Apple’s popular earbuds are jam-packed with cool features in iOS 18 and iOS 26.
Apple offers three classes of AirPods to cater to different use cases and budgets: regular, Pro, and Max. But despite their size, price, and surname, the AirPods Max actually pack fewer features than the AirPods Pro 2. All too often underrated, the Pro models are packed with cool features you probably don’t know about.
With every annual OS release, Apple continues to introduce new perks, many of which are exclusive to the latest Pro model, and iOS 26 (currently in public beta and set to officially launch next month) is no exception. If you recently bought a pair of AirPods Pro 2, you’ve got to check out and set up these seven advanced features.Remote shooting
One of the most notable AirPods Pro 2 features bundled with this year’s software updates is the new camera remote. Like the Apple Watch’s shortcut, this enables you to take photos and start or end video recording sessions on your iPhone by simply interacting with your AirPods. Similar to the noise control and Siri button remapping options, you can opt for a short or long stem squeeze to trigger the action.
This feature requires both your iPhone and AirPods Pro 2 to be running the latest software betas. Since there’s no easy way to downgrade AirPods to the previous firmware (making updating a one-way ticket for most users) or revive a bricked pair (if something goes wrong), we advise you to wait for the stable release coming this fall. But if you insist, you could enable the beta firmware toggle in AirPods settings and wait for the process to occur automatically while charging them.
Once updated, open Settings on your iPhone and go to [your AirPods’ name] > Camera Remote, and choose between Press Once and Press and Hold. Now, whenever you’re in the Camera app (and within Bluetooth range), you can press the AirPods Pro 2’s stems to shoot remotely.
