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Airpods Pro - need the ability to pause music and switch to transparency mode easier

S

scotio200

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 4, 2015
217
188
Whilst at work today I realised that there needs to be a option to pause the current song playing and switch from ANC to transparency mode quickly.

Had so many people walk up to my desk, start talking and by the time I could single click then hold click they had either finished or half finished what they where saying.

I’d like to be able to specify that a hold on one of my AirPods Pro does both and the other just switches to transparency only. Or maybe a 4 click option 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
Whilst that is a great solution, what’s the point in transparency mode if i need to take the thing out my ear every time? I’d rather have a Siri shortcut or something that lets me automate switching to transparency when certain things happen.

I noticed today that when I answer a call it also does not switch, this is more important really, I ended up needing to manually switch as I couldn’t hear myself speak and was talking too quietly for the person calling to hear. Again a shortcut saying when a call is answered, switch to transparency mode would sort this out very quickly. It would also mean the people who don’t want this feature, don’t need to have it.
 
If you’re in an office where people often come up to talk and seemingly expect you to instantly listen (are they really not getting your attention first? What if you’re in the middle of something) - then perhaps you should leave them in transparency mode? I expect that’s what I’ll use in the office, leaving NC for train commute

being able to set the mode for taking/making calls is a good idea
 
scotio200 said:
Had so many people walk up to my desk, start talking and by the time I could single click then hold click they had either finished or half finished what they where saying.
Click to expand...

Put some dog treats on the other side of the office to buy you some time while they drag their guide dogs over to you.
 
scotio200 said:
Whilst that is a great solution, what’s the point in transparency mode if i need to take the thing out my ear every time?
Click to expand...
The point is that you can learn to improve your interpersonal skills by removing an obstacle to communication. If people are speaking to you, you should be willing to remove anything on or in your ear in order to better communicate.
 
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scotio200 said:
Whilst at work today I realised that there needs to be a option to pause the current song playing and switch from ANC to transparency mode quickly.

Had so many people walk up to my desk, start talking and by the time I could single click then hold click they had either finished or half finished what they where saying.

I’d like to be able to specify that a hold on one of my AirPods Pro does both and the other just switches to transparency only. Or maybe a 4 click option 🤷🏻‍♂️
Click to expand...

Completely agree. There should be an option for transparency mode to also pause music. Could be very helpful.
 
Transparency mode is not so that you can have conversations with people while wearing your APP. The purpose of Transparency mode is to have a greater awareness of what is happening around you, whether it be for safety, or to not miss the flight boarding message (for example).
 
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Paco II said:
Transparency mode is not so that you can have conversations with people while wearing your APP. The purpose of Transparency mode is to have a greater awareness of what is happening around you, whether it be for safety, or to not miss the flight boarding message (for example).
Click to expand...

Doesn't mean that there can't be an additional function so that conversations are also possible. I have dropped earphones many times when someone suddenly starts speaking to me and I have to quickly take the earphones out.
 
Paco II said:
Transparency mode is not so that you can have conversations with people while wearing your APP. The purpose of Transparency mode is to have a greater awareness of what is happening around you, whether it be for safety, or to not miss the flight boarding message (for example).
Click to expand...

Nah, Transparency is for listening to music from another person's phone speakers.
 
Apple can of course choose to implement any feature they want. I am merely stating that transparency mode is not purpose built for conversations, but instead to have greater awareness of one’s surrounding. What is being asked for here is a very specific specific workflow: the ability to switch to transparency mode and pause music so that a conversation can be had. I don’t foresee Apple implementing this in the APPs, but perhaps it’ll be part of APP2 :)

Picapau21 said:
Doesn't mean that there can't be an additional function so that conversations are also possible. I have dropped earphones many times when someone suddenly starts speaking to me and I have to quickly take the earphones out.
Click to expand...
 
Actually, saying "Hey Siri Pause Audio", which pauses audio and enables Transparency, may in fact be faster than removing one from your ear.

