The best way to quickly switch bluetooth headset pairing between Apple Watch to iPhone?

By Scruffy Ted 🧸, 7 May, 2015

Forum
watchOS and Apple Watch Apps

Hello Watchers (smiles)

I am still trying to learn my way around the Watch, and was hoping for some guidance in regard to the best way to use a bluetooth headset in conjunction with both the Watch and iPhone.

Up until now, things have been simple, in that I have only ever wanted or needed to use the headset with the iPhone. So, turn then on, and they are immediately paired and away I go.

Now, sadly, things don’t appear to be quite so straightforward - there are times when I want them paired with the iPhone, and other times with the Watch. So, I guess that my question is, what is the best way to switch the headset quickly between the Watch and iPhone?

I feel like I must be really dumb and missing something obvious, but switching sources seems like a far more painful process than it should be.Which, of course, is why I am left with the feeling that it’s probably me that’s the weak link here, and that the trick is simple once you know it.

Any tips would be appreciated.

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Comments

By Fleurppel on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 17:51

The only way I can think of to do that is to turn off bluetooth on whichever of the two is currently paired, pair the headset, then turn bluetooth back on so as not to interfere with any other functions. Alternatively, you might check into headsets that can remember multiple pairings such as Kinivo.

By Tim Noonan on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 17:51

The best way I've found so far to disconnect a Bluetooth headset relatively quickly from my Apple Watch is to go to the settings glance and turn Airplane mode off. When you turn it back on, it likely won't try and find a Bluetooth audio device to reconnect with. Turning the headset off and back on, should repair it to the Watch.

Some headsets such as the Blues 2s don't support pairing to more than one device.

However, there are a few Bluetooth headsets which have Multipoint support. this means they can pair to more than one device. Unfortunately, multipoint doesn't automatically mean they can play audio from more than one device simultaneously.

I've been doing my best to document this problem on my Apple Watch Review blog post where I go into quite a lot of detail about Bluetooth, headsets and using the Watch and iPhone with a single Bluetooth device.

You can read more about my Bluetooth findings at www.timnoonan.com.au/AppleWatch

By Chuck on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 17:51

Hi,
As mentioned above, many bluetooth headsets can pair with two devices.
I have one that works particularly well, and has a large battery, which is needed when flipping between devices.

The headset announces which ever device you are working on , and flips to the other device with very little delay.

A couple of cautions... this is not your typical headset, the majority of its bulk rests behind the ear, and the microphone is not the best. But when using the Apple watvh dictation, the watches microphone is the default... which works great.

Another thing, the headset did not work properly at first, and took about an hour to start connecting to both devices, perhaps this was something I was doing wrong, but it works well now.

Only $24.99 at Amazon and eligible for Prime delivery.
Here is a link:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MUHKT5M/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

By Scruffy Ted 🧸 on Thursday, May 21, 2015 - 17:51

Thank you for the answers.

It looks like I shall simply have to resign myself to things being more complicated than they should be in an ideal world.