It’s the little things that make the new AirPods Pro more appealing and accessible than ever

While Apple may market its new second-gen AirPods Pro by touting attributes like the H2 chip, personalized spatial audio, and more, the truth is that they play a secondary role when it comes to telling the story of the earbuds’ accessibility. In fact, it’s all the little things that really make AirPods Pro a worthy upgrade over the original model. It’s all of the seemingly small details that help shape a positive user experience for people with disabilities that would make Blink-182 proud.

I’ve been using a pair of the latest AirPods Pro, a review device provided to me by Apple, for about two weeks as of this writing. Everything Apple’s marketing communications group says about them is true — they pair faster, they sound better, and those qualities are pleasing — but it’s really the smaller, less hip features that stay with me the most in day-to-day use leave impressions.

Chief among those touches is the chime you hear when you put the case down to charge. As someone who inexplicably has multiple copies of the original model lying around — oh, the life of a tech reviewer — one problem with these vintage AirPods is that it’s hard to know if they’re charging properly when they have a Qi Mat or what always use. Apple added a tiny green LED indicator on the front to help with that, and it does is helpful, but it doesn’t go far enough. It is difficult (if not impossible) for someone who is blind or partially sighted to see this little light. This is made worse when your desk is next to a window; When the harsh light from outside hits just right, it washes out the light. Likewise for someone with visual and engine lags, finding that “sweet spot” on the mat can be quite an adventure depending on your skill level.

After replacing the charging dock on my desk this week that my AirPods Pro have this chime — supposedly for Find My if they ever go MIA — it’s incredibly easy to know where that aforementioned sweet spot is, and I do I have peace of mind knowing my earbuds are charging. All in all, the combination of light and chime makes for a wonderfully useful hit of bimodal sensory input, serving as additional confirmation that the AirPods are getting the performance boost they need.

The other new aspect of the AirPods Pro is the notch on the right side for a lanyard. It’s that indentation that’s the loudest sign of which: first-gen or second-gen model. Of course, Apple is positioning the notch as a convenient way to keep track of your AirPods so you don’t lose them – which is true, nice, also in an accessibility sense in terms of carrying. Apple didn’t include a lanyard with my shipment — you can purchase one from Incase on Apple’s website — but it’s tempting to grab one just for fun. I wish the Apple TV’s Siri remote had something similar because it gets misplaced in the sofa cushions all the time.

At a high level, the AirPods Pro, old and new, illustrate Apple at its best. So many Apple watchers and general tech enthusiasts tend to delve into nomenclature – in this case, what the word “pro” should mean. Look no further than the poor, much-maligned M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro as proof of this point. In Apple’s parlance, “Pro” mostly just means being more beautiful. Sometimes Apple speaks literally of “pro” meaning professional – cf. Mac Pro, Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro – but more often than not “pro” is an indicator of niceness. These are the new AirPods Pro: they really are pretty Ear plug. And at $250, you’re paying a premium for the privilege of experiencing this beautiful quality.

If there’s anything negative about the new AirPods Pro, it’s the volume control swipe gestures. Make no mistake, they work exactly as Apple designed them; Trouble is, it’s hard to know if you’re swiping in the right place. You can, of course, see the tone fading and rising, but the actual action of the swipe could be nicely enhanced if there were haptic feedback in the stems. I’m no engineer, so fitting what Apple calls the Taptic Engine into such a small space may be impossible. Feasibility notwithstanding, the bigger point here is that there should be some sort of indicator (beyond the audio) to let you know you’re adjusting the volume.

When you factor in AirPods accessibility features, not to mention things like Live Listen and Conversation Boost, AirPods, Pro or any other really are the most accessible earbuds out there. You might not be able to afford AirPods, and that’s certainly no shame, but competing products can’t quite match the breadth and depth of accessibility and overall friendliness that Apple can achieve. If you have an iPhone and need accessibility, AirPods by any name are the best there is.

Where to upgrade? From an accessibility perspective, the answer is a resounding yes. The old AirPods Pro remain perfectly usable, not suddenly run down by the advent of the new ones, but the small details of the new ones push them into the Victory Column. Update for all the reasons Apple says you should, but if you’re a person with certain visual and/or motor disabilities, be sure to update the chime and lanyard notch. Overall, the details are worth it.

After all, what’s the point of sounding better and pairing faster if your AirPods are dead?