One of the biggest pieces of news to come out of Apple‘s annual WWDC 2026 event, is that AirPods are getting a custom EQ mode with iOS 27. Better late than never, eh Apple?
The general release of iOS 27 is expected to fall in September some time, around the release of the iPhone 18, and before that we’ll likely see a public beta in July.
However, the Apple Developer Beta for iOS 27 is already out, letting early adopters test out the EQ tools on any of the best AirPods they choose to use.
We’ll run you through how to enable this below, but you’re probably curious about why you’re not already seeing copious Reddit threads about the tool. People largely haven’t begun using it yet — except for one user called NexxFlight. They posted a video with system audio capture of what the AirPods’ EQ can do with the bass turned all the way up, using #thatPOWER by will.i.am featuring Justin Bieber to illustrate the point. Interesting…
Crazy! from r/airpods
The feature is only available now via the Developer Beta, a very early version of Apple’s new software, created for app designers so they can get hand-on with how it’ll look and work. This lets them make sure their apps are ready for updates as soon as iOS 27 comes out, but it’s generally not recommended for general users.
Developer betas can be buggy, and sometimes not secure: developers will generally download it on work phones, not their main driver, and if you download it, you run the risk of making your phone pretty hard to use. A Reddit comment I read about the developer beta put it bluntly: “it’s not for the faint of heart”.
I’d recommend you just wait until the public beta comes out before you test out the equalizer — or, if you can manage, just twiddle your thumbs until the full release in September, so you know you’re getting a relatively bug-free experience.
More power than we should be allowed? How to get that EQ — but be careful
OK sure, you want to test out the EQ that badly? Well, thankfully we’ve already written a guide on how to download the iOS 27 developer beta, which lays it out in nice and easy language.
This, however, isn’t enough. Your AirPods will also need to receive the developer beta, and at the time of writing, it’s only available for the AirPods Pro 2 and Pro 3, as well as the AirPods 4. Sorry, AirPods Max 2 early adopters: you’re out.
You can do so by heading to the AirPods settings in your iPhone settings app, and using the beta update menu there to opt into this tester program too. Again, I can’t help thinking it’s more power than we should be allowed though, right now.
As well as introducing custom EQ, the developer beta also reshuffles the AirPods setting menu, which some testers are saying streamlines things. Having seen Apple’s idea of ‘streamlining’ things though, don’t get your hopes up (yep, the millionth Liquid Glass dig, do I win a prize?).
The EQ-starved AirPods masses are avidly awaiting the update (and it has come not before time) but again, there are a lot of hoops to jump through right now. That said, if you’re a true bass-head, it is possible to crank your AirPods all the way up to the max now. I’m not sure I would (does anyone hike the bass all that way up and expect something other than a bloated performance?) but there we are.
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