iOS 26 Could Bring Sleep Detection, Camera Controls, and New Gestures to AirPods

Apple's upcoming iOS 26 and macOS 26 updates, which will be announced at WWDC 2025 keynote on June 9, may bring new features to AirPods through firmware updates. The new features may include new head gestures, such as adjusting the volume of Conversation Awareness. The AirPods may also get an auto-pause feature that stops audio when the wearer falls asleep, using sleep data from the Apple Watch. Another rumored feature is a trigger that captures an image on an iPhone with a press on the AirPods stem. The AirPods may also get a "studio quality" microphone mode similar to the Audio Mix feature on iPhone. Apple is working on improving how AirPods pair with shared iPads for use in the classroom. It is unclear if these features will work on all AirPods models or if some will be exclusive to AirPods Pro. Apple may also introduce a live translate feature for the AirPods, which would translate in-person conversations from one language to another. The new features may be limited or delayed before their announcement. The WWDC 2025 keynote will provide more details about the new AirPods functionality alongside the software updates.