Science & Technology

/

Knowledge

Does your TV have Bluetooth?

on

Published in Science & Technology News

This week a reader writes, “We are an all-Apple family, except for my hearing aids (which do connect to my phone and iPad). How many different Bluetooth devices can I connect to my iPad? (One at a time!) I’m thinking about Air Pods for listening to our TV and listening to podcasts from my iPad. (TV Bluetooth signal to AirPods)."

Your iPad, iPhone, Android phone or tablet can pair to dozens of different Bluetooth devices, but obviously not all of them can be connected at the same time.

If you look at my iPhone, (since I review lots of stuff), you’ll see at least 10 Bluetooth devices, including my Apple Watch and AirPods Pro 2. The Apple Watch is the only one of the 10 devices currently connected.

The other Bluetooth devices, including ear buds, battery-powered speakers and my car stereo and an OBD II code reader for my car are only connected when I power them on. The rest of the time, they’ll remain on the “paired” list in the Bluetooth settings, but they don’t stay connected.

There are a number of smart TVs that have Bluetooth as a sound output option. You can certainly pair a set of AirPods and listen to your set without bothering anyone else.

 

Some TV manufacturers, like Samsung, allow the Bluetooth connection to hearing aids (or ear buds) and the TV speakers at the same time, so everyone can enjoy (and hear) the show together. In fact, the hearing aids can be set at a separate volume level from the TV speakers. On recent Samsung TVs, this is called Multi-output Audio and it is found under the system’s Accessibility settings. Note: Not all TVs will support this mode.

If your TV doesn’t support Bluetooth as a sound output, you can have the option to add a third-party Bluetooth transmitter. The transmitters may come bundled with Bluetooth headphones or ear buds if you need them.

Apple TV and certain Roku streaming devices can also be used to add Bluetooth to TVs that don’t have that option built-in.


©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus