AirPods are fantastic hearing devices, but do they also have a microphone?


Asking yourself “do AirPods have a mic?” It’s a common question. Read on…

AirPods are one of the best accessories Apple has ever made. The tiny white earbuds come in two varieties: the AirPods and the AirPods Pro (the AirPods 3 are also expected to be announced soon.

The main differences between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro are that the AirPods Pro have advanced features, including active noise cancelation. The AirPods Pro also have a new, smaller design.

But AirPods are more than just listening devices. All AirPods Apple sells right now support “Hey Siri” commands. This means you can speak to your AirPods to have a task carried out by them (or by your iPhone). You can also make calls via your AirPods.

To achieve this, the AirPods have a built-in microphone. But actually, they don’t just have one microphone – they have two. Here’s what you should know…

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Microphones In AirPods 

No matter if you have the basic AirPods or the AirPods Pro, both come with a set of microphones. Yep – the pair have two mics – one in each bud. Apple refers to these as dual beamforming microphones. 

As alluded to already, the “dual” part means a set of AirPods have two mics (one in the left AirPod, one in the right AirPod). As for beamforming, Apple says the technology works “to filter out external noise and focus on the sound of your voice.”

Dual Mics Are Automatic

When you first set up your AirPods, they’ll be set where they can take advantage of either the left or right microphone. In other words, they are in automatic mode. This means your AirPods will decide on their own which microphone to use – the one in the left or right AirPod. 

This automatic microphone mode is great because it means if you are only wearing one AirPod, the AirPod will know to activate its mic when you want to talk or say “Hey Siri” and NOT the mic in the AirPod you are not wearing. 

In other words, if you are wearing your left AirPod only, it is smart enough to know that you don’t have the right AirPod in your ear, thus that AirPod is likely not by your mouth (and might even be in the case. This is all thanks to automatic mode.

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Manually Set a Default AirPod Microphone

However, the AirPods do allow you to turn off automatic mic detection and instead select which mic to use (the mic in the left or right AirPod). There actually aren’t too many use cases where you might want to do this, so most people will never have to bother with this.

But if you do want to set your AirPods to use only one mic or the other, you can – and that mic will be the ONLY one that is used (even if the AirPod is in its case and you are wearing the other AirPod where the mic isn’t selected).

To manually set a default AirPod mic, do the following:

  1. Put your AirPods in your ears.
  2. On your iPhone, open the Settings app.
  3. Tap Bluetooth.
  4. Tap your AirPods from the device list (tap the “I” button).
  5. On the AirPods settings screen, tap Microphone.
  6. On the next screen, tap “Always Left AirPod” or “Always Right AirPod”.

And that’s it! Easy!

Do AirPods Have A Mic?

Yes! As a matter of fact, AirPods don’t just have one microphone, then have two! There is a microphone located in each AirPod – including the regular AirPods and the AirPods Pro.

And check out Do AirPods Work With Samsung? Also, read Do AirPods Have Serial Numbers?

Michael Grothaus avatar