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Multipoint Bluetooth explained: what is it, and how does it work?

Everything you need to know about multipoint Bluetooth

Esat Dedezade
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What is multipoint Bluetooth? What does it do? Is it good? Should you care whether your headphones or earbuds have it or not? All of these questions (and possibly more) will be answered below.

Sit down. Get comfortable, and get ready for some multipoint Bluetooth schooling.

What is Multipoint Bluetooth?

In short, multipoint Bluetooth (or Bluetooth multipoint, depending on your preference), is a feature found in some of the best headphones which lets them connect to more than one device at a time, letting you switch between them whenever you like, without having to unpair and pair every time.

It might sound like a niche use case at first, but it can come in genuinely handy for some people, depending on their needs. You could, for example, pair your multipoint Bluetooth earbuds to both your phone and PC at the same time. While you’re gaming and/or chatting to your friends on Discord on your PC, your phone starts ringing. Thanks to multipoint Bluetooth, your headphones will automatically switch to your phone, letting you seamlessly accept the call, before hanging up and automatically swapping back to your PC for more gaming shenanigans.

If you had a regular pair of non-multipoint Bluetooth headphones in the above scenario, you’d have to take your headphones off and answer the call directly on your phone. If you wanted the privacy of answering the call through headphones, you’d have to manually disconnect your headphones from your PC, and connect them to your phone before answering — obviously far from ideal.

How does multipoint Bluetooth work?

Multipoint Bluetooth doesn’t require any additional complicated setup. Simply pair your headphones to your devices as normal, and it’ll take care of the rest, letting you switch back and forth without a care in the world.

Handily, multipoint Bluetooth headphones actually prioritise incoming calls if you’re connected to a phone, so they should be able to instantly override anything else you’re connected to to ensure your phone call comes through automatically. If you’re constantly taking or making calls while listening to music etc, then this is one of the technology’s biggest draws.

Which headphones have multipoint Bluetooth?

Multipoint Bluetooth is becoming more and more common, and there are plenty of great headphones already available that support it. We’ve rounded up a selection of some of the ones we’ve reviewed below:

It’s worth bearing in mind that some multipoint solutions are proprietary and have different names. Samsung, for example, has Auto Switch, while Apple has its own version too. And that’s all there is to it. Go forth, and enjoy a whole new world of seamless connectivity.

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About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.