Google’s rollout of Bluetooth audio sharing on Pixels has been a multitude

Google’s newly introduced Pixel Buds 2a are a giant step up from the unique A-series, boasting a extra sturdy design, ANC, the Tensor A1 processor, and multipoint connectivity. It’s nice to see the corporate carry so many options from its premium earbuds right down to its finances lineup. Nevertheless, the absence of Bluetooth audio sharing on the Pixel Buds 2a isn’t only a easy omission. It’s a part of a complicated sample we’ve not too long ago found relating to audio sharing help throughout Pixel units, leaving us questioning Google’s general plans for the function.

Audio sharing is a function that lets you begin or hearken to an audio broadcast. You may both share your individual gadget’s audio with a number of close by units or be part of an present broadcast began by one other gadget. These broadcasts are transmitted over Bluetooth Low Vitality and will be began or joined by any gadget that helps Auracast, the Bluetooth know-how that permits this function.

That is the place issues get sophisticated. Again in March, Google introduced that Pixel 9 house owners operating Android 16 would be capable of stream Auracast broadcasts. The corporate highlighted Auracast’s use in listening to aids however made no point out of its use for basic audio sharing. This omission is unusual for a couple of causes. First, when Android 16 rolled out to the Pixel 9 sequence in June, Auracast help wasn’t enabled by default and required customers to toggle it on in developer choices. Second, the Pixel 9 sequence isn’t the one gadget household to help Auracast; the Pixel 8 sequence does as effectively. Lastly, Google’s personal Pixel Buds Professional 2 help Auracast, but the announcement failed to say them.

The primary level is definitely defined by the truth that the function is now accessible by default in Android 16 QPR1, suggesting Google merely wasn’t able to launch it in June. Whereas it is a minor difficulty, Google ought to have higher communicated the delay to its customers. (The corporate nonetheless doesn’t provide any help pages on the function, as an illustration.)

The second level is more durable to elucidate. We’re sure the Pixel 8 sequence helps Auracast; in any other case, Google wouldn’t have gone out of its option to allow the function on these units. I haven’t observed any points utilizing Auracast on my Pixel 8 Professional, although I can’t assure the expertise might be flawless for everybody.

The final level is essentially the most complicated. When Google initially launched the Pixel Buds Professional 2 final 12 months, Auracast labored completely. Now, nonetheless, the function appears to be disabled on new models. For months, we assumed Google had pushed a firmware replace to dam it, however a current discovery by a Reddit consumer suggests the block isn’t on the earbuds in any respect. They discovered that Auracast will be re-enabled on the Buds Professional 2 by merely resetting the paired Pixel cellphone’s Bluetooth settings. This wouldn’t be attainable if the function had been disabled on the firmware stage. To substantiate the block was certainly on the cellphone aspect, I requested my colleague, Adam Birney, to check his Pixel Buds Professional 2 with a non-Pixel gadget, the Samsung Galaxy S25. Lo and behold, Auracast labored.

We don’t know why Auracast is disabled on the Pixel Buds Professional 2 when paired with a Pixel cellphone. After we requested Google for an replace, a spokesperson instructed us they “don’t have anything new to share about Auracast right now.” It’s attainable Google bumped into unresolved points and selected the only path to cover the function from most customers. However because the firm received’t remark, we’re left to take a position.

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 fiasco isn’t the top of the story. Google may be artificially limiting the function on its finances A-series telephones, prone to push customers towards its dearer fashions. After we first reported that A-series telephones would miss out on Auracast, it was unclear if this was because of {hardware} limitations or product segmentation. Whereas we nonetheless can’t affirm the Pixel 8a’s capabilities, we had been capable of allow and use Auracast on a rooted Pixel 9a, proving its omission is a software program block, not a {hardware} one.

There’s nothing inherently improper with limiting software program options to pick out fashions. Firms must differentiate their merchandise past {hardware}, and software program growth prices money and time. However Google’s haphazard method to Auracast — from the problems on the Pixel Buds Professional 2 to the dearth of help on the A-series — suggests an absence of curiosity in pushing the usual ahead. Presently, Samsung looks like the one main firm that actually cares about Auracast, bringing it to a variety of its telephones, tablets, earbuds, and TVs.

This can be a disgrace, as a result of Auracast is an excellent know-how that solves a standard Bluetooth headache: sharing audio. Anybody who has tried to look at a film with a good friend on a airplane is aware of the battle. Present audio-sharing options are a multitude — some are proprietary and solely work with a selected model’s earbuds, whereas many units lack the function completely.

Auracast is supposed to be the common answer, but it surely’s caught in a vicious cycle. If cellphone makers like Google don’t extensively help it, headphone makers haven’t any cause to prioritize it. And if few audio merchandise help it, cellphone makers have little incentive so as to add it. In the end, shoppers lose out. I hope Google addresses these rollout points and champions Auracast with the identical vitality it’s giving to Qi2 help on the brand new Pixel 10.