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AirPods can connect to any device and perform on par with other Bluetooth headphones. This is about availability of special features which require a dedicated d

by exitb 11mo ago

AirPods can connect to any device and perform on par with other Bluetooth headphones. This is about availability of special features which require a dedicated driver non-Apple devices are not expected to have.

kakacik 11mo ago
This is patently incorrect. Wife switched from iphone 13 mini to samsung s24, and airpods pro 2nd gen immediately started behaving extremely annoyingly to the point of becoming completely useless for any serious use and she just gave them away to her sister which still is on apple, although she loved them before. Literally all other earpieces work flawlessly with that phone including dirt cheap chinese stuff, apart from apple. Now somebody could come and claim multi trillion company couldnt just nail that pesky bluetooth protocol well, but everybody else can do it better than them, including 15 bucks products. Its all by design. They clearly dont need hardware revenue to have products who can compete on open market, they need their closed ecosystem revenue, hence these dirty practices. There is hopefully a billion or ten lawsuit in the making by courts with balls, ie EU. All the downvotes in the world won't change above.
- realusername 11mo ago
  I can also confirm the problem on a s23, airpods are the only Bluetooth devices which I've experienced cuts in the middle of the audio, similar to an old school radio
  - yxab 11mo ago
    Does turning off the AirPods automatic device switching feature make any difference?
    - realusername 11mo ago
      I didn't try but that's a good idea.
    - dotancohen 11mo ago
      How to do that without an iPhone?
- coded_monkey 11mo ago
  I hate to be the Apple fanboy but an anecdote is far from “patently incorrect”. Never had any issues with my AirPods with third-party devices.
  - maccard 11mo ago
    I’m pretty much the definition of an Apple fanboy - every device in my house is Apple (because the hardware works, is reliable and it works together). That said, I have one windows machine for work and my AirPods just don’t work with it.
- philipallstar 11mo ago
  I have no issues with airpod pros 2 on a nice cheap OnePlus phone. They also pair with my Linux PC through a random Bluetooth dongle and that also works fine.
  - bloppe 11mo ago
    Can you see the battery level?
    - philipallstar 11mo ago
      Ah! I cannot. Interesting. What you never had you never miss (-:
- xandrius 11mo ago
  Have you tried with another device or just using a sample size of one? I'm not a fanboy but I never use Airpods with any Apple product and I can use them properly without any hiccup with several others (windows, linux and android). Maybe there's something up with your phone?
  - butvacuum 11mo ago
    Quite probable that it's the classic Bluetooth issue of devices fighting to see who gets paired to.
- talkingtab 11mo ago
  Just take apple to small claims court. If everyone who is scammed by Apple takes them to small claims they will have an incentive to change. Without this they have -0.00000000000 incentive to do anything. Even a class action suit won't help. The fundamental question is whether Apple should be able to sell products with lock in. Since there is lockin on all Apple products it is not accidental. In my humble opinion only. You, dear reader, work out your own thoughts.
  - jcalvinowens 11mo ago
    > Just take apple to small claims court. You can't do that, you certainly agreed to binding arbitration with apple at some point.
    - WheatMillington 11mo ago
      Very American-centric response. You cannot contract out of small claims court exposure in my country.
      - jcalvinowens 11mo ago
        Go try to actually recover damages from apple and let me know how that goes for you :)
  - thewebguyd 11mo ago
    > The fundamental question is whether Apple should be able to sell products with lock in. Unpopular opinion in these parts, but I think yes, they should be able to (continue) to sell products with lock in. Where Apple should get in trouble is specifically locking others out, rather than locking their own stuff in. If Apple wants to make a smartwatch that only works with iPhones, fine. What they shouldn't be able to do is block (either intentionally or via undocumented/private APIs and TOS violations) third parties from making a smartwatch for iPhone that can compete on the same playing field as the Apple Watch, with access to all of the same features. Same goes for all tech companies. If you want to lock-in your own first party products, fine, but you absolutely should not be allowed to lock-out others.
- turtlebits 11mo ago
  My pro 2s worked fine on my S21 and S24 ultra. What annoyed me the most is that they would auto connect to my iPad first (if audio was playing)
- prmoustache 11mo ago
