Understandably, there has been a lot of talk about Apple Music and Spatial Audio, but less about Spatial Audio and video entertainment content. Could that be about to change? Netflix has decided to support Apple Spatial Audio via its iOS app.

After denying that it was testing Apple Spatial Audio in February 2021, including issuing a statement to MacRumors, it now turns out that Netflix has been testing Apple Spatial Audio since December 2020 and now they are rolling out support for Apple’s Spatial Audio on the iPhone and iPad. Initially, this was shared by users on platforms like Twitter, Reddit and the MacRumors forum.

Since then, a Netflix spokesperson has confirmed to 9to5Mac, The Verge and MacRumors that the rollout is underway but that it will be a slow rollout.

How To Experience Apple Spatial Audio With Netflix

The option for managing Spatial Audio is located in the Control Center. But note that unlike Apple Music support for Spatial Audio, which works on any headphones, because Netflix uses head tracking you will need either AirPods Pro and AirPods Max earphones to enjoy Apple Spatial Audio with Netflix content.

All the reports are saying you need iOS 14 or iOS 15, but we suspect that you will need iOS 14.6 or higher as that is the version of iOS that brought support for Spatial Audio.

You will also need to have an iPhone 7, an iPad Air 3, an iPad 6, an iPad Mini 5 or an iPad Pro.

This is how Apple describes the spatial audio feature for AirPods Pro and AirPods Max users:

“Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking brings the movie theater experience right to your AirPods Pro. By applying directional audio filters and subtly adjusting the frequencies each ear receives, spatial audio can place sounds virtually anywhere in space, creating an immersive surround sound experience. Using the gyroscope and accelerometer in your AirPods Pro and your iPhone, spatial audio tracks the motion of your head as well as your device, compares the motion data, and then remaps the sound field so that it stays anchored to your device even as your head moves.”

On iOS 14 you will only be able to enjoy Netflix content in Spatial Audio if it is available in Dolby Atmos from Netflix.

Whereas with iOS 15, Apple has taken “Spatial Audio to the next level” with a new Spatialize Stereo option, which simulates the Spatial Audio experience for non-Dolby Atmos content.

With this new Spatialize Stereo option, Apple has designed it so that you can listen to pretty well any song or video via Spatial Audio but only when you are using AirPods Pro or AirPods Max.

It’s not going to be the full three-dimensional sound experience that comes with Dolby content, but it reportedly does a good job of simulating the audio coming from different directions as you move your head around whilst wearing AirPods.

To enable Spatialize Stereo in iOS 15 and iPadOS 15, just connect your AirPods Pro or AirPods Max and start playing any content. Then go to the Control Center, press and hold on the volume slider, and you will see the new option there.

You can even try Spatialize Stereo with videos from your photo library or even with Spotify songs. However, be aware that it doesn’t seem to work with apps that have their own player, such as YouTube but apparently it does work with the latest version of the Netflix app

If you don’t get see Spatial Audio in the Netflix app, make sure you have the latest version from the App Store and continue checking over the coming weeks.

Will Consumers Use This?

This is another enhancement for people to be able to experience immersive audio when consuming content on smartphones and tablets. But even though they have built it, will they come? Will consumers chose to enable the feature, and will they be able to tell the difference?