Google Pixel Buds Pro owners are about to get a great free audio upgrade

Make your music sound exactly how you want it with this update to the Pixel Buds app

Google Pixel Buds Pro true wireless earbuds
(Image credit: Google)

When Google launched its Pixel Buds Pro earlier this year, it promised that its best true wireless earbuds would get additional features before 2022 was out.

And, according to code uncovered by 9to5google, some of those new Pixel Buds Pro features are coming in an imminent Pixel Buds app update.

A new app update began rolling out on the 21st of September, and while the new features aren't active yet (or at least, weren't on the Android device that 9to5google used to test the new app) there are multiple references inside the app's code that indicate the promised equalizer feature is coming to your Pixel Buds.

Why you'll want the new equalizer feature in your Pixel Buds Pro

The new Equalizer will offer two ways of using it: the familiar five-slider adjustment to create your own customised EQ, or a choice of seven different presets. At the moment those presets are Balanced, Clarity, Default, Heavy Bass, Light Bass, Vocal Boost and Last Saved. There will also be a Balance slider so you can adjust the left-right balance in music or movies.

While the Equalizer is obviously a welcome improvement, many Pixel Buds Pro users will be more interested in promised features that don't appear to be in the app yet, especially ANC improvements and Spatial Audio. The former moves the ANC controls on your phone to more sensible locations, and the latter offers 3D audio via head tracking and will only be available on the Pixel Buds Pro.

While those features are still intended for a 2022 update, it doesn't look like they'll turn up in this particular app update – so if you're desperately waiting for Spatial Audio to come to your Pixel Buds Pro, it sounds like you'll have to be patient for a little longer.

Carrie Marshall

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com).