As someone who lives in a noisy city, Voice Isolation is an essential feature for my phone calls. Without it turned on, I can’t call anyone when I’m outside—the background noise is simply too loud for me to hear. That’s why I always turn on Voice Isolation for phone calls on my iPhone. This is different from turning on noise cancellation on your AirPods, which just filters out background noise for you. During phone calls, Voice Isolation filters out background noise for the person you’re calling so they can hear you clearly. Here’s how to reduce background noise when you make phone calls on your iPhone, including how to set it to turn on automatically during calls.

When you make a phone call with your iPhone, you have access to the following microphone modes:

Auto: This is the best mode for most people. It chooses the best microphone mode for each situation you’re in, such as Voice Isolation when there’s a lot of background noise and Standard when you’re on speakerphone.

Standard: You get normal speech processing in this mode. Background noise is audible, but is slightly filtered.