Apple designed its new AirPods to be pretty easy to set up and use, but one thing that’s clearly missing is the ability to change the volume using hardware controls without reaching for your iPhone. Fortunately, if you regularly use AirPods without an iPhone or Apple Watch within reach, you might find it handy to know that you can actually change your iPhone’s volume using Siri voice commands.
Simply tap on the AirPods to activate Siri, and then issue an appropriate command like Increase the volume or Turn the sound down and Siri will respond appropriately, although Siri seems to increase and decrease the volume in larger increments than using the hardware buttons on the iPhone. You can also ask Siri what the current volume level is, which will be expressed as a percentage. You can also ask Siri to set the volume to a specific percentage, which might be more useful once you’ve experimented a bit and become familiar with your preferred listening levels.