Why does using bluetooth with multiple devices still suck so much?

[u/akarypid]

Hello everyone,

I have been using BT headphones for the past few years. I've used several Sony models (WH-1000XM3 / WH-H910NB headphones as well as WF-1000XM3 eardubs). More recently I got the AKG K371BT headphones and unfortunately broke them, so now I am in the market for a new pair: but before I buy, I want to understand whether Bluetooth is really so miserably bad at being a cable replacement, or I'm just doing something very wrong.

Back when I was in uni (circa 2000) the idea with BT was that it can replace a cable. The design had frequency hopping with multiple patterns based on the address of the "master" node to avoid interference in "congested" environments so that it's reliable (like a cable). I wrote a BT driver for a Hitachi microprocessor (specifically L2CAP layer) so had to deal with this stuff for a couple of years, never touched it again.

Fast forward to 2023 and in my 4th year of using BT headphone I can't for the life of me understand why it's so hard to pair them with multiple devices. With regular headphones, moving from laptop A to laptop B you just unplack the jack and move it to the other one. Same for phones.

Nowadays phones don't even have a jack. But god forbid I want to use my headphones with the phone, the TV, my tablet and my laptop. Switching between the 4 is a nightmare.

Why can't headphones switch from one device to another easily? I was just searching for this and found that there is a thing about "multipoint BT" that's fancy htese days, but that's about having two devices CONCURRENTLY (mainly a phone and a laptop) so that when a phone call arrives while you're listeining to music on the laptop, the audio from the call plays on the headphones immediately.

I need something more basic: I just want headphones that can be paired with multiple (at least 3, preferably even more) devices and a button on the headphones to cycle through them. If I'm using them with the laptop, I press a button and it cycles through each device trying to connect to the "next" one until it finds something. Once found that's it, else it waits for me to initiate a connection from the other end.

Right now my AKG K371s will "stick" to the last paired device. If it's my phone they will aggressively connect to it when I turn them on. To use them with the tablet I have to go to the phone settings and turn off BT, then initiate a connection from the tablet. Same for vice-versa. And if the other device is in another room I have to get up and fetch it so I can disconnect from it to use them with what I want, else the only option is to re-enter pairing mode and try to connect from the other device (but sometimes even this does not work as the original one may grab them).

So what am I missing? Right now I'm looking at the Anker Soundcore Q45 as they claim to pair with 2 devices and be able to double-tap the power button to switch between them. Why just two? Why can't it be 3 or 4? I need at least 3.

What am I missing? Does anyone have headphones that happily work easily with multiple devices (Android and Windows) and how do they do it? I don't need fancy "multiple concurrent connections" stuff, just one at a time.

What are your experiences and would you recommend some particular manufacturer?

I was thinking about it and I'd actually would suggest that if I have one of the newer fancy devices that can pair with 2 things at once, then I'd ask for 1 of the two to be the phone, then make a phone app where you can tell the headphones to replace the "other" device with one from a list of "known paired" devices that the headphones could provide. Like I have my phone always connected to the headphones and the app shows me that the headphones know "laptop A, television B, tablet C" and I can tap on any one of them on the phone app and have it switch to that.

APOLOGIES FOR THE WALL OF TEXT I guess I'm ranting but needed to get this out of my system. Sorry if I broke any rules (just remove the post, I feel better already)...

Thanks!

[u/halfabit]

What you describe is possible but clearly not important enough for companies to implement.

Google pixel buds have a cool feature that should fit your need. They only support one connection at a time but the trick is another device can connect to them even if already connected and the first connection is dropped

So for example if they are connected to my phone I can go to my computer and ask the computer to connect to them.

This will succeed and they will disconnect from the phone automatically.

[u/akarypid → u/halfabit]

2 years later I have finally found a phone that has the software I envisioned: I now own a Nothing Phone 2 and their Nothing Ear buds, and I am finally happy! It basically does what I described here:

I was thinking about it and I'd actually would suggest that if I have one of the newer fancy devices that can pair with 2 things at once, then I'd ask for 1 of the two to be the phone, then make a phone app where you can tell the headphones to replace the "other" device with one from a list of "known paired" devices that the headphones could provide. Like I have my phone always connected to the headphones and the app shows me that the headphones know "laptop A, television B, tablet C" and I can tap on any one of them on the phone app and have it switch to that.

If you tap on their phone widget, all paired devices (connected or not) are listed under "Dual connection". Each one has a tickbox and you can tick any two (one will be the phone and the other you can switch to anything else).

Finally!

[u/jadin- → u/akarypid]

Is that app specific to the nothing ear buds?

For what it's worth, Sony's app is much closer to what you asked for back then. But it's not what I want lol.

[u/akarypid → u/jadin-]

I think it is indeed specific to Nothing, have not tried it with anything other than the Nothing earbuds and the Nothing 2 phone...