  Maybe the issue here is Samsung and not Apple. We owned 2 Samsung smartphone in the last 10 years and both would only accept to charge at a decent speed on with damsung chargers while other smartphones of the household would charge just fine with all of them.
xps 11mo ago
They don't report battery status to non-Apple devices. This is a pretty basic feature and without this I wouldn't consider them to perform "on par" with other Bluetooth headphones.
- alickz 11mo ago
  Also if the README is to be believed the following are also hidden behind an Apple DID (not driver): - Multi-device Connectivity - Accessibility Settings and Hearing Aid While the following are exclusive to Apple devices for market reasons: - Receive Battery Information - Set/Receive ANC Modes - Set Adaptive Audio Noise settings - Receive In-Ear detection Status - Personalized Volume (use at your own risk - might randomly boost volume to some high level) - Conversational Awareness - Ear Detection - Siri (Voice assistant on long stem press) - Hold and Press configuration - Head Tracking (for Spatial Audio and Head Gestures) - Rename AirPods https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods/issues/20 https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods/issues/20 I imagine limiting such features to Apple devices is more about incentivizing the Apple Ecosystem than quality or software concerns
  - trollbridge 11mo ago
    Or Apple just doesn't want to bother with the nightmare of supplying and supporting an app to do all those things on other platforms, and in particular, there are regulatory approvals around the "hearing aid" feature that would pretty much require a specific device. They have a basic app for some of their other devices like the Beats line. One other thing you simply can't do without pairing AirPods with an Apple device is enrol them in AppleCare One.
    - angoragoats 11mo ago
      You're responding in a sub-thread where others have specifically called out the fact that you can't get battery status from AirPods on non-Apple platforms. This is, to my knowledge, a feature that is supported natively by the Bluetooth stacks on every mainstream OS and requires no "apps" at all. For example, I can connect my Bluetooth mouse to my Linux machine and it happily reports the state of the battery. Care to offer a justification for why this is the case without resorting to "the multi-trillion-dollar behemoth can't be bothered to build an app"?
MagicMoonlight 11mo ago
They don't. I love my airpods but it's not viable to use them with anything other than my phone.
- gjstein 11mo ago
  What sort of laptop/desktop do you have? I regularly use my AirPods with my Steam Deck and they work great!
  - danielbln 11mo ago
    Same, use them with my Switch 2 without issues.
  - bloppe 11mo ago
    Really? Even multi-device connectivity?
    - thewebguyd 11mo ago
      When you pair AirPods with a non-Apple bluetooth device, you lose the automatic device switching is all. You can still "enter and exit" the Apple ecosystem with them by just going into Bluetooth settings and tapping on the AirPods and they'll reconnect to Apple-land and start switching again, and vice versa. Once paired with, say, Windows, it'll auto-connect or you can manually trigger it by just tapping them in Bluetooth settings. Once paired, AirPods just work like any other bluetooth headphones.
      - bloppe 11mo ago
        I mean ya, if they couldn't do that, then you couldn't even call it Bluetooth. I was asking about multi-device connectivity, which is a slightly more advanced feature that lots of other earbuds can do in a cross-platform way.
        PaulHoule 11mo ago
jamespo 11mo ago
Hail Corporate indeed
nuccy 11mo ago
Actually even within Apple ecosystem not all devices are made equal. MacBooks lack some features available for AirPods Pro on iPhones, e.g. seal check, translation, everything in the "accessibility" category: button press duration settings, single-airpod noise-cancelling, etc. Android obviously is out of the game totally for AirPods - no spacial audio, no changes of ANC, no battery level, but at least ANC modes can be changed on AirPods directly, and button press works to answer calls, and pause/play audio, and also volume control works. I'm three-generation Airpods Pro (around 5 years) user on Android and Macbook (no iPhone at all). In first and second generation there was a "bug" (or intentional feature) that even when connected to Android, and not being connected to my Mac, the latter was showing the charge level on both Airpods, but at some point it was removed. In first and second generation I had an issue with one AirPod making strange noises, in both cases even Apple Support at the Genius Bar didn't know what to make out of it that I don't use AirPods with iPhone, but only with a Mac (and Android).
Yizahi 11mo ago
Not always. My first gen airpods are unable to pair with Samsung phone. It just doesn't see them, regardless of whatever magic combinations of holds and presses I do. Thankfully they do work with my old iPhone, so they are not completely useless, but this is the last Apple branded periphery I will ever buy.

