Suppose you are listening to music on your iPad via your AirPods or AirPods Pro. Suddenly the phone rings, which you answer on your iPhone. Your AirPods will then automatically connect to the iPhone, so you can have a hands-free conversation on your iPhone. This is very useful in many situations, especially because when you hang up the phone call, your AirPods automatically switch back to your iPad and you can continue listening to your music. But if you work with two devices at the same time, it can be inconvenient for your AirPods to keep switching from one device to the other. With these steps you can disable the automatic switching of your AirPods.
- Suitable devices
- Switch off
Suitable devices for automatic switching with AirPods
What is good to know in advance is that you need certain devices and software versions to automatically change AirPods. It only works if you use these things:
- AirPods (second generation or newer)
- AirPods Pro
- AirPods Max
- Powerbeats
- Powerbeats Pro
- Beats Solo Pro
- iPhone (iOS 14 or newer)
- iPad (iPadOS 14 or newer)
- Mac (macOS Big Sur or newer)
The automatic switching only works if you use one of the above audio products in combination with the suitable software versions. If you use an older version of iOS, iPadOS or macOS, automatic switching to that device will not work. The AirPods only connect to devices that are logged in with the same Apple ID.
Disable automatic switching of AirPods
There are two ways you can prevent your AirPods from automatically switching to the wrong device: by undoing the switch or by disabling the feature per device.
Option 1: Undo swap
As soon as your AirPods automatically switch from your iPhone to your iPad, for example, a notification will appear at the top of your iPhone screen confirming the switch. Then tap the left arrow button at the top to undo this switch and reconnect your AirPods to your current device.
Option 2: Disable automatic switching
The second option is to disable the feature completely. You can do this per device: if you no longer want your AirPods to automatically go to your iPad, but still to your Mac, disable it only on your iPad. You do this as follows:
- Connect the AirPods to the device on which you want to disable automatic switching.
- Go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap the i icon behind the connected AirPods or immediately tap the connected AirPods in the main menu of Settings.
- Tap Connect to this iPhone/iPad.
- Now check the box If this iPhone/iPad was the last connection.
This setting ensures that the AirPods only go to the iPhone or iPad the last time they were manually connected to it. They no longer automatically switch to the relevant device when music on other audio is played on it. So you can set this per device for which you no longer want the AirPods to automatically switch to.
On the Mac, go to System Settings > Bluetooth and tap the i icon behind the AirPods. Then choose the When last connected to this Mac setting, instead of Automatic.
You can connect manually by opening the Control Panel and tapping the AirPlay icon at the top right. The AirPods appear in the overview of Bluetooth devices so you can connect to them. Also read our article about pairing your AirPods. If you want to use your AirPods with your Mac, that is of course also possible.
