Alex Choros

Updated 04 December 2023

Pairing AirPods to your iPhone or iPad is easy. You hold them near your device, tap "Connect," and you're pretty much done. The process is a little bit different if you're hoping to use your AirPods with your Mac, however.

The steps you'll need to take depend on whether you've already set up your AirPods with your iPhone or iPad. In addition, your Mac needs to be running macOS Mojave 10.14.4 or later for standard AirPods, macOS Cataline 10.15.1 or later for AirPods Pro, and macOS Big Sur 11.1 or better for Airpods Max.

Before you start, you'll want to ensure your Mac has Bluetooth switched on. You can do this by following these steps:

Click the Apple icon in the menu bar.
Select System Preferences.
Choose Bluetooth.
Turn Bluetooth On if Bluetooth is off.

If you've already paired your AirPods with your iPhone or iPad, and you're signed in to your Mac with the same Apple ID, you should be able to use your AirPods instantly. If they don't connect after you're wearing them, click the volume icon in the menu bar, and they should show up as an option.

If your AirPods don't show up in the menu, or you haven't paired them with an iPhone or iPad signed in to the same Apple ID first, follow these steps.

Click the Apple icon in the menu bar.
Click System Preferences.
Select Bluetooth.
If you have AirPods or AirPods Pro, press and hold the setup button on the back of the case until the status light flashes white. If you have AirPods Max, press and hold the noise control button until the status light flashes white.
Select your AirPods in the device list and click Connect.

If sound still plays from the Mac speaker, click the volume icon and ensure your AirPods are selected as the output device.

If you're trying to use your AirPods with a non-Apple device, holding the setup button on your AirPods or AirPods Pro case or the noise control button on your AirPods Max will put them into pairing mode. You can tell they're in pairing mode when the status light flashes white. They'll then show up as an option in the Bluetooth menu on your non-Apple device.

Sidenote: not all Airpods are the same. There are a litany of scammers out there selling what look to be real Airpods, but are in fact fakes. Check out this article on spotting the differences between real and fake Airpods.

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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