Apple Reveals New Head Gestures Coming to AirPods Pro Later This Year

Apple today announced a few new features coming to AirPods Pro later this year, centering on a new ability to use head gestures in order to control the AirPods Pro. With this feature, you can nod your head up and down, or shake it left to right, in order to answer or decline a call.

f 6805c507f8a4ad4d1cf5bf1383c0c89ad096b3e0
In addition to interacting with a phone call, users will be able to use Siri Interactions to respond to messages, manage notifications, and more.

There's also a new Voice Isolation feature coming to AirPods Pro that removes loud background noise around you, so that the person on the other end of a call can hear you clearly. Apple also said personalized spatial audio is expanding to gaming on tvOS this year.

Finally, AirPods users will gain access to a Personalized Spatial Audio feature with dynamic head tracking that boosts gaming experiences on connected Apple devices. This will be available on AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, and AirPods Max.

Apple said that all of these features will arrive this fall.

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon. In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis. In his Powe...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models. "All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
We are still waiting for the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate to come out, so the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week or two away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...

Top Rated Comments

Edgecrusherr Avatar
22 months ago
I hope Gam-gam wasn't calling from the bottom of a stairwell.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrSimmo Avatar
22 months ago
At least we’ll only look slightly mental, nodding and shaking heads at seemingly random times in public…
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
STOCK411 Avatar
22 months ago
How dare you turn down a call from gam gam.!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
scrapesleon Avatar
22 months ago
Does this comes to all AirPods Pro model
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kc9hzn Avatar
22 months ago

You know, I don’t think it had noise isolation, unless that’s what the adaptive mode is supposed to be. But the adaptive mode currently just feels like a compromise between noise cancellation and transparency. If it can reduce (voice frequency) background noises while letting voice through (computational audio), then it would be sweet.

As for incoming calls, I actually get relevant calls fairly often (mostly for work related reasons). Rarely when I’m out in public (though, much to my annoyance, it did happen after hours today, got a call on Teams). I’m not sure just how useful these head gestures will be (though it’ll probably be better than telling Siri to hang up!), I’ll have to see how they actually work in practice
That said, I usually use AirPods Max during the work day, especially in the office. Apple really needs to give the AirPods Max some update love (USB-C but also all of the AirPods Pro 2 features), they’re starting to look a little neglected. For transit, there really is no beating the AirPods Pro, but, for extended stationary use, I strongly prefer overears.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sideshowuniqueuser Avatar
22 months ago

At least we’ll only look slightly mental, nodding and shaking heads at seemingly random times in public…
I just want to know if there will be the Indian style side to side head shake?!

Nod: answer call
Shake: decline call
Bobble: take call if not spam... or...
Chucky head spin: hunt and kill caller...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)