How to pair any Beats headphones or earbuds with your phone or computer

• You can pair Beats headphones with your phone or computer the same way you’d pair any other Bluetooth device — through the Bluetooth menu.
• Before you can connect your Beats to a new device, you’ll need to put them into pairing mode first.
• If your Beats headphones won’t pair, power cycle every device involved, and make sure the devices are near each other.

If you’ve just bought a new pair of Beats headphones, you’re going to want to start listening right away. Unfortunately, new headphones means going through the pairing process again.

Luckily, pairing Beats is a breeze. They’re just like any other Bluetooth headphones, so you can pair them like any other device. Beats can pair with your smartphone or computer easily.

Just make sure that you’re near the device you want to pair them to, and that Bluetooth is enabled on that specific device.

How to pair Beats headphones with a computer or mobile device

1. Turn on your Beats headphones. If this is the first time they’ve ever been turned on, they should be in pairing mode automatically. If not, you’ll need to activate pairing mode.

• Solo Pros: Press and hold the “mode” button on the left earcup. This is also the button you’ll use to turn noise cancelling on and off.
• Studio3 and Solo3 Wireless: Press and hold the power button for five seconds until the five lights underneath flash.
• Beats Flex: Press and hold the power button until the indicator light flashes.
• Powerbeats: Press and hold the button on the left earbud until the indicator light flashes.
• Powerbeats Pro: Place the earbuds in their case and leave the case open, and then press and hold the button inside the case until the light outside blinks.

2. Hold your Beats headphones near your device, making sure your device is unlocked.

3. Head to your device’s Bluetooth menu. On an iPhone or Android device, this will be in your Settings app. On a PC or Mac, you can find it by searching for it.

4. Your phone or computer will search for any nearby devices that are ready to pair. When your Beats appear, click or tap on them to start connecting. If you’re asked for a passcode, enter “0000.”

If you’re using a new iPhone, there’s also a chance that your iPhone will detect the Beats as soon as they turn on, and ask if you’d like to connect.

How to disconnect and reconnect your Beats headphones

To disconnect, you can just simply turn off your Beats headphones or turn off Bluetooth on your device. Putting your Beats into pairing mode will also temporarily disconnect them.

To permanently disconnect your Beats from a device, you’ll need to make your phone or computer forget them. Head back to the phone or computer’s Bluetooth menu.

• On a PC, click your Beats’ name and then select “Remove Device.”
• On a Mac, right-click your Beats and select “Remove.” You can also tap the “X” icon to the right of its name.
• On an iPhone, tap the “i” icon next to your Beats’ name, and then select “Forget This Device.”
• On an Android, tap the gear icon next to your Beats, and then select “Forget” or “Unpair.”

To reconnect your Beats headphones to a device they’re still paired to, simply turn them on. Once turned on, your Beats will automatically pair with the last device they connected to. If that device isn’t in range, they’ll go into pairing mode.

This means that if you’ve since paired your Beats with another device, and now want to reconnect them to an older device, you’ll need to either make sure the first device is out of range or has its Bluetooth disabled.

You can also repair simply by having your device forget the headphones, and then pair them like you did when you first bought them.

What to do if your Beats won’t pair

The best quick fix you can do right away is to make sure your device’s Bluetooth settings are on. Beats can’t connect to a device that doesn’t have Bluetooth enabled.

The second best thing is to turn each device (headphones and laptop, cellphone, etc.) off and then on again. This is called power cycling, and is an underrated method for fixing nearly any issue.

Also make sure that your headphones are close enough to the device you’re trying to pair them with, and there aren’t any obstacles in the way. If you’re having issues connecting, try keeping them within a couple feet of each other.

Finally, you might need to give your Beats a factory reset. This will clear out all of their data, bringing them back to the point when they first left the factory.

Every Beats model has a different factory reset process, so check the manual for your specific model to see what you’ll need to do.

If all else fails, contact Beats support for help.

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• How to connect Beats wireless headphones and Powerbeats earbuds to your iPhone
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• How to listen to podcasts on your iPhone, where you can access over 700,000 podcasts from Apple’s catalog
• What is Bandcamp? What to know about the music platform for new artists and listeners
• How to mirror your iPhone’s screen onto a Mac computer, using QuickTime or a third-party program

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