How To Fix AirPods Automatic Switching Not Working From Mac To iPhone

Is the new AirPods automatic switching feature not working properly across your Apple devices? Are the wireless earbuds routing the audio playback source from iPhone to Mac and vice-versa, but this doesn’t always work? Do the AirPods auto switch audio in an inconsistent way from Mac to iPhone?

Worse, is AirPods auto switching kicking-in when you don’t need it and doesn’t work when you would like to? You’re not the only one experiencing this issue! Apparently this is a generalized behavior and it’s most likely caused by the fact that the auto routing feature is new and requires more fine tuning.

Fix AirPods Automatic Switching Not Working

Here are a few tips that you can apply in case your AirPods refuse to switch between iPhone and Mac:

1. Are your AirPods Compatible?

First of all, make sure that your AirPods are compatible with the new auto switching audio feature. According to Apple the ‌AirPods‌ (2nd gen), AirPods Pro and AirPods Max are able to automatically switch across your devices. If you own the 1st generation AirPods manufactured between late 2016 and early 2019, you won’t be able to use this option because the earbuds are missing the H1 chip.
Fact: Audio auto switching is also available for Powerbeats, Powerbeats Pro and Solo Pro!

2. Turn AirPods Switching On iPhone / iPad

Next, make sure that the AirPods are configured to automatically switch across your devices:

• Connect your AirPods to your iPhone or iPad and open the Settings app.
• Go for the Bluetooth menu.
• Tap on the blue ‘i’ icon, available next to the AirPods name.
• Tap on Connect to This iPhone (iPad).
• Select Automatically.

3. Enable AirPods Switching On Mac

If your wireless earbuds aren’t automatically routing audio from iPhone to Mac, make sure that the feature is also enabled on your macOS Big Sur machine:

• Open the Control Center, available in the top menu bar and click on Bluetooth.
  Or: Click the Bluetooth icon directly, if you’ve set it to show up in the menu bar.
• Click on Bluetooth Preferences…, available at the bottom of the Bluetooth box.
• Find your AirPods in the list and click on Options.
• Click the drop-down menu available, next to the Connect to This Mac label.
• Select the Automatically option.

Important: Whenever your Mac connects to the AirPods, you’re visually informed with a banner notification, displaying on the upper right side of the screen. However, a series of users have reported that the alert keeps triggering too often, to the point that it becomes annoying. Apparently, it’s triggered by every switch from iPhone to Mac or iPad to Mac. Currently, the only way to get rid of it is to keep the AirPods setting on your Mac to the ‘When Last Connected to This Mac’ status.

4. Update To The Latest Software

As mentioned above, Apple is still fine tuning this feature and this is why you have to update your devices to the most recent software releases. This is goes for all your Apple devices including the AirPods themselves, as well as iPhone, Mac, iPad and HomePod.

Fact: The AirPods 2, Pro and Pro Max are able to automatically install new software updates. The most recent firmware for the AirPods 2 and AirPods Pro is 3A283.

Tip: Apple has also recently released iOS 14.3, iPadOS 14.3 and macOS Big Sur 11.1 and we’ve noticed that AirPods auto switching has been improved!

Did you manage to fix the AirPods automatic Bluetooth switching problem? Has any of the above tips helped you out? Are we missing something? Use the comments section and share your feedback!

Related: How to disable AirPods Optimized Battery Charging and force your wireless earbuds to charge to 100% as fast as possible!