It addresses a common issue when listening to music on your AirPods.
When Apple rolls out iOS 26 to your iPhone, it will ring in the changes. Some standouts include a new “Liquid Glass” design, a more simplified Camera app, and both the Message and Phone apps will get several new abilities that you’ll actually use.
However, as is the case whenever Apple announces a next-generation operating system, some of the most useful new features often go unannounced at WWDC and are only revealed by developers and early adopters when the betas are released. And that’s true here.
With iOS 26, Apple is introducing a new setting on your iPhone that addresses a common annoyance when streaming music to your AirPods or other wireless headphones or earbuds.
Keep Audio with Headphones
You’ve no doubt experienced this.
When listening to music on your AirPods (or any wireless headphones), the audio automatically switches away and starts playing on another one of your Bluetooth devices — be it a Bluetooth speaker or your car’s speaker system — when it gets turned on.
It’s annoying because you then have to go through your iPhone’s Bluetooth settings and manually switch it back.
However, iOS 26 will introduce a new setting called “Keep Audio with Headphones” that aims to address this exact issue. The setting appears in the public beta of iOS 26.
Here’s how Apple describes it: “When using AirPods or other wireless headphones, keep audio with headphones when other devices like speakers or cars connect to iPhone.”
When “Keep Audio with Headphones” is toggled on, if you’re listening to music on your AirPods and then toggle on a secondary Bluetooth device, the audio won’t automatically switch and will continue playing on your AirPods.
This “Keep Audio with Headphones” setting will likely be toggled off by default. To change that:
Open your iPhone’s Settings app.
Select General.
Select AirPlay & Continuity.
Toggle on Keep Audio with Headphones.
When’s it coming?
Apple will officially release iOS 26 sometime in early to mid-September, when its next-generation iPhones are announced.
To learn more about all of iOS 26’s upcoming features, check out Apple’s blog post.
Tucker Bowe has been on Gear Patrol’s editorial team since 2014. As a Tech Staff Writer, he tracks everything in the consumer tech space, from headphones to smartphones, wearables to home theater systems. If it lights up or makes noise, he probably covers it.
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