Fortunately for Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 owners, the FOMO from Apple's announcement of its AirPods Pro 3 last week was short-lived. After introducing the latest Beats ear hook style headphones in February, Apple is introducing new features and updating the heart rate tracking functionality of the Powerbeats Pro 2 with the upcoming release of iOS 26.
With the latest iOS upgrade, Powerbeats Pro 2 integrates better with Apple's Fitness app, giving users more accurate data and the choice of up to 50 different workout types. For Apple's Fitness+ users, the Beats earbuds will also show the heart rate, calories burned and "Burn Bar" metrics in real time. Outside the Fitness app, iOS 26 will bring smaller improvements like being able to use a single earbud for heart rate monitoring, better accuracy when counting steps even when your iPhone isn't on you and a new algorithm that churns out faster heart rate readings. To make your life easier, the updated Powerbeats Pro 2 will send you a notification to get a better fit for more accurate heart rate monitoring and can sense if you nod or shake your head in response to Siri asking you to answer an incoming call or hear a text.
All of these iOS 26 upgrades for the Powerbeats Pro 2 will mostly put it in line with the AirPods Pro 3 features when the update releases on September 15. However, in our review of the Beats earbuds, we found that they offered mediocre ANC performance. It's worth noting that Android users for the Powerbeats Pro 2 won't get many of the Apple-branded features that come with iOS 26.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/some-much-needed-upgrades-are-coming-to-powerbeats-pro-2-with-ios-26-181716994.html?src=rss