by exitb 11mo ago

kakacik 11mo ago

This is patently incorrect. Wife switched from iphone 13 mini to samsung s24, and airpods pro 2nd gen immediately started behaving extremely annoyingly to the point of becoming completely useless for any serious use and she just gave them away to her sister which still is on apple, although she loved them before. Literally all other earpieces work flawlessly with that phone including dirt cheap chinese stuff, apart from apple. Now somebody could come and claim multi trillion company couldnt just nail that pesky bluetooth protocol well, but everybody else can do it better than them, including 15 bucks products. Its all by design. They clearly dont need hardware revenue to have products who can compete on open market, they need their closed ecosystem revenue, hence these dirty practices. There is hopefully a billion or ten lawsuit in the making by courts with balls, ie EU. All the downvotes in the world won't change above.

realusername 11mo ago
I can also confirm the problem on a s23, airpods are the only Bluetooth devices which I've experienced cuts in the middle of the audio, similar to an old school radio
- yxab 11mo ago
  Does turning off the AirPods automatic device switching feature make any difference?
  - realusername 11mo ago
    I didn't try but that's a good idea.
  - dotancohen 11mo ago
    How to do that without an iPhone?
coded_monkey 11mo ago
I hate to be the Apple fanboy but an anecdote is far from “patently incorrect”. Never had any issues with my AirPods with third-party devices.
- maccard 11mo ago
  I’m pretty much the definition of an Apple fanboy - every device in my house is Apple (because the hardware works, is reliable and it works together). That said, I have one windows machine for work and my AirPods just don’t work with it.
philipallstar 11mo ago
I have no issues with airpod pros 2 on a nice cheap OnePlus phone. They also pair with my Linux PC through a random Bluetooth dongle and that also works fine.
- bloppe 11mo ago
  Can you see the battery level?
  - philipallstar 11mo ago
    Ah! I cannot. Interesting. What you never had you never miss (-:
xandrius 11mo ago
Have you tried with another device or just using a sample size of one? I'm not a fanboy but I never use Airpods with any Apple product and I can use them properly without any hiccup with several others (windows, linux and android). Maybe there's something up with your phone?
- butvacuum 11mo ago
  Quite probable that it's the classic Bluetooth issue of devices fighting to see who gets paired to.
talkingtab 11mo ago
Just take apple to small claims court. If everyone who is scammed by Apple takes them to small claims they will have an incentive to change. Without this they have -0.00000000000 incentive to do anything. Even a class action suit won't help. The fundamental question is whether Apple should be able to sell products with lock in. Since there is lockin on all Apple products it is not accidental. In my humble opinion only. You, dear reader, work out your own thoughts.
- jcalvinowens 11mo ago
  > Just take apple to small claims court. You can't do that, you certainly agreed to binding arbitration with apple at some point.
  - WheatMillington 11mo ago
    Very American-centric response. You cannot contract out of small claims court exposure in my country.
    - jcalvinowens 11mo ago
      Go try to actually recover damages from apple and let me know how that goes for you :)
- thewebguyd 11mo ago
  > The fundamental question is whether Apple should be able to sell products with lock in. Unpopular opinion in these parts, but I think yes, they should be able to (continue) to sell products with lock in. Where Apple should get in trouble is specifically locking others out, rather than locking their own stuff in. If Apple wants to make a smartwatch that only works with iPhones, fine. What they shouldn't be able to do is block (either intentionally or via undocumented/private APIs and TOS violations) third parties from making a smartwatch for iPhone that can compete on the same playing field as the Apple Watch, with access to all of the same features. Same goes for all tech companies. If you want to lock-in your own first party products, fine, but you absolutely should not be allowed to lock-out others.
turtlebits 11mo ago
My pro 2s worked fine on my S21 and S24 ultra. What annoyed me the most is that they would auto connect to my iPad first (if audio was playing)
prmoustache 11mo ago
Maybe the issue here is Samsung and not Apple. We owned 2 Samsung smartphone in the last 10 years and both would only accept to charge at a decent speed on with damsung chargers while other smartphones of the household would charge just fine with all of them.

