the new Firmware 4A400 AirPods Pro and AirPods Max offer earbuds with support for the most advanced functions in Find Network. After the necessary, often painful update passes (the process is left to Apple’s will), AirPods gain several new options in the Find My app.
The ersatz exact location function is displayed, with an interface that indicates if you are approaching lost AirPods. Why ersatz? In the absence of the U1 chip in the earbuds or headphone, the function cannot display the large arrow indicating the lost device, as is the case with AirTags. You should be satisfied with the animations that spark when you get close to the AirPods.
The positioning function distinguishes the left earpiece from the right. So if you just miss one, just point to it by touching the L or R button at the top of the screen. Only headphones are supported, which is not the case; If the case is lost, there must be at least one earbud inside for Localiser to locate.
But after all, the risk of losing your earphone is definitely greater than the severity of the condition. The location board also knows how to ring a missing earpiece, or the box if it has an earpiece. You have to strain your ears to hear the little wheezing, so if the earpiece is hidden under a pillow, you’ll probably have to dig in a bit.
The signal sometimes takes a long time before the exact location is captured. So the function requires you to move a little in the opposite direction, which is to enter the area covered by the bluetooth. In my tests, it worked fine although I sometimes wondered if the site would really be able to identify an AirPod left in the trunk.
AirPods Pro and AirPods Max also benefit from a more efficient lost mode than what has been offered so far: the Locate app displays only the location of the last connection. With this new firmware, it is the power of the Locate network (which relies on one billion Apple devices circulating in the world) that is used to find your lost earphone.
Find My Network is so effective, it only took a few minutes to receive a notification after the AirPods were hidden (with the iPhone completely turned off). The effectiveness of Lost Mode obviously depends on the density of the iPhone and Apple devices where the earpiece is placed.
Another very practical function of heads in the air, it is now possible to receive a warning notification that someone has left AirPods Pro or Max behind. It works like AirTags or other Locate compatible objects, just activate the function Notify me in case I forget, identifying places where it is not necessary to block (in the house, for example) if necessary.
It might also warn right away, the notification isn’t instantaneous and you were already too far away from your AirPods when the alert went off.
In terms of accessibility, the 4A400 firmware activates the chat speaker function, available in the settings Accessibility > audiovisual > Headphone adjustment > Transparency mode, is at the bottom of this panel (yes, it’s totally Sioux).
Once activated, this function will make AirPods Pro focus on the party speaking in front of the user, to help them better follow a face-to-face conversation.
Options the test Available in Control Center makes it possible to reduce background noise to a greater or lesser extent, again to make conversations easier to understand.
All these new features enhance the functionality of the AirPods Pro and Max a little more, particularly the support for Locate Network which will undoubtedly save more than one earbud from total and permanent loss.
