Bluetooth

How to improve Bluetooth audio on Mac

Siddharth Suvarna ∙ Updated August 18, 2022

Bluetooth audio on Mac can be finicky, as macOS uses a standard audio codec for all kinds of headphones. This can make the audio sound bad on Bluetooth headphones. Most headphones come with support for advanced audio codecs such as AAC and aptX. However, they will end up using the SBC codec when connected to a Mac.

We're not sure why this happens, but some headphones do switch to AAC codec with modern Macs. In this post, we're going to show you how you can force macOS to use AAC or aptX codecs with supported Bluetooth headphones. This will ensure that you get the best Bluetooth audio on your Mac.

Sonyfy lets jailbreakers toggle noise cancellation mode on certain Sony headphones via Control Center

Anthony Bouchard ∙ May 6, 2021

Apple’s AirPods Pro sent a shockwave through the earbud industry when they became some of the first wireless earbuds to support active noise cancellation. Fast-forward to today, and even Apple’s newer AirPods Max over-ear headphones support this feature along with transparency.

But Apple isn’t the only brand pumping out earbuds and headphones with active noise cancellation and features similar to that of the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Sadly, the company limits iOS’ native controls to the first party audio consumption devices — requiring the use of third party apps to control third party accessories (eww).

This tweak stops iOS’ built-in hearing protection for people who don’t like the volume interruption

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 31, 2021

If you’re using any recent release of iOS or iPadOS, be it 13 or 14, then your handset automatically attempts to protect your hearing by reducing loud sounds when using headphones for extended periods of time.

The option to reduce loud sounds is adjustable in the Settings app, but as many users have pointed out on Apple’s support forums, the adjustment has its limits and may still negatively impact the media consumption experience in certain scenarios even when the user takes steps to mitigate interruptions.

Jailbreakers can have more control over network connectivity with SmartNetwork 2

Anthony Bouchard ∙ March 1, 2021

Just last year, we showed you a jailbreak tweak called SmartNetwork by iOS developer Elias Sfeir, which allowed pwned iPhone and iPad owners to enjoy more granular control over their wireless networks — far more than what you’d expect from Apple out of the box on a stock handset.

Now that iOS & iPadOS 14.0-14.3 can be jailbroken on all devices by way of the unc0ver jailbreak, it’s not too surprising to see that many of these tweaks are being re-released with iOS & iPadOS 14 support. SmartNetwork is no different, although the branding has been changed to SmartNetwork 2 and a plethora of new features have been added since we last went hands on with it.

How to classify a Bluetooth device type on iPhone and iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 4, 2022

Sometimes, your iPhone or iPad may incorrectly identify the type of connected Bluetooth audio accessory, which can in turn prevent hearing health audio notifications from showing up. We show you how to manually classify your Bluetooth accessory as a specific type of device.

macOS Big Sur 11.2 promises to fix all your Bluetooth connection woes

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 22, 2021

Mac customers have been painfully aware that the Bluetooth protocol is a bag of hurt. Various unreliability issues that have been plaguing owners of the new M1 Mac computers only exacerbate the underlying problem. But Apple may be fixing unreliable Bluetooth connections on Apple silicon Macs with the upcoming release of the macOS Big Sur 11.2 software update.

Apple is working on a fix for Bluetooth issues plaguing some Apple silicon Mac units

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 11, 2021

As iDownloadBlog recently reported, some owners of the new Mac computers powered by Apple silicon are experiencing Bluetooth connectivity issues. Apple is aware of the problem and working on a fix which should soon arrive via a macOS software update.

How to reset the Bluetooth module on your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 11, 2023

The ubiquitous Bluetooth wireless technology is awesome until you run into problems. If the traditional troubleshooting steps for fixing common Bluetooth connection issues won't help, try resetting your Mac's Bluetooth module to factory settings.

Radio proximity security attack targeting up to iOS 13.5 detailed by Ian Beer

Anthony Bouchard ∙ December 2, 2020

Accomplished security researcher Ian Beer, known for releasing a host of iOS exploits used by modern jailbreak tools, dropped a bombshell on Twitter late Wednesday evening after sharing a detailed blog post about a jaw-dropping radio proximity exploit affecting up to and including iOS and iPadOS 13.5.

The blog post summary goes on to explain that the hacker can remotely trigger kernel memory corruption through the execution of arbitrary code. Furthermore, it can force affected iOS and iPadOS devices in radio proximity to reboot with no user interaction needed or put privacy at risk by breaching user data or utilizing cameras and microphones without the user’s knowledge. Scary indeed…

Some M1 Macs are exhibiting Bluetooth issues

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 25, 2020

With Apple's refreshed MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini computers powered by the company's M1 laptop chip in customers' hands now, we're starting to see first reports of the inevitable teething issues that accompany every new hardware launch.

New to Mac? Here’s all the tools in the Mac Utilities folder

Sandy Writtenhouse ∙ November 17, 2020

If you’ve just purchased your first Mac, and especially if you’re coming from Windows, you might be wondering about the Utilities folder. You may see the folder but have yet to open it or you might be looking for a specific tool and don’t realize it’s in that folder.

Whatever the case, we’re here with another in our New to Mac series to help you out! We’ll explain what’s in the Utilities folder and what each tool is for.

Crystal brings volume-based active noise cancellation toggling to AirPods Pro for jailbreakers

Anthony Bouchard ∙ October 16, 2020

Apple’s AirPods Pro quickly rose to become one of the market’s most popular active noise cancellation-equipped wireless earbuds. Out of the box, they isolate users’ ears from their surroundings via active noise cancellation; and in the event that you need to hear somebody, they support transparency mode, which allows a person’s voice to pass through the AirPods Pro’s microphone and into the user’s ear canal as audio.

One thing worth noting is that when using the AirPods Pro, the user must manually switch between active noise cancelation mode and transparency mode with a gesture when either feature is desired. With that in mind, iOS developer Litten devised a way to make this behavior more autonomous based on the user’s circumstances, and as such, a newly released and free jailbreak tweak called Crystal was born.