xps 11mo ago

They don't report battery status to non-Apple devices. This is a pretty basic feature and without this I wouldn't consider them to perform "on par" with other Bluetooth headphones.

alickz 11mo ago
Also if the README is to be believed the following are also hidden behind an Apple DID (not driver): - Multi-device Connectivity - Accessibility Settings and Hearing Aid While the following are exclusive to Apple devices for market reasons: - Receive Battery Information - Set/Receive ANC Modes - Set Adaptive Audio Noise settings - Receive In-Ear detection Status - Personalized Volume (use at your own risk - might randomly boost volume to some high level) - Conversational Awareness - Ear Detection - Siri (Voice assistant on long stem press) - Hold and Press configuration - Head Tracking (for Spatial Audio and Head Gestures) - Rename AirPods https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods/issues/20 https://github.com/kavishdevar/librepods/issues/20 I imagine limiting such features to Apple devices is more about incentivizing the Apple Ecosystem than quality or software concerns
- trollbridge 11mo ago
  Or Apple just doesn't want to bother with the nightmare of supplying and supporting an app to do all those things on other platforms, and in particular, there are regulatory approvals around the "hearing aid" feature that would pretty much require a specific device. They have a basic app for some of their other devices like the Beats line. One other thing you simply can't do without pairing AirPods with an Apple device is enrol them in AppleCare One.
  - angoragoats 11mo ago
    You're responding in a sub-thread where others have specifically called out the fact that you can't get battery status from AirPods on non-Apple platforms. This is, to my knowledge, a feature that is supported natively by the Bluetooth stacks on every mainstream OS and requires no "apps" at all. For example, I can connect my Bluetooth mouse to my Linux machine and it happily reports the state of the battery. Care to offer a justification for why this is the case without resorting to "the multi-trillion-dollar behemoth can't be bothered to build an app"?

MagicMoonlight 11mo ago

They don't. I love my airpods but it's not viable to use them with anything other than my phone.

gjstein 11mo ago
What sort of laptop/desktop do you have? I regularly use my AirPods with my Steam Deck and they work great!
- danielbln 11mo ago
  Same, use them with my Switch 2 without issues.
- bloppe 11mo ago
  Really? Even multi-device connectivity?
  - thewebguyd 11mo ago
    When you pair AirPods with a non-Apple bluetooth device, you lose the automatic device switching is all. You can still "enter and exit" the Apple ecosystem with them by just going into Bluetooth settings and tapping on the AirPods and they'll reconnect to Apple-land and start switching again, and vice versa. Once paired with, say, Windows, it'll auto-connect or you can manually trigger it by just tapping them in Bluetooth settings. Once paired, AirPods just work like any other bluetooth headphones.
    - bloppe 11mo ago
      I mean ya, if they couldn't do that, then you couldn't even call it Bluetooth. I was asking about multi-device connectivity, which is a slightly more advanced feature that lots of other earbuds can do in a cross-platform way.
      - PaulHoule 11mo ago

jamespo 11mo ago

Hail Corporate indeed

nuccy 11mo ago

Actually even within Apple ecosystem not all devices are made equal. MacBooks lack some features available for AirPods Pro on iPhones, e.g. seal check, translation, everything in the "accessibility" category: button press duration settings, single-airpod noise-cancelling, etc. Android obviously is out of the game totally for AirPods - no spacial audio, no changes of ANC, no battery level, but at least ANC modes can be changed on AirPods directly, and button press works to answer calls, and pause/play audio, and also volume control works. I'm three-generation Airpods Pro (around 5 years) user on Android and Macbook (no iPhone at all). In first and second generation there was a "bug" (or intentional feature) that even when connected to Android, and not being connected to my Mac, the latter was showing the charge level on both Airpods, but at some point it was removed. In first and second generation I had an issue with one AirPod making strange noises, in both cases even Apple Support at the Genius Bar didn't know what to make out of it that I don't use AirPods with iPhone, but only with a Mac (and Android).

Yizahi 11mo ago

Not always. My first gen airpods are unable to pair with Samsung phone. It just doesn't see them, regardless of whatever magic combinations of holds and presses I do. Thankfully they do work with my old iPhone, so they are not completely useless, but this is the last Apple branded periphery I will ever buy.