Technologies

Stop Switching Devices Manually: Your Guide to Multipoint Bluetooth Audio

When you’re bouncing between your phone and computer, advanced multipoint Bluetooth connections allow you to connect to two or more devices simultaneously.

Jumping between digital devices has become a necessary part of many people’s daily lives, whether you’re keeping up with text alerts or ensuring you don’t miss an important call while in a Zoom meeting on your laptop.

Multipoint Bluetooth was designed to solve the problem of having to disconnect or enter the Bluetooth menu each time you want your headset to connect to a different device. It helps you stay notified of incoming calls, email or messaging notifications, letting you conveniently bounce between personal and professional without interrupting your task.

Introduced in 2010 as part of Bluetooth 4.0, advanced multipoint allows two devices to be connected simultaneously to your audio headset, enabling you to switch between them. For several years, the feature was glitchy, unreliable and not widely supported, particularly for true-wireless earbuds. But that’s changing.

Recent hardware and software advances have vastly improved multipoint’s stability and power consumption, and the feature is now available on many wireless headphones and true-wireless earbuds, including those from Bose, which was slow to adopt the feature due to reliability concerns.

Apple and Google support systems that behave similarly to multipoint — automatic device switching — which swaps source devices when it detects playback on your target device. The caveat is that they are technically fast auto-pairing systems rather than simultaneously connecting two devices, and you must be signed in to the same Apple ID or Google account on both devices for this function to work.

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The advantages and limitations of multipoint Bluetooth

When multiple devices are within the same digital ecosystem — Apple, Samsung or Google — and you’re signed into the same account on them, you get smoother (and often automatic) switching, whether it’s via Apple’s Handoff, Google’s Fast Pair or actual multipoint Bluetooth.

If, for example, you’re swapping between your Apple iPad and your Android smartphone, you’ll usually have to pause one device manually (semi-automatic switching) before audio will switch over, though you still get the benefit of not having to do the Bluetooth disconnect/connect mambo.

Multipoint is not a universal feature, and its performance can vary depending on the specific model. Multipoint Bluetooth was (and still is) easier to implement on standard wireless headphones because the earcups are connected via a single main Bluetooth connection. True-wireless earbuds are more complex since the left and right earbuds have to be wirelessly synced while avoiding interference issues, and a third wireless channel (and more processing power) is required for multipoint pairing.

Note that multipoint Bluetooth doesn’t mean you can stream media from two devices simultaneously to the headphones. There are gaming headsets that support multiple simultaneous streams, but they use two distinct wireless connections — one by Bluetooth and one via 2.4GHz wireless — such as the HyperX Cloud Alpha 2 and Audeze Penrose. There are also models that can handle simultaneous sources by using wired and wireless connections.

Setting up multipoint Bluetooth

Update device firmware: Your phone, tablet and laptop should always be up to date, but it’s best to double-check to ensure your operating system supports the latest features.

Install the app: Download and install the companion app for your headphones or earbuds on your primary device, typically your phone, unless you use your tablet primarily for calls.

Pair with your primary device: Put the headphones or earbuds in pairing mode (usually by long-pressing a button on the headphones or case), and pair them with your phone or tablet using the device’s Bluetooth settings.

Update headphone firmware: Companies continually improve switching and connection reliability through firmware updates. To keep your headphones or earbuds current, update them via the app’s settings menu. Re-pair if necessary, and test the connection by streaming some audio.

Enable multipoint connection: Open the companion app settings again and enable your connection with a toggle switch labeled something like:

Allow multipoint connection
Connect to two devices simultaneously
Pair with a second device
Auto Switch

Pair with the second device: Put the headphones back in pairing mode and use the second device’s Bluetooth settings to pair them. Test the connection by streaming some audio.

What to expect from multipoint Bluetooth

At this point, you should be able to switch easily from one device to the other (and back) by starting a stream on the second device — or pausing the first one if your devices are from different operating systems (iOS and Android, for example). Note that due to Bluetooth bandwidth constraints, you may not be able to use certain “high-resolution” audio codecs like Sony’s LDAC while in multipoint mode.

It’s a good idea to test a few different scenarios with a mix of calls and media to see how things work with your particular mix of devices and apps. Even if all your gear is from the same ecosystem, you’re somewhat at the mercy of the apps you’re using and how they’re prioritized by the devices’ operating systems, as well as how they handle switching.

But if all goes well, you’ll be able to move more seamlessly between your digital devices than ever before, and you’ll wonder how you ever got along without multipoint Bluetooth.

Technologies

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Technologies

Tehan Calls for Return to June Agreement, Crude Climbs as Trump Pledges to Strike Iran Forcefully

Oil prices climbed Tuesday amid fears of escalation after fresh U.S.-Iran military strikes and unrest in the Strait of Hormuz, as Tehran urged Washington to return to the June interim deal and Trump promised to hit Iran hard.

Oil prices extended gains Tuesday as traders mulled the threat of escalation, following the resumption of U.S.-Iran military strikes and more turmoil in the Strait of Hormuz.

A tanker was struck by three unknown projectiles while transiting Hormuz on Monday, according to an incident report from the the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations Centre.

Brent

The tanker was sailing in the southern shipping lane close to the Omani coast, the UKMTO said, adding that no casualties were reported.

Iran launched an attack on two American bases in Jordan on Monday in retaliation for the U.S. strike on its Larak Island. American forces targeted two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, reportedly killing three, saying that Tehran intended to launch rockets carrying sea mines into the Hormuz Strait.

The small island, located in the strait, has been a critical military and shipping control point for Iranian forces, helping them keep a firm grip on vessel traffic through one of the world’s most critical maritime routes.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit on Tuesday that Tehran would immediately reciprocate if Washington agreed to return to its commitments under the interim deal signed in June, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.

The back-and-forth hostilities marked the first time that the U.S. and Iran traded strikes in over a month.

While neither side appeared to be seeking a return to full-scale war, both signaled they were prepared to respond to further attacks. “We are going to hit them hard,” President Donald Trump told Fox News on Monday, saying that “there will be a response” to Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases in the region.

Analysts largely view the U.S. strike on Larak Island as an attempt to break a deadlock rather than a shift in strategy. “By hitting the launchers rather than broader Iranian military infrastructure, the U.S. appears to be punishing a specific behaviour rather than, at least for now, broadening its war aims,” said Ali Vaez, deputy program director at International Crisis Group.

“It is enforcing the blockade,” said Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, adding that the Trump administration’s goal was to further degrade Tehran’s capabilities to mine the Strait of Hormuz, while focusing on economic coercive measures as the midterm elections approach.

Washington has ramped up pressure to squeeze Iran’s already-torn economy with “secondary sanctions” that punish nations and businesses buying Iranian crude oil. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, on the sidelines of the Group of 20 finance ministers gathering, that Iran was “lashing out kinetically” because the new sanctions were taking a toll on its economy.

Speaking from the Oval Office on Monday, Trump reportedly said Iran’s financial systems, armed forces, and governing body have been largely degraded. “It doesn’t mean we won’t smack them to see what happens,” the president said.

The war, now stretching into its seventh month, has disrupted global energy supplies and sent shock waves through global financial markets.

“This is fundamentally an endurance contest,” said Brodsky, as Trump has demonstrated an “unpredictability” that should concern the Iranians, and Tehran may lash out more aggressively militarily as the economic pressure mounts.