Direct Answer
To turn on Personalized Spatial Audio, put on your supported AirPods or Beats, connect them to an iPhone featuring a TrueDepth camera, navigate to your headphone settings, and complete the quick camera scans of your face and ears. Your customized sound profile automatically syncs across any Apple hardware logged into your Apple Account.
Check Compatibility Before You Scan
The initial profile requires an iPhone with a TrueDepth camera. Playback also requires AirPods or Beats headphones that support Spatial Audio, plus compatible content and software.
Because Apple updates its compatibility lists, verify the exact headphone and device models before troubleshooting a missing menu.
Hardware & Software Requirements
- An iPhone equipped with a TrueDepth camera for the initial facial mapping.
- Spatial Audio-compatible AirPods or Beats headphones.
- Current iOS and firmware updates across your connected gear.
- Media files or streaming apps encoded with Spatial Audio or Dolby Atmos.
How to Scan Your Features and Build Your Profile
- Put your supported headphones on and make sure they’re actively paired with your iPhone.
- Launch the Settings app on your phone.
- Tap your connected AirPods or Beats listed right near the top of the menu.
- Scroll down, choose Personalized Spatial Audio, and select the setup prompt.
- Center your face in the camera frame and follow the on-screen prompts to capture your front profile.
- Angle your head as instructed so the camera can scan your left and right ears.
- Wrap up the scan and play a test track to hear your custom audio profile in action.
The on-screen visual prompts guide you through every angle, so you don’t need any extra gadgets or special lighting gear to get an accurate scan.
How to Adjust Playback and Head Tracking Settings
Once your profile is saved, you can easily adjust how sound moves around you. Swipe down to open Control Center on your iPhone or iPad, tap and hold the Volume slider, then select the Spatial Audio icon.
- Head Tracked: Sound stays anchored to your screen, shifting dynamically as you move your head around.
- Fixed: Immersive surround sound stays turned on, but the audio stage doesn’t shift when you move your head.
- Off: Disables Spatial Audio entirely and reverts your headphones to standard two-channel stereo.
Your personalized profile dictates how frequencies are tuned for your ear geometry, while these control modes dictate how the soundfield responds to your physical movement during playback.
Where You’ll Notice the Audio Difference
Custom spatial profiles deliver the biggest impact when you’re watching movies or TV shows mixed in Dolby Atmos. Dialogue and sound effects seem to originate from distinct points around your room rather than simply playing inside your ears.
For music, the effect depends heavily on how the original track was engineered. It helps to listen to a few different genres to see whether you prefer the spatial mix over traditional stereo.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you set up Personalized Spatial Audio if you don’t own an iPhone?
No, you need an iPhone with a TrueDepth camera to execute the initial face and ear scan. However, once your profile is generated, it automatically syncs to your Mac, iPad, or Apple TV via your Apple Account.
Does Apple save your camera scans as regular photographs?
No. Apple processes the camera data locally on your device to calculate spatial measurements, and the visual scans are not saved to your photo library.
What is the process for disabling Personalized Spatial Audio?
Head into Settings, select your connected headphones, choose Personalized Spatial Audio, and tap the option to remove or turn off the profile. You can always redo the setup later if you want it back.
The Bottom Line
Personalized Spatial Audio is a quick, effective way to fine-tune Apple’s surround sound technology to the unique shape of your head and ears. Once you complete the brief camera scan, try switching between Head Tracked and Fixed modes while watching a movie to find the setting that sounds best to you.
Source: Apple. Read the original article.
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