This AirPods Feature Fixed My Biggest Problem With Listening to Podcasts to Fall Asleep

Joel Cunningham Joel Cunningham Deputy Editor ExperienceJoel Cunningham is Lifehacker’s Deputy Editor. He has 15 years of experience as a writer and editor. Previously, he was managing editor of content marketing for Barnes & Noble, where he founded the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog. Read Full Bio November 9, 2026 Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google We may earn a commission from links on this page. Credit: Joel Cunningham We're highlighting the small changes—from useful new gadgets, to fresh productivity techniques, to efficient hacks—that are improving our lives on a weekly basis. Table of Contents There's lots to recommend about podcasts (and lots of podcasts to recommend), but one of their biggest benefits—for me, anyway—has little to do with what a particular show is about or even who hosts it: They're great for dissociating. I often have a podcast playing to distract my anxious brain from whatever I'm worried about (which, in 2026, is usually slightly less than everything). Any time I don't want to be alone with my thoughts (say, when commuting or doing mindless chores), I can put on a podcast and be entertained by a couple of goobers talking about movies rather than spinning my wheels about my son's middle school applications. And there's no time I want to disassociate from reality more than bedtime.For years I've used podcasts as a non-pharmaceutical sleep aid, and few things are more effective at helping me drop off quickly. Unfortunately, for years this also meant that once I fell asleep, the podcast kept playing. I have my podcast app set to delete episodes once finished, so if it was a show I cared about, I'd need to do a lot of redownloading and scrubbing through to find where I left off—that is, until I upgraded my earbuds to the AirPods Pro 3. The AirPods Pro 3 launched alongside iOS 26 in the fall of 2025 with flashy features like vastly improved noise cancellation, Live Translation, Heart Rate Sensing, and hearing health settings, all of them quite welcome on a set of $250 premium earbuds. But the best new AirPods feature was one I didn't even know about when I decided to upgrade my four-year-old Beats Fit Pro.In the AirPods settings (accessible via your iPhone's Settings app), if you tap Audio & Routing and scroll down, you'll see an option to turn on a setting called Pause Media When Falling Asleep. I don't think I need to tell you what this setting does. I can tell you that it works great. What do you think so far? According to Apple, the feature works by sensing when you're drifting off using the earbuds' built-in accelerometer to track your movement (or lack thereof). Once your earbuds have determined that you're falling asleep, they will pause your audio for you. And it isn't just the 2025 AirPods Pro 3 that support it—it also works on the second-generation AirPods Pro as well as the AirPods 4 and the AirPods 5.No need for dedicated sleep earbudsI'll admit that I don't really understand how the AirPods Pro 3 can tell I'm falling asleep versus just lying very still, but I've never had them pause accidentally during active listening. Conversely, whenever I go back to the podcast I was listening to the night before, I'll find that the audio paused within a minute or two of the last part I remember hearing. The AirPods Pro 3 aren't the only earbuds with a feature like this, but you'll most often only find it in dedicated "sleep earbuds" designed specifically for the purpose. While many of those offer extra health features like the ability to track your sleep cycles, I'm not really interested in that (my Apple Watch does most of it, and I don't look at that data anyway). Pausing my audio when I'm asleep is really all I need, and the AirPods Pro 3 do it well enough that I don't need to bother with a pair of dedicated bedtime buds. Lifehacker has been a go-to source of tech help and life advice since 2005. Our mission is to offer reliable tech help and credible, practical, science-based life advice to help you live better. Our Mission Our Team Newsletter © 2001-2026 Ziff Davis, LLC., A ZIFF DAVIS COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Lifehacker is a federally registered trademark of Ziff Davis and may not be used by third parties without explicit permission. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of Lifehacker. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant.