I got Airpods!

I got Airpods! A reader asks…

My Christmas stocking had a set of Airpods in them, I’m ecstatic! I have an iPhone 7 and am ready to start using them. Do you have a quick instruction for how to set them up on my iPhone?

It couldn’t be simpler! Open the box and unwrap your Airpods. Likely they already have a decent battery charge, but if you want to make sure, plug them into your lightning cable/charger for an hour or so to make sure they’re fully charged. Then all you have to do is pair the Airpods to your iPhone and you’re ready to go. The pairing process is oh-so-simple:

1. hold the Airpods in their case near your iPhone
2. open the case and tap the Connect link when it shows up on the iPhone screen

That’s all there is to it, your Airpods are paired and ready to use. You can then take them out of the case and put them in your ears and your iPhone should automatically switch from the internal iPhone speaker/microphone to the Airpods. Put them back in the case to recharge the Airpods and switch back to the iPhone’s internal speaker. Some other tips:

• The Airpods battery lasts up to 5 hours, and the case can recharge them several times before it needs recharging (via lightning cable). You’ll hear audio prompts when the Airpod batteries run low.
• You can use the Airpods one at a time, leaving one in the case so you’ll always have a charged one in your ear. Great for when you want to have them in all-day-long. You don’t get stereo music with just one, but you can still listen to music, take phone calls, and control your iPhone/Siri
• You can change the settings to control the Airpods in Settings > Bluetooth > Airpods (tap the circled “i”) where you can change the name of your Airpods, change what double-tapping either the left or right Airpod does (activating Siri, play/pause, next track, previous track, or nothing), and a few more settings.
• Use the Control Center to quickly switch between Airpods and other audio devices. This is good for if you also have a Mac or iPad. I should note that once you’ve paired your Airpods to your iPhone, it’ll also be paired to your other Apple devices (as long as they use the same Apple ID).
• The normal volume controls on your iPhone (or iPad, Mac or Apple Watch) will control the volume of your Airpods when they’re in use. You can also double-tap to bring up Siri and tell her to lower or raise the volume.

I think you’ll find in the coming months that more and more people are wearing Airpods all the time, this holiday season they were a popular gift idea, and Apple was (mostly) able to meet the demand. If you’re worried about looking ‘geeky’ wearing them out in public, I think that’s not going to be an issue. Wireless earbuds are becoming more and more popular, and all are small enough that they can garner little notice anymore. But I would be careful about listening to music at high volume when out and about with the Airpods (or any other earbuds or headphones) as you might miss important signals – oncoming cars or people talking to you. Even though they aren’t intended to block outside noise, you may be distracted. And obviously, don’t have them in your ears while driving!