Mr.Blacky said:
Sounds much easier and faster than just removing one Airpod from your ear.
Also fiddling around with the phone while keeping Airpods in your ears is also much more polite.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
Paco II said:
Apple can of course choose to implement any feature they want. I am merely stating that transparency mode is not purpose built for conversations, but instead to have greater awareness of one’s surrounding. What is being asked for here is a very specific specific workflow: the ability to switch to transparency mode and pause music so that a conversation can be had. I don’t foresee Apple implementing this in the APPs, but perhaps it’ll be part of APP2 :)
Click to expand...

I take your point 🙂 Also unlikely they’ll add it as a feature in a future firmware update but can hope.
 
As mentioned by @Sndman2004 , it's really easy to create a Shortcut to do what you are wanting. It took me all of about 3 minutes to create one that will pause audio and enable transparency when I say "hey Siri pause audio". And of course you can also have one that will play music and enable NC.

Picapau21 said:
I take your point 🙂 Also unlikely they’ll add it as a feature in a future firmware update but can hope.
Click to expand...
 
Paco II said:
As mentioned by @Sndman2004 , it's really easy to create a Shortcut to do what you are wanting. It took me all of about 3 minutes to create one that will pause audio and enable transparency when I say "hey Siri pause audio". And of course you can also have one that will play music and enable NC.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I saw. Will give it a go. Would still prefer to use the squeeze function on the AirPods though rather than Siri.
 
Paco II said:
As mentioned by @Sndman2004 , it's really easy to create a Shortcut to do what you are wanting. It took me all of about 3 minutes to create one that will pause audio and enable transparency when I say "hey Siri pause audio". And of course you can also have one that will play music and enable NC.
Click to expand...

Your suggestion for fixing the aforementioned poor communication etiquette is to have OP talk over his colleagues and say "hey siri pause audio" while they're mid-speech? :/
 
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This has nothing to do with communication etiquette. If the conversation is critical simply take them out of your ears. iOS shortcuts provide a quick and easy workaround to the situation of needing to communicate with someone without wanting to remove the AirPods from your ears.

nicho said:
Your suggestion for fixing the aforementioned poor communication etiquette is to have OP talk over his colleagues and say "hey siri pause audio" while they're mid-speech? :/
Click to expand...
 
This is an odd thread. It takes precisely one second to remove an AirPod from your ear, and is much more polite. Why make a convoluted method that also requires your phone?

I swear, people are making problems where there aren’t any....
 
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This thread has taken on multiple paths. The initial comment about wanting a hardware approach is understandable, but is unlikely to happen especially since Transparency mode is not focused around conversations. Now, the discussion around a Siri hands free approach is a workaround, but one I could easily see being useful in my own day to day. I commute on public transport, and frequently must stand and have to hold on using both hands. Being able to quickly say "Hey Siri Pause Audio" to pause music and enable transparency when someone starts speaking to me could very much come in handy. I appreciate this thread as I wouldn't have thought of creating those shortcuts. Now I have them at the ready when needed.


gorkt said:
This is an odd thread. It takes precisely one second to remove an AirPod from your ear, and is much more polite. Why make a convoluted method that also requires your phone?

I swear, people are making problems where there aren’t any....
Click to expand...
 
A shortcut is nice, but i usually have my airpods connected to my mac whilst at work and unfortunately Shortcuts have not yet made it to the Mac. Now i might be able to write a bash script to do it, but i would need to look into that.

We have a fairly open office here, people usually just walk up to each others desk to have a conversation, even though we have slack for that exact reason.

What I'm now doing is turning off ANC when listening to music, that way there is no problem, just a tap to pause music. But the big issue really is when a call comes in on my phone and i have ANC turned on, it should go into transparency mode there. I will play around with Shortcuts Automation to see if its possible on there but my experience with automation on iOS 13 has been hit and miss wether the automation actually works.
 
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