When my spouse and I journey, we normally obtain some exhibits to look at on our flight. However we at all times have to separate a set of AirPods after we watch these exhibits so we every have one earbud. Which means one in every of our ears is having fun with the present whereas the opposite is pressured to endure the crying child behind us on the airplane, which could be distracting. However because of Apple’s Audio Sharing function, we are able to every take pleasure in a present collectively whereas utilizing our personal units of AirPods.
Audio Sharing was launched with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 in 2024. It permits two pairs of suitable AirPods or Beats headphones to pair with a single iPhone or iPad. So that you and one different individual can immerse yourselves into music, motion pictures or a TED Discuss with out disturbing these round you.
Learn extra: The whole lot Apple Introduced at WWDC 2025
This is the right way to share audio with one other set of AirPods or Beats headphones.
Learn how to take pleasure in music and podcasts collectively
You possibly can share your audio with one other pair of headphones by tapping your personal headphone management.
1. Open Music, Podcasts, Spotify or any comparable app together with your AirPods in your ears and related to your iPhone or iPad.
2. Begin enjoying music or a Podcast.
3. Open your Management Heart by swiping down from the highest proper nook of your display screen.
4. Go to your audio controls web page — it is your second Management Heart web page by default.
5. Faucet the AirPods emblem close to the underside of your display screen.
6. Faucet Share Audio.
7. Deliver the opposite pair of AirPods of their case or Beats headphones close to your system. You may must press the button on the again of your AirPods case to enter Pairing Mode.
8. Faucet Share Audio when your system detects the opposite AirPods or Beats headphones.
You possibly can management the amount of each headphones from the related system.
Every pair of headphones can change their very own quantity through headphone controls, or you may change the amount for every pair through the related system. However you’ll take pleasure in a podcast or different music collectively with out splitting a pair of AirPods or disturbing individuals round you.
Learn how to watch a film or present with separate headphones
Pairing one other set of headphones to your system to look at a movie or TV collection is analogous. This is how.
1. Open Apple TV, Netflix, YouTube or one other streaming app together with your headphones in.
2. Begin enjoying a movie or present.
3. Swipe down from the highest proper nook of your display screen to open your Management Heart.
4. Go to your audio controls web page — it is your second Management Heart web page by default.
5. Faucet the AirPods emblem close to the underside of your display screen.
6. Faucet Share Audio.
7. Deliver the opposite pair of AirPods of their case or Beats headphones close to your system. You may must press the button on the again of your AirPods case to enter Pairing Mode.
8. Faucet Share Audio when your system detects the opposite AirPods or Beats headphones.
Tapping Share Audio will allow you to join to a different set of headphones so that you and one other individual can hear or watch one thing collectively on the identical display screen.
Now you and one other individual can watch a video collectively with out disturbing the individuals round you and with out splitting a pair of AirPods.
For extra on iOS 18, this is what you might want to learn about iOS 18.5 and iOS 18.4, in addition to our iOS 18 cheat sheet. It’s also possible to take a look at what you must learn about iOS 26 and the way the upcoming OS lets us kill the alarm’s 9-minute snooze.
Watch this: New Imaginative and prescient Professional and Apple Glasses: This is What to Anticipate Subsequent
