How To Use Bluetooth Headphones On Switch - Connect AirPods To Nintendo Switch

This article isn't for me. I don't own the airpods headphones. You should do an article about other earphones too.

Miss me with the Switch Bluetooth audio update that doesn’t work with Sword and Shield because local communication is always on due to YComm… haven’t tried it yet but I’m thinking the only way to get it to work with those games is to always be connected to the internet so local communication isn’t being used?? Mess.

I absolutely LOVE THIS!!! Thank you Nintendo. FINALLY!!! But the volume is way too low. Even with the maximum setting disabled. No need for Nintendo to be concerned with the well being of my hearing. Crank up the volume!

Best upgrade ever (and long overdue)! I guess they especially wrote "airpods" since some islaves wouldn't know what Bluetooth headphones are without the additional branding.

Let's be clear that Bluetooth audio was presumably never the intention on the device. As proven that the Switch's BT codec only supports the low quality SBC which also affects latency but good enough for other peripherals like controllers. Not to mention it won't work while in local comms.

Although this is a very good addition to the Switch's feature set, people saying that it took Nintendo 4 years, well they had a reason not to do it. Maybe a high quality bluetooth module would have increased the price of the device a bit and most people could just compromise using wired headsets.

Right now I'm using wireless Anker buds and SteelSeries headsets and they all have noticeable lag/latency paired with the Switch. So unless I'm not playing games that needs precise Visual-Audio inputs like Rhythm games then I personally won't be using this feature that often. ....But I'd probably indulge myself with SSBU's music player.

What to do with my Bluetooth dongle now? It does have mic support though.

No idea what AirPods are, but my bluetooth earbuds work very well with the Switch! ^_^

This is great I just got a pair of these. I was just in the car the other day playing my Switch and thought it be nice to have them connected instead of the audio playing out loud so this is a great feature.

@RedBlueSpot this goes for all Bluetooth headsets.. they’re just using AirPods as a placer.. works with my Powerbeats 3 headphones just fine.. hope this helps

What's an airpod?

(But really, thanks for the article)

Just tried this out with a pro controller and BT headphones and it's introduced some really nasty input latency with the controller input. I couldn't believe quite how bad it was. As soon as I went back to wired headphones the input latency was gone.
There's no way I can play competitively online with that setup so I guess it's back to sitting uncomfortably close to the screen and Switch for me...

@WolfyTn Why is it necessary to specifically in the article write the brand? Why is it so urgent to know the brand if its not an specific way to connect them.

Unnecessary, I almost skipped the article because of this. What brand of Bluetooth earphones they are using will be apparent when reading the article. It's not necessary in the title.

A reasonably welcome update, even if I'm not the best of friends with bluetooth as a standard in general, OR with my JLB headphones in particular.

But this will at least assure that they get a lot more use around the home. ^^

Hmmm..airpods expensive for doing next to good for fast games.

Can’t voice chat……..Nintendo fails

Dam no voice chat.... wait another few year before that enable this feather and hopefully some custom theme also

Do you guys get £10 for every time you write the words Apple or AirPods or something?! Bizarre to use a single brand name so frequently in an article that applies equally to the thousands of other bluetooth earphones/headphones out there.

You’re better off using two cans and a string. I hooked up my Powerbeats Pro headphones and the max volume strength is less than half of what wired headphones do. I slapped in my wired Sony earbuds and I had to turn them down. Making my PB’s seem pointless. Add to the fact, that this would’ve been the perfect time to add voice chat and I can’t help but feel, that they probably shouldn’t have bothered.

I wanted this so bad and now that it's here people are claiming lag and latency, Im now thinking again on buying that genki device.

But before I commit tonthat purchase, I'll try miself later today, since I don't play online I have hopes this works just fine for me

Yeah I'm finding it really quiet on AirPods, and the volume limit feature was my first thought, but it was already switched off. I'll try my PowerBeats later and see if they have the same issue (they use the same chipset as the AirPods so I'm guessing they will).

I don't think I've noticed any sound lag issues, but I've only tried Cruisin' Blast so far. I'll try a Mario game later as the coin collection sound is always a giveaway for when sound is out of sync.

Honestly, Bluetooth dongles work way better and more efficiently than this Bluetooth. I commend their effort.. 4 years later.. but it's really hit or miss. I found the best experience to be:

Docked. Headphones (not truly wireless L/R earbuds) + pro controller.

Handheld/Tabletop. Headphone (again, not wireless independent L/R like AirPods, Samsung Buds, Google Buds, etc) + Pro controller (tabletop) or attached joycons (handheld).

