How To Pair Apple Airpods To Iphone

Apple unveiled its new wireless headphones, Apple AirPods, designed for use with iPhones, iPads and Mac laptops, last week when it also announced the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus and the Apple Watch Series 2 smartwatch.

The AirPods are individual earphones that sit in each ear canal, but unlike other wireless headphones they are not connected by a wire that sits round the back of the neck. Instead they fix independently into ears, making them a fairly unusual design. Apple says not only are they easy to connect but they are comfortable too. Even though they're not out until early October, the Good Housekeeping Institute has been lucky enough to try out Apple's AirPods and find out just if they live up to the claims.

We found that they are extremely easy to connect. Just flip open the lid of the stylish white case and hold it near to your iPhone. The smartphone automatically recognises the AirPods are nearby and asks you if you want to connect to them. A few seconds after pressing the Connect button, we heard an alert and the AirPods were connected. You only need to do this once and even if you switch the smartphone off, or the Bluetooth is turned off, when the smartphone is switched on again it still automatically connects to the AirPods.

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No remote? No problems
Unlike other types of wireless earphones, that allow you to control music play back through a remote control, a double tap on either AirPod will launch Siri on your iPhone which you can use to change the track or play a specific song within the Music app on Apple devices running iOS 10.

The AirPods are comfortable to wear: once we'd placed them in our ears, we didn't notice we were wearing them. They remained securely in place whether we were walking, running or even having a vigorous bop to our favourite tune. However, as a woman with long hair I did find that when running my hands through my hair I on occasions dislodged one of the AirPods, so this is something to watch out for! However, as the earphones stop music playback as soon as one of them is removed from your ear, you'll know instantly if one has dropped out, reducing the chance of losing them.

We found the music quality of the Apple AirPods was clear and sharp, with plenty of bass. However, there was a little sound leakage at full volume, so if you're on a train or bus, it's probably not best to crank them up too loud in respect of other passengers.

When a call comes through, the AirPods automatically mute the music so you can take the call. You can double tap the AirPods to answer the call and again to end the call. However, during testing our caller reported we sounded 'far away' and the call crackled but we could hear them well.

You get five hours of listening time out of the earphones. The case will also charge the AirPods so by placing them back in the case after you've finished using them boosts this to 24 hours. And by opening the case and holding it next to your Apple device, you can get a quick update on screen about the percentage of battery life left on each AirPod.

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Our verdict
Here at the Good Housekeeping Institute, we were impressed with the comfort and sound quality of the Apple AirPods, although if you regularly take calls on your smartphone through your headphones they may not be for you. The price tag of £159 is definitely at the higher end of a market, but the freedom from wires makes it worth it if you can stretch to it. Check back for a full review soon.

The Apple AirPods will be available from Apple's website from late October, £159.

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