More than a reskin
With iOS 27, Apple did not simply overlay the Liquid Glass design on existing screens: the first developer beta shows an entirely rebuilt AirPods section inside Settings. According to 9to5Mac, which analyzed the build immediately after release, the new layout reorganizes options into clearer categories and makes advanced settings — such as spatial audio control, the newly announced custom EQ, and case gesture settings — more accessible.
The keynote context
At WWDC 2026, Apple officially announced Custom EQ for AirPods, the ability to create personalized audio profiles beyond the existing presets. The Settings section redesign is the visual container where these new options now live: without a refreshed structure, adding further controls would have made the screen cluttered and difficult to navigate.
What changes for users
Anyone who has ever searched for a specific AirPods setting in iOS knows how fragmented the previous navigation was, split across Bluetooth, Accessibility, and the device's dedicated entry in Settings. The new layout centralizes everything into a single panel organized by thematic sections. It is a usability improvement that earns no keynote headline but has a direct impact on daily experience.