I imagine this has been thought of, it seems obvious, so maybe this already exists in some form and I'm not thinking of it, or maybe it's impractical for some reason which would explain why I haven't heard of it.
In any case, I was in a loud restaurant the other day with a large group and could barely hear the person sitting next to me much less the person at the other end of the table. I thought how great it would be if we could all wear our Airpods (and ideally non-Apple earphones too) and have our conversation through it. Everyone could clearly hear everyone else the entire evening like we're the Avengers on a mission with earpieces. You could finally have a conversation anywhere, even when the person you want to talk to is sitting at the other end of the table.
Obviously, we could do a group phone call or Facetime audio call, but that requires getting carriers or servers involved, reliable cellular connection, everyone sharing phone numbers (awkward especially if there are people who don't know each other and may not want to give out their number), someone having to invite everyone in, everyone using minutes/data, and large drain on phone battery. It's too many hurdles for one hang out, which is probably why no one does it and just chooses to shout and be frustrated trying to hear. Instead, I'm imagining a better UX would be one person opens an app, everyone just taps their phone to that person's phone, accepts joining the conversation, and is instantly connected via a private local connection that hopefully is more battery efficient--either via bluetooth or maybe a wifi hotspot, although a hotspot would drain one person's battery faster. Everyone would need to have the app on their phone of course. But no sharing contact info, no friend lists (it would be useless anyway), it's just a tool for talking in proximity in loud environments. This could work for restaurants, concerts, bars, Disneyland, etc., and it would make no difference if one is talking to their friends or strangers.
There is the problem of side conversations within the group. One could just take out their earphone if the person is next to them, or maybe in the app there can be a "side conversation" feature where you tap on one person's name and the main conversation either mutes or goes to lower volume, and the side conversation is muted from the main conversation. This is only meant to allow for multiple conversations within the group without chaos, it isn't meant to be "private" since you will presumably be sitting next to other people who can still hear you without the earphone.
Ideally this would be cross platform and not just for iPhone users. And sure, inevitably there will be people without earphones, but the good thing about this feature is it doesn't exclude anyone. Everyone is essentially still communicating the old-fashioned way, this only enhances it for those with earphones. Those without them will just have the unenhanced experience, and will have to get earphones for next time (it could even just be cheap wired headphones).
There should be some smart volume control and/or volume limit in the app so if someone is yelling for some reason, it lowers their volume.
Noise cancellation/audio passthrough would be a toggle per user preference.
Thoughts? Hurdles? Does this already exist? If not, any developers out there, please make this.
Edit- bonus: with Spatial Audio maybe it could even somehow mimic the sound direction of the person talking to you.
In any case, I was in a loud restaurant the other day with a large group and could barely hear the person sitting next to me much less the person at the other end of the table. I thought how great it would be if we could all wear our Airpods (and ideally non-Apple earphones too) and have our conversation through it. Everyone could clearly hear everyone else the entire evening like we're the Avengers on a mission with earpieces. You could finally have a conversation anywhere, even when the person you want to talk to is sitting at the other end of the table.
Obviously, we could do a group phone call or Facetime audio call, but that requires getting carriers or servers involved, reliable cellular connection, everyone sharing phone numbers (awkward especially if there are people who don't know each other and may not want to give out their number), someone having to invite everyone in, everyone using minutes/data, and large drain on phone battery. It's too many hurdles for one hang out, which is probably why no one does it and just chooses to shout and be frustrated trying to hear. Instead, I'm imagining a better UX would be one person opens an app, everyone just taps their phone to that person's phone, accepts joining the conversation, and is instantly connected via a private local connection that hopefully is more battery efficient--either via bluetooth or maybe a wifi hotspot, although a hotspot would drain one person's battery faster. Everyone would need to have the app on their phone of course. But no sharing contact info, no friend lists (it would be useless anyway), it's just a tool for talking in proximity in loud environments. This could work for restaurants, concerts, bars, Disneyland, etc., and it would make no difference if one is talking to their friends or strangers.
There is the problem of side conversations within the group. One could just take out their earphone if the person is next to them, or maybe in the app there can be a "side conversation" feature where you tap on one person's name and the main conversation either mutes or goes to lower volume, and the side conversation is muted from the main conversation. This is only meant to allow for multiple conversations within the group without chaos, it isn't meant to be "private" since you will presumably be sitting next to other people who can still hear you without the earphone.
Ideally this would be cross platform and not just for iPhone users. And sure, inevitably there will be people without earphones, but the good thing about this feature is it doesn't exclude anyone. Everyone is essentially still communicating the old-fashioned way, this only enhances it for those with earphones. Those without them will just have the unenhanced experience, and will have to get earphones for next time (it could even just be cheap wired headphones).
There should be some smart volume control and/or volume limit in the app so if someone is yelling for some reason, it lowers their volume.
Noise cancellation/audio passthrough would be a toggle per user preference.
Thoughts? Hurdles? Does this already exist? If not, any developers out there, please make this.
Edit- bonus: with Spatial Audio maybe it could even somehow mimic the sound direction of the person talking to you.
Last edited: