Apple's Airpods are foolproof to pair with any iPhone nearby as soon as you flip open the earbuds' charging case. The connection is offered immediately on the telephone display. Simply accept, and you can start listening to the music.
And that's about it - actually. Because if you take the trouble to take a look at the Airpods settings, you can still discover some useful things, such as these two functions.
Listen to music together
Listening to the same songs with someone else, but each with their own headphones? No problem. You can invite friends who also have Airpods or Beats headphones.
To do this, tap the Airplay button in the control center on your iPhone or iPad, on the lock screen or in the app that is playing the music.
Then select "Share audio", bring your friend's Airpods charging case close to the mobile device and open it.
Hold Airpods Max close to the device. Beats headphones must be put into pairing mode and placed near the device. As soon as the respective headphones are shown in the display, tap on "Share audio". Finished.
The volume can then be adjusted individually for each of the two connected headphones, as usual using the audio controls on the lock screen or in the control center. End sharing by tapping the check mark to the right of each headphone's volume control.
Automatically switch between different devices
This works if you log in with the same Apple ID on all devices connected to the Airpods (Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, Mac, Macbook, Apple TV) between which you want to switch and also activate two-factor authentication is.
If this is the case, playback continues seamlessly, for example, if you have stopped music on the iPhone and then turn on other music on the Apple Watch. Or playback on the iPad stops momentarily in favor of a call coming in on the iPhone.
Mac computers are also integrated into the system. Now and then, however, a confirmation dialog can appear on the screen, Apple explains.
The automatic interplay can be deactivated or activated for each device individually in the respective Bluetooth and Airpods settings under "More information" or "Options".
On iPhone, iPad and Mac there is an "Automatic" button in the connection options. On the Apple TV, the setting is called "Suggest Nearby Airpods".