You Can Now Use Your Bluetooth Headset with Your Nintendo Switch! Here's How!

After three and a half years, Nintendo seemingly remembered that the Switch features Bluetooth connectivity! And with the latest Switch software update, they have graced us with the capability of finally allowing us to pair our Bluetooth earbuds and headphones to our favorite portable consoles! And surprisingly, the process is surprisingly easy!

If you haven't updated your Switch recently, you'll need to do that first. The Bluetooth Audio feature was added in the 13.0.0 update, so you'll need to be running that version or later. Once updated, you'll find the new "Bluetooth Audio" tab in the settings. Here, you'll have only one option by default, and that will be "Pair Device."

Before selecting "Pair Device," you'll need to make sure your earbuds or headphones are in pairing mode. Typically, you can enable this mode by holding the power button past the point of powering the device on, and it should tell you that you are now in pairing mode. If this doesn't work for your earbuds or headphones, you can always refer to the user manual or Google to find out how to put them into pairing mode.

Once your earbuds or headphones are in pairing mode, you'll want to select "Pair Device." This will tell your Switch that you're ready to pair your device, and it will start looking for their pairing signal. It may take a couple of seconds to find your device, but once your console finds them, it will display its name, as well as another "Pair Device" button.

Select the "Pair Device" button, and your Switch will connect to your earbuds or headphones and begin routing the system's audio through them. There are a couple caveats to this, however. While using a Bluetooth audio device, you will be limited to a maximum of two wireless controllers that can be connected to your system. And while using any form of local communications, your Switch will disconnect from your audio device and begin playing sound through its internal speakers again.

Now depending on the device that you use, you may experience a small amount of latency. During my testing, my AirPods 2nd Generation didn't experience any noticeable latency, but my Tzumi ProBuds V2 did experience some latency in the neighborhood of 1/3 to 1/2 seconds, so your milage may vary.

Why it took Nintendo this long to enable a feature that every iteration of the Switch, we may never know. But I think. most people will tell you that they're glad nonetheless that Nintendo finally got around to flipping the switch.