Using joycons in tabletop and docked get really iffy with headphones in, just gets worse with truly wireless (independent L/R) earbuds. A lot of factors play in to this.. wireless interference of other things surrounding you and the distance you are to the devices.

Also, the big thing after every update.. remember to update your joycons as well. That would most definitely give you better performance, but it still isn't perfect. That's why Nintendo put some serious limitations with Bluetooth, because they knew the connectivity is garbage on Switch.

Nintendo's approach to Bluetooth feels like when you were a kid and your folks allowed you to have ice cream... BUT not before dinner, before bed or on school days.

I hope everyone gets lucky and have very little issues. A couple of things I experienced (depending on my distance and interference with other devices) were input lag, audio latency and some distortion/grainy/fuzziness if you tried to max your headphones. A lot of these issues seemed to happen when using joycons while docked. Pro controller wasn't as noticeable, if at all.

It is a good attempt, but I'm not sure if I should appreciate them adding it or be annoyed that it took them this long to implement something that is pretty common in modern devices. By any means is this a seamless process, it's quite clunky and very Nintendo. Apparently it disconnects if you're re-ordering/pairing controllers, yet they didn't think to add a shortcut or a way to re-connect your headphones.. so you either have to turn them off/on or jump in to the settings and connect them again. Which also doesn't work perfectly either.. some times it works first try, other times you have attempt several times, turn them off/on again or restart your Switch.

EDIT: Just as an FYI, I used SkullCandy Hesh3 headphones in my testing. I might try to see how difficult it is to pair my Samsung Galaxy Buds+ and my old Bose SoundLink speaker. I'm afraid to try this with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, because that game by default is pretty quiet.

@thegametb I use a Bluetooth dongle paired with Bluetooth earphones for my Switch and while the lag is noticeable it's far better than what's being described in this article.

E.g. The sound of Sonic jumping occurs right after he leaves the ground. Not at the peak of his jump.

This article applies to all BT headphones and earbuds, not just AirPods.

Also, re: those experiencing quiet volume — I had the issue with my Pixel Buds 2020. I toggled the Lower Max Volume on then off, which didn't seem to help, but after rebooting the Switch, the volume issue was resolved. Simple fix, so definitely try before panicking.

@RedBlueSpot It’s a good thing you can read.

Game changer

Is the Bluetooth Audio support going to work better on the switch OLED? I mean, maybe it does have a better hardware (lower latency and higher volume). Probably the first switch wasn't made for bt audio (that's why it did not support it in first place) and they didn't want to make 2 different firmware updates

This is all somewhat pointless in my opinion without support for Low Latency codec.

It appears that the Switch does not support Low Latency and very few wireless earbuds support LL anyway... for true Low Latency, you would likely need full-sized wireless headphones, the type more designed for TV/movie watching.

I have a Low Latency bluetooth setup in my home gym for watching movies during workouts, and it works great. Anything that is not true low latency is very annoying for tv/movies and would be even worse for gaming.

I believe bluetooth audio lag is the reason that Nintendo never allowed it... but they have caved to customer demand. It's fine for people who don't mind the lag, but I will be plugging in headphones to my Switch.

@FlyingPoliceBox yes, GENKI all the way, it's going to be my next purchase, thanks for sharing your experience 👍🏻

I had issues with the volume being very low as well.

I was able to resolve it by turning off Bluetooth on my phone (which my headphones were also paired with), turning off my headphones then turning them back off again.

There might be a more elegant way to do this.

@Zyph Wow only SBC.. still better to use Bluetooth adapter then like Gulikit Air Pro (aptX and aptX LL).. but that's still not enough for gaming. The best for me is 2.4 Ghz dongle with SteelSeries Arctis 1 Wireless. If only we have LDAC adapter..

@NotoriousWhiz That latency just doesn't sound very fun.

I was using the "GuliKit Route Air Bluetooth Adapter" from Amazon. It was low latency, maybe slightly off, but not enough that it was jarring for me.

This works, but couple of things noticed:
1) I used JBL TUNE700BT
2) Had no lag with them works perfectlly
3) this one is important! Volume on Switch is independent from Volume of headphones. That means that when I maxed the volume on Switch it was still very quiet, but than I maxed the volume on headphones, and god it was loud!

@Zverik it’s a real pain to do the adjustments. And it’s not quite right. For example going from handheld to TV will have different lag settings needed.

@EriXzThe best adapter you need is the Creative W3 plus add a Fiio BTR3k to make it all work. Way better sound then what Nintendo just offered.

Can you use an Amazon Alexa for Bluetooth Audio?

