Netflix enables Spatial Audio support for iPhone and iPad

Netflix on Wednesday began to roll out Spatial Audio support on its iPhone and iPad apps, offering users with compatible AirPods models an immersive listening experience when watching TV shows, movies and other content.

Spatial Audio is currently rolling out to iPhone and iPad users running iOS 14 as a settings option, reports iPhonesoft. The French language publication claimed Netflix began testing the feature in January.

Netflix confirmed the rollout to 9to5Mac in a statement earlier today, though the feature might not be immediately available to all users.

When it is accessible, the option will appear in Control Center only when a pair of compatible AirPods are connected to the host device. Opening Control Center and performing a long press on the volume slider brings up options to activate noise cancelling and, new for Netflix, Spatial Audio.

Netflix support for Spatial Audio is currently limited to AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

Introduced in June 2020, Spatial Audio is Apple's take on 3D audio for headphones. Built on Dolby Atmos technology, the solution applies directional audio filters and frequency modulation to simulate an immersive surround sound listening experience.

Apple's upcoming iOS 15 includes a feature called "Spatialize Stereo," which simulates Spatial Audio for content not recorded or mastered in Dolby Atmos.

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9 Comments

winstoner71

said about 2 years ago

Kind of a big deal. Love it.

peterhart

said about 2 years ago

winstoner71 said:

Kind of a big deal. Love it.

Same. I was on the elliptical the other day and watching a movie on my iPhone via Plex while wearing my AirPods Pro. I turned my head at one point but the audio “stayed” in front of me. It was the first time I experienced spatial audio and thought ‘wow, that was cool.’

wwinter86

said about 2 years ago

But not on the Apple TV box?

Japhey

said about 2 years ago

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Right? The experience is “immersive”, but only on the smallest screens we can access it from.

canucklehead

said about 2 years ago

wwinter86 said:

But not on the Apple TV box?

Already announced for next major TVOS update. Apparently, currently only works with iOS and M1 Macs due to hardware that allows the devices to recognize relative direction. A software implementation is being worked on.