Apple unveils Adaptive Audio and says it'll improve AirPods' automatic switching

At WWDC, Apple unveiled updates to its AirPods headphones that improve the user experience.

Apple's noise cancellation features on AirPods are quite convenient for tuning out crying babies on airplanes, but if you're using noise cancellation while walking down the street, you might want to be a bit more aware of your surroundings. With the new Adaptive Audio feature, AirPods can blend active noise cancellation mode and transparency mode to make it easier to use noise cancellation features while on the go. Using machine learning, the AirPods will attempt to identify when it hears noise you don't need to hear (like a loud lawnmower), as opposed to sounds you probably want to hear (a friend trying to talk to you).

A perk of using AirPods is that you can easily connect to all of your Apple devices, like your iPhone, iPad and Mac. But sometimes, it's not perfectly seamless to transition between devices, especially if you're using multiple Apple devices at once. In an announcement that will please AirPods owners, Apple said that it is working on improving the automatic switching feature.

"Now it is significantly faster to transition from a conference call on Mac to your favorite playlist on iPhone, all without missing a beat," Apple said.