[Software] iOS 15 Breaks This AirPods Pro Feature

[Angel of Death]

The release of iOS 15 broke a feature that allowed Siri to manage the AirPods Pro's currently active Noise Control mode. There are three Noise Control modes: Active Noise Cancellation uses "anti-noise" to dull the impact of environmental sounds, Transparency allows those sounds to be heard over whatever is currently playing, and the Off setting effectively turns the AirPods Pro into more traditional earbuds that don't attempt to compensate for surrounding noises. AirPods Pro owners can switch between those modes via the Settings app, Control Center, and by long-pressing on the earbuds. Before the release of iOS 15, they could also use Siri by saying "Hey Siri, turn off Active Noise Cancellation" or something similar, but now the voice assistant responds to those requests with "Sorry, I can't help you with that." We've confirmed this problem using a public release of iOS 15 on an iPhone SE with paired AirPods Pro. The other methods of changing the currently active Noise Control mode still work, but no matter how we phrased the request, Siri told us that it couldn't help us switch between the modes. (At least it was apologetic each time; we'd start to get snippy after a while.) There is some good news: MacRumors reports that this problem doesn't affect the iOS 15.1 beta. That probably won't help most AirPods Pro owners who've already updated their devices to iOS 15, but assuming Apple is quick to release the operating system's first point upgrade, people should be able to manage Noise Control with Siri again sooner than later.