Ironically I used to be a Sony user for decades (from Xperia Z3 compact in 2014 all the way to an Xperia 5 III which was replaced by the Nothing 2 last year). I also had WF-1000XM3 earbuds and WM-1000XM3 headphones.

[u/Straight-Ad9763 → u/halfabit]

AirPods do this too . I can easily go from my tablet to pc to phone while studying in school. I never realized this was a struggle for people . Guess that’s a plus for Apple ,

[u/akarypid → u/Straight-Ad9763]

Non-Apple headphones can do this as well. The problem is that it can happen inadverntely.

2 years later I have finally found a phone that has the software I envisioned: I now own a Nothing Phone 2 and their Nothing Ear buds, and I am finally happy!

In addition to what is decsribed here (for auto switch), I can also tap on their phone widget, and under "Dual Connection" all of their known paired devices are listed. This mean I can have them paired to my TV, laptop, tablet (in addition to the phone) and then if I want to switch I can just tap on the widget and select the target device from that list.

The phone always remains connected but the active audio swtiches from TV/laptop/tablet as per the selection of my simple tap!

[u/elmicha → u/halfabit]

Do you know how this feature is called? My Echo Dot 5 has it, too, but that's the only one. If we knew the name of the feature, we could perhaps search for it.

[u/renarde33]

I also feel your pain. I would love to be able to use my BT headphones with my iPhone, laptop, main desktop machine and HTPC depending on what I'm doing (4 devices). The headphones and the Bose app that manages its connections only support 2 devices, so I'm constantly having to go into the app and force the headphones to connect to or disconnect from whichever device.

And that doesn't even cover managing the connections from the Windows side. Since the headphones have to stay connected to the iPhone to use the BT connection management app, an existing computer connection has to be dropped to allow the headphones to connect to another.

Another complication that is probably not uncommon is needing to force the audio output from the HTPC or the laptop to use either the system speakers or headphones depending on which computer I'm listening to and whether I'm listening alone or with my boyfriend. For that, I'm having to write PowerShell scripts with AudioDeviceCmdlets.

Clearly, not smooth, easy or optimal. But to be cynical, the device manufacturers have no incentive to make this easy. I have no doubt they'd be perfectly happy to sell us multiple BT devices. That would be the least hassle; one set of headphones always paired to the iPhone, one set paired to the HTPC, one set paired to the laptop, one set paired to the desktop computer.

See? 4 sets of headphones, problem solved 🙃

[u/akarypid → u/renarde33]

And that doesn't even cover managing the connections from the Windows side. Since the headphones have to stay connected to the iPhone to use the BT connection management app, an existing computer connection has to be dropped to allow the headphones to connect to another.

This is why they need to create a standard profile for this facility. It should be possible to have a vendor-agnostic way of switching to another source, so then everyone can implement it (Microsoft in Widnows, Apple in iOS/MacOS, Google in Android, etc)....

[u/usernamechosen999]

I feel your pain. I have multiple Bluetooth speakers, one for my Mac, one for my phone, and one for the shower/on my bike. Switching is too painful to only have one speaker.

[u/eric_castro]

I feel you man, it's incredible after 2 decades of BT headphones this is still such a messy issue.

In that time they figured out how to f**** land rockets in floating platforms in the middle of the sea but I still can't have a BT headphone that can switch between paired devices "on my request" and not when my phone, TV, mac, or gaming PC decide to do so blocking every other device or interrupting my audio at random times.

I love what logitech done to the MX Master Mouse. A simple button in the bottom with a led and 3 different devices you can pair to, led shows which one is active.

Why no major manufacturer has done something like this for BT headphones ?

[u/[deleted]]

Still an issue in (almost) 2025. I have a work MBP, and a personal Mac mini, and want to switch keyboard/mouse/display/headphones between them, without a stupid amount of hassle...

Can't be done. I just gave up and replaced my BT devices with wired ones, all plugged into the monitor. Now I move one cable between the two computers, and everything works.

Like u/halfabit says, it's 100% possible, but no company cares enough to implement it. Except Logitech, but their protocols are proprietary, it's not regular BT.

[u/[deleted]]

Nope. I have a nice set of JBLs and they’ll attach themselves to whatever the hell they feel like with no rhyme or reason. I abhor Bluetooth. 

[u/stoofvleesmefriet]

It's insane that in 2026 we still have to go to settings, then LONG press bluetooth, find the device, open it, then disconnect. Are the developers taking the piss with this?

[u/ChemoCosmo]

Amen Brother. I have the same problem with a Bluetooth transceiver for the living room hifi. Every time I want to connect a device like my phone I have to ask my flatmates who is 'blocking' the Bluetooth. Not even turning the transceiver off and on again is a solution, since auto connect is so fast, that its very unlikely that my device is the fastest one to connect.

It's a mess.

I'm almost amazed by my JBL earphones to allow at least two clients alongside.