Apple’s AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) are the earbuds to beat on an iPhone. But they’re not a fit for great Android smartphones, as the annoyances of an app-less experience outweigh their fun new features and comfort.
I absolutely love the ease and convenience Apple packs into its latest open-ear AirPods, and their Conversational Awareness capabilities take the hassle out of talking to people when you’re rocking out. They’re practically feature-matched with Apple’s own AirPods Pro 2 in every way that matters — even if you trade a little noise cancellation due to their different design. But you won’t have nearly as great an experience using them with an Android smartphone. The key features are there, but it’s an awkward fit.
Apple AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation)
Apple’s AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) automatically fade music when you’re conversing. And while their noise-cancellation capabilities aren’t perfect, these earbuds are good enough to rival Apple’s own AirPods Pro 2 — even better, if you don’t like stuff in your ears.
- Conversational Awareness is a much-needed upgrade that works great
- Comfortable design that doesn’t feel like gauze in your ears
- USB-C finally found on the wireless charging case
- Excellent battery life
- Useable on Android, but lack of a dedicated app makes it rough
- Noise cancellation is very good, but not flawless
Price, availability, and specs
Apple didn’t spike the price (-ish)
Apple’s fourth-generation AirPods, featuring Active Noise Cancellation, cost $179. That’s the same price that its AirPods 3 debuted at in 2021, but Apple is mixing up the equation this year by offering a second version of the AirPods 4 at a much cheaper $129. These omit active noise cancellation and Conversational Awareness, and the more expensive model gets a wireless charging case with a built-in speaker for all those times when it’s lost.
What’s good about the AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation)?
Conversational Awareness is near-perfect
When AirPods are firmly lodged in your ears, and you’re blasting your favorite song (or podcast), adjusting the volume when someone starts talking to you is annoying. While you can always reach up and click your AirPods to pause whatever you’re listening to, adjusting multiple times can get old.
With Apple’s Conversational Awareness feature built-in, the AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) notice when you start talking and gently, but quickly fade whatever you’re listening to until speech can be heard over your media. So, as long as you’re conversing with another person, the volume will remain muted. Following 3 to 4 seconds of silence, the media will increase to its original volume.
It would be great if you could manually set a time before the AirPods increase the volume because conversational pauses aren’t always the same, but it’s not essential. The feature works well enough for most normal interactions, and it’s perfect for those cold, winter months when you just want to keep your hands stuffed in your jacket and refrain from messing with your music.
This feature isn’t unique to the AirPods 4, as its AirPods Pro line has had Conversational Awareness, beginning with the AirPods Pro 2. Plenty of Android-themed earbuds also offer similar features, but you’ll want to ensure they work exactly as you’d expect. For example, the super-cheap Nothing Ear (a) earbuds can automatically switch the intensity of their noise cancellation to save battery life based on how loud the environment is, but they won’t lower volumes automatically if someone is talking to you.
Read our review
Apple’s AirPods Pro, while superior for noise-cancellation and blasting bass-heavy tracks, never felt very comfortable in my ears. I grew to hate them while running, as they’d typically start to feel annoying, if not slightly painful, after around a mile or so. And I tried everything: swapping silicone tip sizes, adjusting their angle, or taking them in and out during my walking breaks. I could never get to a point where I felt comfortable wearing them for an extended period unless I was on a cross-country flight and needed that noise cancellation above all.
The AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) have an open-ear design, so they sit in the outer part of the ear canal. You lose the AirPods Pro’s firmer seat, but I think the AirPods 4 are more universally comfortable. I haven’t had any issues running with them; I’ve even worn them for hours around the house, and they didn’t bug me one bit. I actually grew to like the reduced amount of noise cancellation they provide. Background noise can still be tuned out to a decent degree, but I don’t suffer that unnatural silence — as if I have gauze stuffed in my ears all day long— when I’m not actively listening to something.
