Beats headphones are among the best options available on the market thanks to their many premium audio features. However, these great features are all worthless if you can’t even get the headphones to connect to your device. So, how do you connect your Beats headphones to a laptop?
To connect your Beats headphones to a laptop, put the Beats into pairing mode by holding the power button until the LED lights start to flash. Then, open the Bluetooth settings on your laptop, click “Add a new device,” select your Beats from the list of devices, and choose “Connect.”
That’s a nice overview of the basic process you’ll need to do to connect your Beats to your laptop, but it doesn’t cover everything. Let’s go through the full process in more detail so that you can get your Beats up and running as soon as possible.
What Are the Different Types of Beats Headphones?
When it comes to Beats headphones, there are a few different kinds. These include the Beats Solo, Beats Studio, Powerbeats, and Beats X.
Throughout this guide, one of the most important features of your Beats that we will be referring to is the power button. This button is located on different positions depending on which model of Beats you have.
On some Beats, the power button is located on the right headphone (and it looks like a small circle). On other types, the power button can be located on the cord connected to the Beats.
If you don’t know where the power button is on your Beats, you can find its location by checking the user manual that came with your beats.
How Do You Connect Wireless Beats to a MacBook?
Connecting your Beats to your MacBook laptop is very easy. In fact, it only takes a few simple steps:
- To begin, put your Beats into pairing mode by holding down the power button for about 5 seconds. You’ll know they’re in pairing mode when the LED lights on your headphones start to blink.
- Open your MacBook and go to the Apple menu at the top of the screen. Here, you need to select “System Preferences” and then “Bluetooth” from the list that appears. This should open up a page that lists all of the devices you could possibly connect to.
- In this devices list, you should see the name of your Beats headphones listed. After you see your earbuds on the list, select “Connect” next to them, and the sound from your computer should start to come out of your headphones.
If you ever want to disconnect your Beats from your MacBook, you can just turn them off using the power button. However, this will only disconnect them from the computer while they’re off.
If you want to disconnect them from the MacBook more permanently, then you’ll need to repeat the steps above but select “Disconnect” where the “Connect” button was.
How to Connect Beats to a PC
On a Windows PC, the connection process is also pretty easy. Most of the difficulty in connecting a Bluetooth device on Windows comes from actually finding the Bluetooth settings in order to proceed.
- To begin, put your Beats into pairing mode by holding down on both headphones’ touch sensors until they beep.
- Right click on the Windows icon in the bottom left corner of the screen. This should bring up a list of options; select the one that says “Settings.” This will bring you to the Settings menu where you should select “Devices.”
- After this, you should be on the page for “Bluetooth and other devices” by default, but if you aren’t, you can simply select it from the list on the left.
- Now, you need to turn on the Bluetooth toggle at the top if it isn’t already on, and then click on the plus sign next to “Add Bluetooth or other device.”
- Here, you’ll be given a list of choices of methods to connect devices. Select “Bluetooth” and a list of available devices should appear.
- Finally, once your Beats headphones appear on the list, select them, click “Connect,” and your laptop should connect to them.
After following these steps, you should be good to use your Beats for your laptop’s audio. If you ever want to disconnect your Beats from your laptop, you can just turn them off using the power button and their connection to the computer should be cut.
However, this will only disconnect them from the computer while they’re off. If you want to disconnect them from the MacBook more permanently, then you’ll need to repeat the steps above but select “Disconnect” where the “Connect” button was.
Having Trouble Connecting? Try These Troubleshooting Tips
If you’ve followed the steps above and your Beats still haven’t connected, there’s probably another issue going on. Let’s go through a couple of ways to fix the most common issues you might run into.
Reset Your Beats
One of the tried-and-true ways to fix any electronic device is to reset it. Some devices start working strangely if they’ve been on for too long, and others simply fail to start up properly sometimes.
To turn off your Beats headphones, simply hold down the power button until the LED lights on the headphones turn off, and then let go of the power button. If done properly, the LED lights should stay off.
Once they’re off, simply hit the power button again to turn them back on and hold it down for about five seconds to put them in pairing mode. Your Beats should now be able to connect to your laptop.
Change Audio Output
One of the most common issues that people have when they connect their Beats headphones to a Windows laptop is that despite the fact that the headphones say they’re connected, audio still comes from the laptop’s speakers. Thankfully, this problem is easy to fix; you just need to change your audio output settings.
To do this on a Windows laptop, look at the bottom right corner of your screen for the audio icon. It should look like a speaker with sound waves coming out of it. Right click on this icon and then select “Open Sound settings.”
Once you’re in the sound settings, you should see text at the top that says “Choose your output device” with a drop box directly below it. The device selected from this drop box will be the one where your audio is played.
So, open this dropbox, select your Beats, and your sound should now be coming from your earbuds.