Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds are often seen as a glimpse into the future of earbuds. However, you won’t be able to do much with these innovative headphones if you can’t get them to connect to your device. So, how do you pair the Galaxy Buds with a laptop?
To connect your Galaxy Buds to a laptop, first put the earbuds into pairing mode by holding down on the touchpads of both earbuds until they beep. Then, open the Bluetooth settings on your laptop, click “Add a new device,” select your Galaxy Buds from the list of devices, and press “Connect.”
That’s a basic overview of the process, but it doesn’t cover everything. Let’s go through the steps in more detail so that you can get your Galaxy Buds connected to your laptop with no trouble.
Are Samsung Galaxy Buds Compatible With Any Laptop?
Yes, you should be able to connect your Galaxy Buds to pretty much any device that supports a Bluetooth connection. If your goal is to just use the Galaxy Buds as a pair of headphones, then you should be fine. However, you likely won’t be able to use the fancier features of the Galaxy Buds.
Because Samsung earbuds are designed by Samsung, a company that makes Android phones, the Samsung earbuds are designed specifically for use with Android devices. Unfortunately, this means that if you pair them with a computer, you won’t be able to use all of the features that your Samsung earbuds usually have.
First off, one of the biggest losses when connecting your Samsung earbuds to a non-Samsung device is 360 degree audio. This is a feature that makes your audio sound much more immersive by making it sound like the audio is coming from all directions. Unfortunately, this feature will only work when paired with Samsung devices.
Another feature you’ll be losing out on is Gaming Mode. Usually, when you use Bluetooth headphones, there’s a slight delay between what’s happening on your phone and the sound that comes from the headphones. However, if you put your Samsung earbuds into Gaming Mode, then this delay will be removed — at the cost of battery life.
You’ll also lose out on Samsung’s intuitive seamless switching feature. This feature allows you to switch your earbuds’ audio from one Samsung device to another with the press of a button. However, when the earbuds are paired to a non-Samsung device, you need to manually pair your earbuds to each device if you want to switch.
How to Connect Samsung Galaxy Earbuds to a MacBook
Connecting your Galaxy Buds to your MacBook laptop is very easy. In fact, it only takes a few steps:
- To begin, put your Galaxy Buds into pairing mode by holding down the touchpad on both earbuds at the same time until you hear a series of beeps.
- 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 Samsung earbuds 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.
How to Connect Your Galaxy Earbuds to a PC
On a Windows PC, this process is also quite simple. Most of the difficulty in connecting a Bluetooth device on Windows comes from actually finding the Bluetooth settings in order to connect the device.
- To begin, put your Galaxy Buds 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 where you need to select the one that says “Settings.” This will bring you to the Settings menu, and you can select the option that says “Devices.”
- After this, you should be on the page for “Bluetooth and other devices” by default. 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 earbuds appear on the list, select them, click “Connect,” and your laptop should pair to them.
Disconnecting Your Earbuds
After following the above steps, you should be good to use your Galaxy Buds for your laptop’s audio. If you ever want to disconnect your Galaxy Buds from your laptop, you can just place them in their charging case, which should cut their connection to the computer.
However, this will only disconnect them from the computer for the period while they’re in the case. If you want to disconnect them from the laptop completely, then you will need to repeat the steps above — except you’ll select “Disconnect” where the Connect button was.
What to Do if Your Galaxy Buds Won’t Connect
There are a few reasons why your Galaxy Buds might not connect to your laptop. Let’s go through how to fix two of the most common issues you can run into.
Make Sure the Battery Isn’t Dead
The most common thing that can keep your Galaxy Buds from connecting to your laptop is also one of the simplest issues you can imagine: If the batteries in your Galaxy Buds are dead, then they won’t be able to connect to anything.
To fix this, you’ll need to charge the Buds by placing them in the charging case they came in. However, if the charging case itself is dead, you’ll need to plug the charging case into a power outlet via a USB-C cable.
According to Samsung’s website, the Galaxy Buds need at least 10 minutes of charging time before they can be used. After this time is up, they should be ready and able to connect to your laptop.
Change Your Audio Output
Another common issue that people have when they connect their Galaxy Buds to a Windows laptop is that audio is still coming from the laptop’s speakers, despite the fact that the headphones say they’re connected. Thankfully, this problem is easy to fix; you just need to change your audio output settings.
To do this on a Windows laptop, look in 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. Whichever device you have selected from this drop box will play your computer’s audio. So, open this dropbox, select your Galaxy Buds, and your sound should now be coming from your earbuds.