjusts the volume of your AirPods based on your surroundings

Apple AirPods Pro 2 head in hand
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Thanks to iOS 17, your AirPods Pro 2 now have a Personalized Volume feature, which intelligently adapts audio volume based on your surroundings. 

This is pretty cool, and will be appreciated by anyone who likes to keep their volume as low as possible to avoid hearing damage. Using Personalized Volume, your iPhone will detect when the volume can be dropped while still blocking out background noise, and vice versa. 

However, Personalized Volume goes one step further. As the name suggests, it's personalized, not just adaptive. Over time, this feature will learn your listening habits to "fine-tune your media volume in response to your surrounding environment," according to Apple.

How to enable Personalized Volume with your AirPods Pro 2

You'll need to be using the AirPods Pro 2 to use this feature, and to be using an iPhone running iOS 17 or later. We can show you how to update your iPhone if you need some help.

1. Open your AirPods case and go to Settings > AirPods Pro 2

(Image: © Future)

First up, open your AirPods case or put your AirPods in your ears. Now, on your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap AirPods Pro 2 (or whatever you've named your AirPods).

2. Toggle on Personalized Volume

(Image: © Future)

Now simply toggle on Personalized Volume.

You can test how it works straight away. Start playing some media, such as music, and go from a quiet to a louder environment, or vice versa. I boiled some water for a cup of tea using my electric kettle and, as the sound of the boiling water increased, the volume of my music increased to match!

You may notice that you get used to the louder volume, and find it a little annoying when the music suddenly dips, but you can always just turn the feature off following the same method above.

If you'd like more guides for using your Apple tech, we have you covered. Check out our guides on how to use StandBy Mode on iPhone, how to use NameDrop on iPhone and how to transfer data from iPhone to iPhone, to make all your data gets moved over to a new device smoothly.

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Peter Wolinski
Peter Wolinski
Senior Editor, Reviews & Cameras

Peter is a Senior Editor at Tom's Guide, heading up the site's Reviews team and Cameras section. As a writer, he covers topics including tech, photography, gaming, hardware, motoring and food & drink. Outside of work, he's an avid photographer, specialising in architectural and portrait photography. When he's not snapping away on his beloved Fujifilm camera, he can usually be found telling everyone about his greyhounds, riding his motorcycle, squeezing as many FPS as possible out of PC games, and perfecting his espresso shots.