This open-ear design cuts out a bit of the lower-end power you’d get when rocking out with earbuds that create a seal in your ear, like the AirPods Pro 2, but I can’t say I missed the extra oomph. My favorite metal tracks sounded plenty bass-heavy, with clear vocals ringing over their endless power chords. If I had to pick a winner for sound, I’d say the AirPods Pro 2 squeak a win over the (with Active Noise Cancellation), but not enough to make that the single reason I’d opt for them over the AirPods 4.
For me, it just feels a lot more convenient to slip the open-ear AirPods 4 into my ear for a phone call, podcast, or rocking-while-running session; the AirPods Pro 2 sound better, but the AirPods 4 are good enough and more comfortable for extended listening sessions. If you only listen to hip-hop or EDM, the AirPods Pro 2 might be a bitter fit for brain-jiggling bass.
Android earbuds like Sony’s WF-1000XM5 have had USB-C charging cases for some time now, and Apple is finally jumping ship with its regular ol’ AirPods. The AirPods 4 charging case now has USB-C connectivity for both the expensive and cheaper versions (the former also gets Qi-certified wireless charging).
Read our review
Sony WF-1000XM5 review: The buds to beat
Great audio + great ANC + great battery life = great earbuds
The H2-powered AirPods (both AirPods 4 versions and the AirPods Pro 2) can reach up to 30 hours of listening time when paired with a topped-off charging case. That’s what we typically see for great Android earbuds, too, but it’s not as eye-opening as the 42 hours of up-time from earbuds like the Nothing Ear (a). An optimized battery charging feature helps you preserve your AirPods’ longevity by limiting their charge to 80 percent when a full charge isn’t necessary.
The tiny speaker on the AirPods 4’s wireless charging case makes a handy little ding when charging starts for the case — not as useful if you’re plugging it in via USB-C, but incredibly useful if you want to confirm you correctly placed it on a wireless charging pad. You won’t find that on the $300 Sony earbuds, where a tiny charging coil in the case can be tricky to get the right alignment on a wireless charger.
What’s bad about the AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation)?
Very limited Android support
This one shouldn’t be a surprise. Unlike an Apple Watch, Android fans aren’t locked out of using AirPods with their smartphones. They just won’t have the easiest go of it.
For starters, there’s no AirPods app for Android; you pair the AirPods to your device like any Bluetooth speaker. That means you’ll lose some important conveniences like the AirPods automatically stopping whatever you’re listening to when you take them out of your ears. There’s no Find My functionality — since there’s no app — and you won’t get any firmware updates for the earbuds.
You also won’t be able to move your AidPods’ connection from device to device as easily as you would across Apple devices or view battery levels on your phone (naturally). Stem controls and gestures must be used to switch between their noise-cancellation modes, including ANC. Given all the other great earbuds out there that have dedicated Android apps, using AirPods on Android feels like a head-scratcher, but not an impossibility.
The AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) excel at reducing background noise when you don’t want to hear anything, but the noise cancellation isn’t as great as what you’d get from an AirPods 4 Pro or a good pair of noise-canceling headphones. At worst, you’ll still be able to hear what’s happening in the outside world, it’ll just be much, much quieter than normal. This won’t be an issue if you’re filling your ears with sound from something from your phone, but it also means that you can’t always relax in blissful silence with nothing playing.
Should you buy them?
Absolutely (if you have an iPhone)
I don’t think the AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) make a ton of sense if you’re using an Android device, but they’re not an outright “no.” You’ll lose some useful functionality and constantly fuss with the AirPods’ stems to turn their features on and off, but they’ll work.
The pricier Sony WF-1000XM5 are a better choice for Android fans. They’ll sound just as good, block just as much noise, and have an Android app that you can fuss with — even EQ tuning if you’re a real audio snob. Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 are a solid, cheaper alternative for comfort, and they also have conversation-detection capabilities for when you want to talk, not rock.
Apple AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation)
Apple’s AirPods 4 (with Active Noise Cancellation) automatically fade music when you’re in a conversation. And while their noise-cancellation capabilities aren’t perfect, these earbuds are good enough to rival Apple’s own AirPods Pro 2. They’re even better if you don’t like stuff in your ears.
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