How to switch AirPods between iPhone, Mac and iPad

Melodie Jeng | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 24: Simone Marchetti wears Apple AirPods during Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2017/18 on February 24, 2017 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Melodie Jeng/Getty Images)

I recently spoke with Apple about its second-generation AirPods and, during the conversation, Apple told me something I never knew: once connected to your iPhone, they’re paired with your Apple account. That means, as long as you’re logged-in to other devices like your Mac or iPad, you can easily switch to using your AirPods for audio.

You don’t have to manually re-pair them with each device. Instead, you just need to pop into the Bluetooth settings on each device and choose the AirPods. And the second-generation AirPods do this faster than the first model, allowing you to switch from music on one device to audio on another in less than two seconds.

This is extremely simple, and will save you some time and fumbling with menus and the AirPods, as I had been doing.

Just make sure you’ve paired them with an iPhone first, by opening the AirPods case and tapping the pop-up menu. After that, follow these simple steps to switch to a Mac or iPad.