iOS 26: Use AirPods as Microphone When Shooting Video

[AgeOfSpiracles]

It never occurred to me that this wasn't already possible. Sounds like a great feature.

 

[CarletonTorpin]

In my testing of the feature just now, I'd say the audio is comparable to if you'd recorded your voice using the Voice Memo app + Airpods as the mic.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

I tried it just now and it mostly works. The footage's video and audio are unsynced, though; the audio is lagging about 12-15 frames behind the video. Hopefuly this improves. Tested with Airpods Pro 2, iPhone 15 Pro Max, front-facing camera, iOS 26.0

I'm guessing more distance equals more lag?

 

[ignatius345]

I'm sure this is it. I have both APP2 and Buds Pro 3 from Samsung and is a nice feature when I tested it on Samsung. I took a video of a small waterfall while wearing the buds and it creates a better stereo sound as I was panning the camera around. I never really considered all the videos we shoot with our phones are mono.

Good point. When you're recording with the AirPods, you're gonna be getting very good stereo separation because your head is right in the middle. I suppose you could even record binaural sound this way!

 

[CocktailHour]

"professional-quality" according to whom? Bet it's good but not sure about pro quality.

 

[AndoAU]

Does this work with the native Camera app? Can't test right now, but that's what i've been waiting for!

I mean, it's right there in the article, but yes.

 

[Taq'aix]

“you get professional-quality audio capture”

Haha, what a ridiculous statement. Astonishing how MR takes whatever Apple throws at them at face value.

These APP’s mics don’t compare to high quality professional studio phantom powered mics.

 

[bassjunky]

What would be cool is if you could use both APPs as two different mics, say in an interview situation. The reporter could be wearing the left APP, the subject could be wearing the right. If the camera is on the right side of the interviewer, you could probably frame the shot and not see the APPs at all.

 

[svish]

Interesting. Though I won't always be using this, nice to know that it is there and can be used when needed. Will try it out after updating.

 

[scrm]

The results are quite awful for me, Airpods 4 without ANC and latest firmware and ipad/ios 26. Camera app doesn’t support it yet so I used Voice Recorder. The sound is muffled and the bitrate still seems low. It’s (possibly?) better than before, but this is nothing like studio quality. Unless I’m doing something wrong, the term for this new feature is pure Apple marketing.

 

[scrm]

AirPods Pro do not have studio quality mics like the iPhones Pro do

Not to mention, it's a bluetooth connection.

I believe the point of this is that while you could probably get cleaner audio from an iPhone Pro, you'd have to position that iPhone closer than you might want in a video. The AirPods are less obtrusive and (I suspect) good enough quality for general use.


Marketers love to trot out that term. It could really mean anything, honestly. If any person who makes money doing something uses AirPods for audio, it automatically is "professional quality". LOL

Camo Studio for iPad (free) lets you record using the iPhone as a mic (as well as a camera), over wifi. There can be syncing issues, but the audio quality is great, and much better than ‘studio quality’ with airpods (so far).

 

[tennisproha]

Camo Studio for iPad (free) lets you record using the iPhone as a mic (as well as a camera), over wifi. There can be syncing issues, but the audio quality is great, and much better than ‘studio quality’ with airpods (so far).

Just to clarify, Apple doesn’t advertise AirPods as having studio quality mics. That’s a claim macrumors is making for some reason

 

[scrm]

Incidentally, Black Magic Camera gives you access to record video with airpods audio input. They sound pretty good, and can use voice isolation too.

 

[Donka]

So I couldn't figure why this would not work for me with my AirPods Pro and the camera app. Tried the Apple Voice Memos and it would let me select the input device. As per @scrm I tried Black Magic Camera which also gives me the option. Why Apple, does it not work with the default camera app for video??