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Beats and AirPods Headphones Shut Off When You Fall Asleep in iOS 26

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If you listen to audio using Beats or AirPods when going to bed, iOS 26 has a useful new feature for you. The update adds a "Pause Media When Falling Asleep" option that is designed to shut off your earbuds when you're no longer awake to listen.

beats-studio-buds-blue.jpg

Apple mentioned the feature during its Worldwide Developers Conference, but it was highlighted as an AirPods feature. Code discovered by MacRumors contributor Steve Moser suggests that the option is also available for Beats headphones.

The option to pause audio when asleep will save your spot in an audiobook or a podcast, but it should also preserve battery life by preventing your earbuds from staying on all night.

Pausing audio should be on by default when you install iOS 26, but it can be enabled by connecting your headphones to your iPhone and then tapping on them in the Settings app. Apple has not explained how the Beats or AirPods detect that you've fallen asleep.

You'll need iOS 26 to use the option, plus updated firmware that Apple is beta testing. iOS 26 is limited to developers, but a public beta is coming soon. The update will launch this September.

Article Link: Beats and AirPods Headphones Shut Off When You Fall Asleep in iOS 26
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/07/01/beats-airpods-sleep-pause-ios-26/
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so, I suppose that means that sleep tracking is not coming to AirPods ...
but then again, if it knows you're asleep - why not?
:cool::eek:
 
This is great! The amount of times I’ve fallen asleep with them on and either (a) music has woken me back up or (b) when I do set a sleep timer, they’re long dead by morning.
 
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Saving battery is a distant second to the main thing this would presumably prevent, which is the "clunk ka-clunk clunk" sound effect suddenly waking you up when the batteries are running out.

Charging your AirPods while you eat breakfast is easy; getting back to sleep at 4AM is hard!
 
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heartbeat and breathing pattern associated with sleep as detected in your inner ear.
this will also allow for your heartbeat rate and number of breaths per minute to be detected when you are on a workout as well.
 
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This could be useful. I usually don't listen to stuff in bed (I try to reduce device usage at this time), however sometimes I have fallen to sleep listening to stuff and startled awake later by some random loud song from my library. I imagine I accidentally hit play by rolling over or something.
 
It’s no surprise that Apple would support it’s Beats range of headphones it is the same company Beats is owned by Apple and shares much of the same hardware technology like the H1&W1 chips

Just an alternative brand that Apple goes by so Beats or Apple they are the same company
 
maruyama said:
Saving battery is a distant second to the main thing this would presumably prevent, which is the "clunk ka-clunk clunk" sound effect suddenly waking you up when the batteries are running out.

Charging your AirPods while you eat breakfast is easy; getting back to sleep at 4AM is hard!
Click to expand...
wait... you're all falling asleep with AirPods on?
 
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Semi-realted, but I got a pair of knockoff studio buds from Wish for $11 that I wore while biking; they weren't amazing, but they did the job.

Then they broke after a few months, so I bought some used actual studio buds for $40… and I love these things.

The ANC is amazing, and there have been nights where I fall asleep listening to podcasts only to wake up in the morning, press the button on one, and they keep playing.

Even though I only planned to use them for biking, they ended up replacing my 2nd gen AirPods and over-ear headphones.
 
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My iPhone frequently marks relaxation as sleep—bad news for me and my level of physical activity, but also bad for this feature.
 
contacos said:
You all manage to keep them to stick when you are in bed, let alone falling asleep???
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This is exactly my reaction. How could anyone fall asleep, on purpose, with these in? I suppose I get dozing off on the couch or whatever, but thinking about these tracking sleep suggests people want to wear them all night. Odd to me.

-bdd
 
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I just want one time for my AirPods Pro 2 to connect when I put them in my ear
 
BeerDrinkerDan said:
This is exactly my reaction. How could anyone fall asleep, on purpose, with these in? I suppose I get dozing off on the couch or whatever, but thinking about these tracking sleep suggests people want to wear them all night. Odd to me.

-bdd
Click to expand...

I guess this only works for people sleeping on their back all night cuz the moment I flip to the side, it's drilling in my ear canal or simply falling out
 
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contacos said:
You all manage to keep them to stick when you are in bed, let alone falling asleep???
Click to expand...
For example I work 12h nightshifts and during the day my neighbour keeps drilling and renovating and have no other choice but to sleep with my AirPods. Even then it wont always help.
 
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