@Marioman2020 Yes. I think GameXplain has a video on that.

I appreciate this is now available but wish it had just been included in the original launch

@Ricube They already have 2 different firmware updates: the Switch lite has a different firmware (no TV options in the settings menu)

@Vriess The low volume seems to be an issue specifically to AirPods. (Which is the real reason everyone wanted Bluetooth audio on the Switch.) The AirPods sound low even when using 3rd party dongles.

@Zyph Yeah, I have run into the issues you have mentioned. There is no “single” perfect solution, but I have found a pretty good setup. The Creative W3 Bluetooth USBC dongle AND the Fiio BTR3K DAC. It actually sounds better than what comes out of the headphone jack. You get both AptX Low Latency AND AptX HD. The Creative W3 is unique in that it has a button to switch between them. (You only really need Low Latency for the rhythm games.) It really only has one flaw: You can’t do table top mode without an optional stand. The Fiio has a built in a mic, but you still need to plug into the USBC directly to do voice and audio. And of course, this setup means using a pair of wired headphones. (The Fiio BTR will turn any pair of wired headphones into a wireless pair.)

@tameshiyaku Keep it. I just listened to the built in Bluetooth Audio. Terrible in comparison to my Bluetooth dongle.

@Lord You can’t voice chat with any Bluetooth device. Hardly Nintendo’s fault. You can try it with your phone if you don’t believe me. Can you listen to music and also make a phone call??

@Rhino713 I hear this a lot. Just to be clear Bluetooth itself cannot do voice and music at the same time. That’s why Sony and Microsoft also don’t use it.

@EriXz I had the Genki for a bit. Not really a great device. If I had to recommend just 1 Bluetooth dongle today it would be the Creative W3. It’s the only dongle that exists today that supports BOTH AptX Low Latency and AptX HD. And actually has a button to quickly switch between them. (You will need an additional device like a Fiio BTR3 to complete the setup.)

@thegametb Sounds like you have tried a lot of things. I just wanted to share my setup with you in case it helps. (I own 4 USB dongles.) Okay my solution: Creative W3 dongle and Fiio BTR3 DAC. The Fiio will make any wired headphone into wireless. Also it had a built in mic and be used without the Creative W3 if you don’t mind the wire. Works in docked, undocked, but not in table top mode. (I just prop it up on my carrying case or stand at home to get around the issue.)

@thinkhector I didn't know that Creative made a bluetooth audio dongle for consoles! I already have a HomeSpot dongle that supports aptX and aptX LL but I'll try your combo setup. Looking at the Fiio DAC it's fairly affordable so I might get one. Thanks for the tip! All the DACs I ever owned are all non-portable and bulky.
Is there an advantage using the Creative dongle as opposed to other dongles?

EDIT: Yeah Creative has aptX HD and other dongles don't I'll see if I can get one as well

@Miu LDAC is pretty sweet sounding. (Still has latency issues though.) The Creative W3 is the only Bluetooth dongle I could find that has AptX Low Latency and AptX HD. What’s cool is that it has a physical button on it to “switch” between them. (You will still need something like a Fiio BTR3K though to complete the setup.)

@HolyGeez03 I feel what you are saying. But even AptX Low Latency doesn’t great. It sounds decent but AptX has dropped support for it. Their new codec AptX Adaptive is NOT backwards with it.

@thegametb It only works if your headphones also have AptX Low Latency. The device and the headphones both need to have it. Is your setup correct?

So far I've tried an AKG set and had pretty significant latency. Probably not going to notice in a pray and spray situation but could make things a little disjointed when sniping. I suspect it could be annoying in voice acted cut scenes with lip movement as well. Rhythm games are likely to be a non-starter.

Its nice that they finally added the feature but I can't see me using it that much unless I can find some headphones that lag less on it.

What a dog ***** update. I tried connecting my headphones multiple times, and even thought IT DETECTS MY HEADPHONES, IT DOESN’T CONNECT AND TELLS ME THEYRE NOT ABLE TO PAIR.

Edit: Truly dog *****. Got it to pair but the audio keeps “skipping” and it messes with my internet connection, not allowing me to play some ***** online games. Sorry if I sound ANGRY but why is it so *****? Especially after 4 years. It’s probably an isolated case but goddammit.

@thinkhector
I use the Samsung Buds + The volume is ok, but I want them to sound louder, like on my phone. The connection also stutters sometimes and there is noticeable latency. I guess we can expects small firmware updates soon.

Interesting you can also do this docked. There’s a few horror games I might get truly immersed in this way.

