How to pair Bluetooth headphones to your Nintendo Switch
The Nintendo Switch, one of the best-selling consoles of all time, has been out in the world for four whole years — and for all that time, the only way to use it with headphones or earpods was to plug them into a jack located, inexplicably, on the top edge of the unit.
Now Nintendo has released a software update that allows for Bluetooth audio pairing, and while we're cranky that it was a software fix all along and we've only just got it, we'll absolutely take it.
So let's have a look at just how easy it is to pair your Switch with your Apple AirPods, or any Bluetooth-enabled headphones or pods.
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1. Go to your home screen
Press the Home button on your controller.
2. Tap or navigate to System Settings
That's the little gear icon.
3. Select Bluetooth Audio
Scroll down the menu bar on the right of the screen and select this option, which is third from the bottom of the list.
4. Select Add Device
You'll see some small text explaining the limitations of the Switch's Bluetooth capability, including the lack of Bluetooth microphone functionality (so you'll need to use other options for chatting in online play).
5. Get your headphones or pods ready to pair.
Follow the usual steps for making your Bluetooth audio device discoverable — holding down the button on the back of your AirPods case, for example.
6. Select your device when it comes up on the Switch screen.
You might need to try this more than once if the Switch says it's unable to connect — my AirPods Pros connected the first time I tried, but took a couple of attempts when I removed them and then tried to reconnect.
That should be that — now you can enjoy playing Hades in bed, free of any annoying wires, while your partner reads a book like a weird little nerd or whatever. And when your headphones or pods are set up on the Switch, they should be there and ready to reconnect next time.
One caveat: Soon after this update was released, some users have reported that their Switch takes much longer to wake when Bluetooth audio is paired. I wasn't able to replicate this issue, but The Verge has a helpful guide to troubleshooting this and other pairing problems.
Topics AirPods Gaming Nintendo Switch
Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.
