Although Apple didn’t pay much attention to AirPods at the WWDC 2018, one new feature called Live Listen seems to be catching our attention. Here’s how you can enable this feature on iOS 12.
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What is Live Listen?
Live Listen transmits the sound received by your microphone of your iPhone to your AirPods.
Apple introduced this feature in 2014 to allow users to connect their hearing aids to their devices. Beginning with iOS 12, this feature will allow users to use their AirPods as a hearing aid.
Apart from its use as a hearing aid, “Live Listen” can also be used to amplify a sound source that is situated far away from you.
You can also use it to convert your AirPods into a high-end “audio pass-through” headset.
This will allow you to hold conversations while keeping your audio content (podcasts, music, etc) playing at all times.
While its intended use is that of a hearing aid replacement, it can also be used for unethical purposes.
For example, an unscrupulous individual can use an Apple device and AirPods to eavesdrop on a conversation.
Enabling Live Listen on AirPods on iOS 12
Step 1 Open the Settings app and go to Control Center > Customize Controls.
Step 2 Add Hearing to the “Include” list.
Step 3 Connect your AirPods.
Step 4 Tap and activate the “Live Listen” option in the AirPods card in the Control Center. If you happen to own a Beats headset, you are in luck. You can enable this feature on all Beats products.
Step 5 You can now place your iPhone wherever you want it to transmit audio from. Remember, you might experience a slight delay due to the separation between the source (iPhone) and the receiver (AirPods).
That’s pretty much it! You can now snoop around on significant other, friends, relatives, etc.
With enough practice, you will be on your way to becoming the next spy extraordinaire.
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Does not work with my Beats X either. I contacted Apple support and they said that it does not wok with Beats-products.
Thanks for the heads-up, Sam.
Does not work with my BeatsX
I get a “not available for current route” notification (translated from Dutch).
Which iOS 12 beta version are you using?
Mine doesn’t work either. I know it can work because I used my earphones with someone else’s older iPhone and it worked fine. I just get not available for current route