I have a GuliKit, which is tiny and non noticable for a while now so I've been using Bluetooth on my switch for a while. Let me give you my thoughts. The new Bluetooth audio through the switch is very quiet, I can get it much louder via USB C adapter. Also I've been experiencing input lag since starting to use it via my proc controller. Now I've only been playing one game, bioshock infinite, but before the update I had no lag. And the lag is really bad. I'm going to go back to the adapter to see if it goes away.

@thinkhector I will look into those, thanks for the heads up👍🏻

@Vriess The latency is bad on the built in Bluetooth firmware update because Nintendo is using SBC codec. That’s the original audio standard that first came out when Bluetooth was invented. Not much Nintendo can do here because the other codecs require additional hardware to use.

This is fantastic that they added this. I had to use a duel ended audio 3.5mm from my monitor to my headset to play with sound for my switch. Now with Bluetooth support I don't need that anymore and ontop of that I can do duel audio with my PC so I can listen to youtube and play the switch at the same time.

@Realness Good comment. Two things I would like to add. Bluetooth CANNOT play music and do voice chat at the same time. This is a Bluetooth limitation.
If you want to continue using your wired Sony earbuds I suggest you look into a device like Fiio BTR3K. It will turn any wired headphones into a Bluetooth capable headphone.

@SilentHunter382 It’s not clear from your comment how you are actually listening to the Switch and your PC at the same time over Bluetooth. Are you using two pairs of headphones?

@NotoriousWhiz The built in Bluetooth with the update has more lag than the dongles. So I wouldn’t toss that dongle. I might use the built in Bluetooth in a pinch. Like I say I forgot my dongle.

@HolyGeez03 To get Low Latency you just need a small portable DAC like the Fiio BTR3K. It takes any pair of wired headphones and makes them Bluetooth. (I just wrap the extra cord around my neck like a necklace.) Get something like the Creative W3 Bluetooth dongle to plug into the Switch itself and you are in business.

@EriXz Check out the Creative W3 before you make a final purchase.

@thinkhector Ah don't blame you for thinking that as I didn't explain myself on that. I am using the Steelseries Wireless Pro and that comes with a wireless base station which is connect to my PC and there is a button on the headset that turns on bluetooth which I can now connect to my switch.

So I can say play a video on youtube on my PC and play on my switch and the audio from both systems will come through the headset at the same time.

@thinkhector i'm reading reviews on both, thanks!!

@thinkhector What do you mean by this? I have Bluetooth headphones that can be used for making calls.

@thinkhector Nope. I mean, any sort of low latency codec is super helpful, but it won't prevent it from working. Performance will vary though, but with Switch there's a lot more factor that can change the experience.. how far you are from the system and other types of devices that can (and will) interfere with the signal.

@thinkhector Nice! I carry my little GuliKit ROUTE+ PRO Bluetooth Transmitter inside the red zipper Mario pouch I got from My Nintendo. Downside about mine, it has a lot of tiny little parts.

I also use the Skull & Co GripCase.. the attachment to move the adapter behind my Switch doesn't fit, so I have to be extremely careful with the dongle that it doesn't break or cause damage to my port.

For road trips/lobbies/doctor visits, the GuliKit + my Sam Buds work fine. There's a slight input delay, but I don't really play anything with super twitchy reaction speeds with headphones. I'd much prefer actual headphones, but I don't want to feel like I'm moving out with 5 bags/cases lol, so I grab my small buds.

@Paddle1 Sorry if my post was a bit confusing. I’ll be more specific: While making a call you cannot play Spotify music. If you are listening to Spotify it turns off when a call comes in. It does not give you the option to continue listening in the background of the call. Why is this you may be wondering? Bluetooth does not have enough bandwidth to handle both at the same time.

@tameshiyaku keep using it, especially if your headphones support aptx ll.

As the owner of a pair of AirPods Max I found connecting them no harder than my other Sony and Beats Bluetooth headphones. But there is minor lag. The benefit using your sexy best headphones in the world AirPods max is that you can use Transparency and Noise Cancellation modes. Which are the best use of those features ever.

@Zyph the DS was never supposed to go online either, they added it in per cartridge! I do love that scrappiness with Nintendo. But do wish they’d have a bit of foresight sometimes.

@thinkhector what what the *****. No, infant if you use Apple products you’d know there’s a fade out on non-phone call audio when a call comes in. It’s not instant but there is a time where it overlaps.

