Ever since Beats by Dre became part of Apple’s family, it’s been able to draw on Apple’s technologies, while maintaining its fashion-forward sporty approach to design, most recently seen with the revamped Beats Studio Pro.
With the Powerbeats Pro, that means you get the Apple H1 chip inside the earphones to make pairing with iOS devices super simple. It also helps optimise battery consumption and manages switching between the two separate earbuds, and enables the “Hey Siri” support. With that said, Beats is positioning itself as a brand that makes headphones for everyone. Even Android users. It doesn’t want you to think it’s only a good option if you have an iPhone.
For the Powerbeats Pro, that means you can pair them with any phone, not just iPhones, and still get the benefit of long battery life, great audio and a comfortable fit.
Download the app
Your first step – which didn’t exist when Powerbeats Pro first launched – is downloading the Beats app to your phone. It’s available for free on the Play Store and will allow you to monitor your battery life and access a few key features.
How to connect Powerbeats Pro to your Android phone
As you’d suspect, actually pairing the earphones to your Android phone is much the same as any other pair of Bluetooth earphones or speakers.
- Launch the Bluetooth settings on your Android Phone (Settings> Bluetooth)
- Tap to pair a new device
- Open your Powerbeats Pro case with the earphones inside
- Once the Powerbeats Pro appears, tap on them in the list on your phone
- If they don’t appear in the list, press and hold the little button inside the Powerbeats case until the LED light on the front pulses. Now it should appear on the list, and you can select it.
Once you’ve gone through the pairing step, you might see an option to allow access to your contacts/phones, which you’ll need to make and receive calls. If you do, be sure to allow it. Now, the phone and Powerbeats Pro are paired.
Beats / Pocket-lint
Beats Powerbeats Pro
Covering off all the bases that exercisers need to worry about, the Powerbeats Pro are extremely tough to match.
What features do you get after pairing Powerbeats Pro to an Android phone?
Once paired, you’ll get all the basic features you’d expect from wireless earphones connected to your phone.
- Play and pause music with a single press of the multi-function button (both ears)
- Skip back or forwards with a triple or double tap of the multi-function (both ears)
- Volume up and down using the volume rocker switch (both ears)
- Use both or either individual earphone to make/receive calls
The one feature you don’t get when paired with an Android phone is the “Hey Siri” support. Because, of course, Android phones don’t have Siri.
You can accurately check your battery level and even have it show up in a drop-down notification widget when the earbuds are connected and the app is installed.
Thankfully, the Powerbeats can go for up to 9 hours outside the charging case, so battery life is never going to be a worry.