How to Disable Voice Control on Your AirPods

Anna Middleton Read more June 13, 2021

Voice control is an excellent feature, but it’s got some downsides, too. Some users have been complaining about calling people by accident when the pods are not in their ears. They had no idea they were making those calls. It’s all fun and games until you accidentally call your ex.

How to Disable Voice Control on Your AirPods

As voice control and Siri are not the same, you can use either one on your iOS devices. If you prefer Siri or you don’t want any voice control when using your AirPods, here’s what you can do.

Turning Off Voice Control for AirPods

If you’re not using Siri, but you’re still experiencing issues with unwanted actions on your phone and AirPods, you should check if your voice control is turned on. Disabling the feature is relatively simple, and you do it from your iOS device.

Launch “Settings” on your iOS phone.
Select “Accessibility.”
Tap or select the “Home” Button on Android or iOS (or side button for some models .)
Voice Control is under “Press and Hold to Speak.”
Choose between “Siri,” “Voice Control,” or “Off.”

Note that Siri needs an Internet connection to work correctly, while Voice Control lets you manage your AirPods when you don’t have access to a network.

Disable Siri on Your AirPods

Maybe you’re just having trouble with the double-tap on your AirPods? Would you like them to play and pause music instead of summoning Siri? Here’s what to do.

Take the AirPods out of their case and connect them to your phone.
Open “Settings.”
Open “Bluetooth.”
Scroll through “My Devices” and find the AirPods.
Tap the blue “i” icon on the right to open AirPods settings.
Scroll down to “Double-tap AirPod” and tap to open.
Tap one of the pods to see the options: “Siri, Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track, Off.”
Choose an option that’s not Siri.

Note that if you choose “Off,” you’ll need to use your phone to perform any of these actions. Also, the 1^st generation of AirPods doesn’t have the option of activating Siri by saying, “Hey Siri.” You can only summon her by double-tapping one of the pods. That is unless you’ve disabled the option.

The 2^nd generation of AirPods and AirPods Pro, both released in 2019, introduced updates concerning voice assistant technology. You can activate Siri hands-free; it’s enough to say Hey Siri, and she’s there, ready to listen to your requests. You can do many things related to your AirPods. You can play a particular playlist, control the volume, skip a song, play the previous song, pause and resume music, check what your AirPods battery life is, and more.

Other AirPods Settings

When you open AirPods settings, you may find something else you’d like to adjust.

You can rename the pods if you want them more personalized.

Automatic Ear Detection allows you to redirect any sound playing on your phone right to your AirPods the moment you put them in your ears. If you don’t want this to happen and direct it to your AirPods manually, move the toggle switch to Off.

You can also choose which AirPod you’re going to use as a microphone. The default setting is Automatically Switch AirPods. That means that the one pod that’s in your ear will act as a microphone. However, if you choose Always Left or Always Right, the selected earbud will serve as a microphone even if you place them back to their case.

Voice Control vs Siri

Both Siri and Voice Control have their advantages. Voice control is a simplistic app, and you can use it without an internet connection. That’s one of the reasons it’s limited. You also need to ensure you formulate your request clearly so the app can understand you.

However, Siri is an intelligent assistant who can recognize a request even if you don’t say the exact words, but that’s why you need the internet to use it.