AirPods pair with Android like any other Bluetooth device, but most of their smarts stay behind on the iPhone.
Flip open an AirPods case next to an iPhone and up pops a card showing your earbuds and their battery levels, ready to connect with one tap. Do the same next to a Samsung Galaxy, and you’ll get nothing. Instead, you’ll need to double-tap the front of the case on AirPods 4, AirPods 5 or AirPods Pro 3 (or hold the button on the back of older models) until the light flashes white, then connect them manually through Bluetooth settings.
But seamless connectivity isn’t the only feature you lose when using your AirPods outside the Apple ecosystem. Apple warns that “you can’t use Siri, but you can listen and talk,” but that’s underselling it. Automatic device switching, ear detection, Spatial Audio head tracking, the Ear Tip Fit Test, Live Translation, hearing health tools and the heart rate sensor on AirPods Pro 3 all depend on an iPhone, iPad or Mac. So too do firmware updates and Find My.
Some apps can claw back a few of these features, but at $249, AirPods Pro 3 cost the same as Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. Unsurprisingly, Samsung says these reach their “full potential” with a Galaxy phone.
AirPods Features that need an Apple device
You can only change the settings on a pair of AirPods via an Apple device; without one, you’re stuck with the defaults or whatever they were last set to. That includes the press-and-hold action on the stem along with automatic ear detection, the feature that pauses your music when you take an earbud out. Spatial Audio and head tracking are also controlled from Apple devices, as are Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Personalized Volume.
Live Translation, which is available on recent models including AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 5, does its processing via an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone (iPhone 15 Pro or newer). The Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection features on AirPods Pro 2 and 3 are set up on an iPhone or iPad, and the heart rate readings taken by AirPods Pro 3 go to Apple’s Fitness app.
Automatic switching, meanwhile, only works across devices signed in to the same Apple Account, and since Apple uses that instead of standard Bluetooth multipoint, AirPods won’t stay connected to two non-Apple devices at the same time. That’s one of the reasons why you shouldn’t buy new headphones without Bluetooth multipoint.
AirPods do retain some functionality when paired with a non-Apple device, though. Pressing the stem while connected to a Galaxy still plays, pauses and skips tracks, according to SoundGuys — though you can’t customize those controls. The site also found noise cancellation on AirPods Pro 2 is about the same on Android as on iOS. Sound quality is less certain, since AirPods stream over Bluetooth using the AAC codec, and SoundGuys‘ older testing found Android phones performed worse with it than an iPhone.
Firmware updates and Find My
Apple says AirPods’ firmware updates come “automatically while your AirPods are charging and in Bluetooth range of your iPhone, iPad, or Mac that’s connected to Wi-Fi.” Don’t have one of those? Apple’s solution is for you to book an appointment at an Apple Store or with an Apple Authorized Service Provider to get them updated.
And those updates can bring new features: firmware 9A348 brought a custom EQ to AirPods 4 and later, along with AirPods Pro 2 and later. But you can only adjust this in the AirPods settings menu, which only exists on Apple devices. While Apple makes an Android app for its Beats headphones that installs firmware and updates, there’s no AirPods equivalent.
Find My works from any browser at iCloud.com/find, but you must pair your AirPods with an iPhone or iPad signed into your Apple Account before they’ll show up. That means you won’t be able to track them at all if they’ve never been paired. And even if they have, the web version of Find My can only show a location and play a sound; it can’t play a sound from the charging case. If you lose them on an Android-only setup, you’re on your own.
Getting some AirPods features back on Android
All isn’t lost, though. You can restore some functionality by using apps like CAPod, a free Google Play download with optional in-app purchases. This adds a battery pop-up when you open the case, along with automatic play and pause based on ear detection.
LibrePods, an open-source app, goes much further. It unlocks noise control modes, Conversation Awareness, head gestures and the long-press setting. While it needed a rooted phone upon launch, Google has since fixed the Android bug that made root necessary. Android Authority reported in April that Samsung owners would need One UI 9, which began rolling out to the Galaxy S26 series in September.
Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will set you back $249, which is the same cost as the AirPods Pro 3. But a Galaxy paired with the Buds 4 Pro will get you features like Auto Switch between Samsung devices, 360 Audio and 24-bit/96kHz audio over Samsung’s Seamless Codec, which needs a phone running One UI 6.1.1 or later. We gave the Buds 4 Pro an 86 in our Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and 4 Pro review, with noise cancellation being the main weak spot. But AirPods on a Galaxy phone will only ever be a pair of good Bluetooth earbuds, and the AirPods Pro 3 are a lot more than that on an iPhone.