Let me try and explain this as SIMPLY as possible:

The phone doesn’t need to send over TWO streams; one for a call, one for music. All audio is “mixed down” within the phone itself to a left and right channel > converted to the codec the headphone likes > TRANSMIT > arrives on headphones > plays on headphones

It’s why Bluetooth lags and sounds worse than wired. It has to be mixed down, converted to another codec, sent over, decompressed and is only then played. Takes time. That’s why companies like Sony and Apple make their own headphones, software, codecs, silicon. All to reduce lag and improve quality.

The phone itself could be running a hundred games at once, streaming music from Apple Music, YouTube and whatever else there is, streaming a 4K HDR film from Apple TV as well as YouTube’s film max of 1080p SDR for film, and take calls and there would be no problem as far as the headphones go : it’d be noisy.
I was going to go into another example but I think you understand now.
Aka you’re wrong Bluetooth bandwidth doesn’t work like that.

How come people like you talk with all the confidence of someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about. I wish people wouldn’t do that. It’s how you get knobs like Trump in power. He thinks he knows what he’s talking about but doesn’t, and his fanatics think they know what they’re talking about too. The best thing to do is be unsure, to be honest, and to ask questions.

@FlyingPoliceBox as the owner of the model up from yours; the AirPods Max, I found them quiet too. Until I realised there are two volume dials going on here:

The Switch will output its own volume
The AirPods will then scale that downwards on its own dial.

The best thing to do is to have your AirPods at max and control the real volume from the switch vol buttons. It’s what I do with my AirPods max.

@Mynameishello Yeah totally. But like I said the exclusion could've been attributed to a lot of factors like cost or maybe potential vulnerabilities. Maybe they wanted to avoid applying for a license to use the high quality codecs. But if they were planning the bluetooth audio let's say around a year ago now then IMO they should have opted to include better BT hardware on the OLED. I can't imagine it would increase the cost that much considering they're still reaping the profits off of the OG and Lite Switches.

@Mynameishello This is a widely known issue to gamers. Voice calls require two way communication over the airwaves and Bluetooth cannot also process a third signal for music. This is why Microsoft and Sony also don’t use Bluetooth in their latest hardware. The Bluetooth standard is older than smartphones and started on flip phones. You will not find one wireless gaming set that uses Bluetooth exclusively. They come with a dongle and use their own wireless standard due to Bluetooth limitations. Nintendo is not blocking people from doing voice chat in games with AirPods. Bluetooth is incapable of doing it.

@Zyph I think I mentioned this in another post but the higher end codecs have additional hardware requirements. The AAC codec Apple uses also is CPU intensive, so not good for a gaming system. Now the OLED model could have done something different. I suspect the issue is one of royalties. As Nintendo would have to pay per device sold. It’s the same logic Nintendo used by not including a camera. They wanted to put everything into the core gaming hardware at a fairly cheap price.

@Mynameishello Also you mentioned Trump. If you interested in how we got Trump and enjoy reading, I suggest the book “Evil Geniuses” by Kurt Anderson. I’ll spoil the book a little bit: the Republicans and Democrats are both to blame. Be open to idea of voting for a 3rd party like the People’s Party. It maybe the most important book you ever read. (The book isn’t an opinion piece, it lays it like a true crime drama.) You can take the red pill or you can take the blue pill. Either way the choice is yours.

to be honest, this update is pretty pointless considering we can’t even use voice chat. it’s understandable that the switch is different to other consoles like the playstation and xbox, but i find it appalling that switch players are limited to doing certain things. whenever you choose to release a new update i’d advise you to let players use voice chat. I am an airpods user and this would help me minimise the costs with buying other headphones.

for anyone interested, the Switch seems to really hate Sony bluetooth headphones/ear pods... because I'm having an awful time with it... and what makes things worse is - bluetooth audio doesn't work in local communication mode, which is annoying because that's how Pokemon Sword starts... in order to connect, I need to join internet in game, go out to the home menu to connect to my headphones, get back in the game which then tells me I've disconnected from the internet... then my headphones disconnect because I'm in local communication mode... hah.

@RedBlueSpot lol I just googled “airpods switch” and got this article so I guess it was for SEO

@GannonBanned Yeah, Im upset. Airpods isnt the definition of wireless headphones. It just make the writer ignorant or stupid.

Its like asking for a Coke but actually want a Pepsi. Or asking for an iPad made by Samsung. Its just stupid.

I guess you all got your own examples when you use a company brand to descripe an whole product category.

@RedBlueSpot I will say I’ve worked in software development for some time and there could be plenty of valid reasons why they don’t work that are essentially random errors - I had just got airpods for the first time and remembered something about Bluetooth on the prior update so I just googled it - long time Nintendolife reader so I just clicked it