AirPods are a device that you can connect to your iPhone devices using Bluetooth technology. With Bluetooth technology, you need to first make your device discoverable, once this is done, you’ll be able to pair up your Bluetooth device to your iPhone.
If you own AirPods, it’s likely that you’re a heavy music listener, or that you prefer using headphones over your phone’s external speaker. Most people have wired headphones along with Bluetooth headphones like the AirPods.
Because they both connect to your iPhone in different ways, one through the lightening jack and one via Bluetooth, or if you’re not using your iPhone, it’d be through a headphone jack or USB connector, it’s common to think that you can connect and output audio out of both devices at the same time.
Can You Play Audio From AirPods and Wired Headphones At The Same Time
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to output audio from your AirPods and wired headphones at the same time. If you’ve connected your AirPods and plug in your Headphones, audio will only be played out of the device that was last connected.
It’s not possible for your iPhone or any device for that matter to output audio out of 2 different devices – it can only output audio to one Bluetooth device at a time due to limitations in the A2DP audio profile that is used to transmit audio to the Bluetooth device.
If you’ve connected your AirPods and you try to plug in your wired headphones, audio will start to play out of your wired headphones and the output will only be transferred to your Bluetooth AirPods once you unplug your headphones. Once you unplug your headphones, the audio output will be transferred back to the AirPods because there’s only 1 output device available for the audio to play from.
It is possible to play audio from two Bluetooth devices at the same time using a Bluetooth splitter or iPhone audio sharing feature that allows you to connect two Bluetooth devices and play audio out of both of them using the Control Center. This is useful if you’re out with someone and you both want to be listening to the same music at the same time.
It’s also possible to play audio from two wired headphone devices using an audio jack splitter but it’s not possible for you to split the audio between a Bluetooth device and a wired headphones device.
However, there is a very useful and fun way to share audio between 2 separate pairs of wireless headphones on two separate phones! Just keep in mind; only AirPods and select wireless Beats are supported for this feature. You’ll also need two iOS devices to do this.
This feature is called Airplay, an iOS feature that allows you to share audio, along with much more, completely wireless! You can stream almost anything, like photos, videos, movies and songs from your Apple device to your Apple TV or airplay supported smart tv.
You can also stream your entire phone screen to your Smart TV, using the phone as a remote and tv as your screen!
Again – no wires necessary; all you need is for the two devices to be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The feature we’ll be going over today is Audio Sharing.
This is another fun and useful feature that allows you to easily share audio from one device through two pairs of headphones. Without further ado, let’s get started!
How to Use Audio Sharing on iOS Using AirPlay
1. Connect your AirPods to your device like normal and wear them as desired.
2. On your device, you’ll see a symbol that looks like an up arrow with rings around it. This button will be visible on the Now Playing screen, the Lock Screen, or in your Control Center. Tap this button.
3. Tap share audio, located below the name of your headphones.
4. Bring the other pair of headphones close to your device.
5. Now, press “Share Audio” on your device.
6. Finally, ask the shared listener to press “join” on their device.
You and your friend should now be able to hear the audio coming through your device, on both headphones. You’ll no longer have to use phone speakers to listen to music together! From the control center, you’ll be able to adjust the volume of both headphones as well as stop the audio sharing at any time.
How to Use Bluetooth and Wired Headphones at the Same Time iPhone
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to do play sound through Bluetooth and wired headphones at the same time on an iPhone. You can, however, switch between the two very easily using our method. Here’s how!
1. First, connect your AirPods. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on in your control panel. Then, open your AirPods; as long as the light comes on in your AirPods case, the AirPods should be charged enough to connect.
If you’ve already connected these AirPods to your phone before, they should connect as soon as you put the AirPods in your ears (unless you turned this setting off).
If they don’t, open your control panel and hard press Bluetooth. A list of possible devices to connect to will show up; select your AirPods.
2. Test that your AirPods are working by playing sound or music. If you don’t hear music, it’s possible your AirPods are dead or your Bluetooth is turned off. It’s also possible that your device connected to another Bluetooth device automatically.
3. If the sound through your AirPods is working correctly, then keep using as intended. When you want to switch to wired headphones, simply plug them into your device. The sound should now start playing through the headphones you just plugged in.
4. Now, when you unplug your headphones, audio will automatically start playing through your AirPods again! This is how you can quickly switch back and forth between devices. So, while you can’t play sound through 2 devices at once, you can switch back and forth very easily.
Conclusion
iOS currently does not support using two Bluetooth devices through one phone, probably because it would drain your battery very quickly and there’s not many reasons you’d want to do this anyways.
However, you can share audio through 2 Bluetooth devices, as long as you have two Apple devices that support airplay. This is a very cool feature that allows you and your friends to listen to the same audio, at the same time.
This feature is especially useful in public places – just remember, you’ll both need AirPods or a supported wireless Beats by Dre device. Gone are the days of listening to music through a phone speaker!
Airplay has other features as well, such as instant video and photo sharing to smart TVs. You can also share your entire screen to a TV to play your favorite phone games on the big screen! With AirPlay, the possibilities are endless, and far surpass the use to share audio.