A recently released firmware update for Apple’s AirPods Pro and AirPods Max adds new features that help make the pricey earbuds/headphones easier to locate if you happen to misplace them.
Through Apple’s ‘Find My’ app, you could already view the last location where your AirPods were paired with your smartphone and play a sound to make them easier to find. Following this latest update, you can now activate a ‘Lost Mode’ feature that takes advantage of the millions of iPhones, iPads and Macs out there to search for your AirPods Pro or AirPods Max. If any of these devices come within Bluetooth range of your lost AirPods Pro or Max, you’ll get an alert on the iPhone regarding their location.
To be clear, this form of location alert isn’t as accurate as Apple’s AirTags since the AirPods Pro and Max don’t feature Apple’s U1 chip. This means you won’t be able to see onscreen prompts directing you to the location of your lost earbuds/headphones.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to manually push this update to your AirPods Pro or AirPods Max since it randomly happens when you connect the earbuds/headphones to your iPhone. To check the version of software running on your AirPods, head to ‘Settings,’ ‘General,’ and then ‘About.’ Once you select your AirPods, you’ll see a ‘Firmware version.’ If you have the update, you should be running version ‘4A400.’
Apple was rumoured to have plans to reveal the third-generation of its base-level AirPods during its recent fall hardware event, but the often-rumoured wireless earbuds didn’t appear. It’s possible we could still see the new version of the earbuds later in October or in early November during the tech giant’s rumoured MacBook Pro refresh stream.
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