There’s An Amazing iPhone iOS 13 Feature You Probably Haven’t Heard About

It’s all about sharing.

apple-iphone-11-screenshot
Apple.com

Anyone who has upgraded their iPad or iPhone knows there are a ton of goodies folded into Apple‘s iOS 13. There’s Dark Mode, improved response time, new apps like a beefed-up “Find My” app for both friends and devices, and Audio Sharing—a cool feature many may have missed.

If you ever put a splitter into your Discman so a friend or date could check out your mixtape with their own headphones, then this Sharing function will make sense to you. It lets updated devices pair with Bluetooth headphones.

Apple AirPods Pro
The new Airpods

As is often the case with Apple, it’s a great feature that’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The Audio Sharing function won’t work with regular old wireless earbuds; the paired devices have to have Apple-friendly H1 and W1 chips. 

That’s all the currently available Airpods (including AirPods Pro) and the most recent Beats headphones. Those include BeatsX, Powerbeats Pro, Powerbeats3 Wireless, the Solo Pro and the Solo3 Wireless.

There are other limitations worth noting, particularly the fact that iPhone users must have an iPhone 8 and up to use Audio Sharing at all. 

To share any audio streaming from your smartphone, do this:

1. Swipe from the phone’s upper right down and press the Bluetooth symbol.
2. Tap “Share Audio.” 

Follow prompts from there. It’s that simple—as long as you’ve got the right phones.

Mentioned in this article: