How to connect Bluetooth Headphones to PS4

With consoles becoming more common every single day, it is not surprising that the majority of them have Bluetooth compatibility which allows users to connect their Bluetooth devices such as headphones.

Play Station 4 also has this feature and allows users to connect headphones, mics, remote screens etc. to the console directly. The method for connecting these Bluetooth devices is quite simple but a bit different from Xbox 360.

Why are not all Bluetooth devices supported in PS4?

One thing which should be noted is that not all Bluetooth headsets are supported by the PS4. According to Sony in its official documentation, the PS4 doesn’t support A2DP or any streaming Bluetooth profile. A2DP means Advanced Audio Distribution Profile which corresponds to music or audio streaming wirelessly using Bluetooth with your PS4.

The reason why Sony bans these type of headsets is that they will lag around 200-300 ms during gameplay which will reduce the overall experience of the game drastically. To keep the gameplay smooth and everything in sync, these headphones are banned.

There are still workarounds listed below which will help you connect your Bluetooth headset with your PS4. The first method will only work for supported headsets.

Solution 1: Connecting via Bluetooth (for supported headsets)

If your headsets support Sony Play Station, you will be able to connect them without any issues at all. You can look for a logo of Sony or Play Station on your headphones box to see if they are supported. You can also refer to its documentation.

Even if you don’t see any signs of support, you can try connecting using Bluetooth. If the error message pops up, we can always move on to the next solutions.

1. Keep pressing your Bluetooth button on your headsets to toggle it into pair mode. Each headset may have a different way to trigger the pairing mode.
2. Open your PS4 and navigate to Settings and then Devices. Once in devices, search for Bluetooth Devices.

3. Here you will see the name of your headphones mentioned. Click it and PS4 will attempt at connecting.

If you get an error such as Cannot connect to Bluetooth device within time limit or Bluetooth  audio devices are not supported by PS4, you can continue with the other solutions listed below.

Solution 2: Connecting using a wired medium

If you cannot connect your headsets using the first method, you would have to connect them using a wired medium instead of Bluetooth. If you are thinking Sony didn’t make even a single way to connect your Bluetooth headsets, you are wrong. Your PS4 controller has an audio jack which can be connected to any headsets for the voice to be transmitted to them.

You would need a headset audio jack which may have come with your Bluetooth headphones. If not, you easily purchase one for a few bucks on Amazon.

1. Connect the headset audio jack into your headset and your PS4 controller. Make sure that the controller is properly connected.
2. Now navigate to Settings > Devices > Audio devices.

3. Now select Output device and make sure that you select the option Headset Connected to controller. You can use the Volume control (Headphones) underneath to adjust the volume according to your needs. If your headphones have a mic, you can also change the setting of Input Device.

4. To make sure that not only chat but game volume also gets outputted to your headsets, we need to change the option Output to Headphones. Make sure it is selected as All Audio.

5. Save changes and exit the settings. Now check if you can properly hear the audio on your headphones.

Solution 3: Using USB dongle for headset

If you are not comfortable in using a wired medium for your Bluetooth headsets, you can easily make use of a Bluetooth dongle which can plug into your PS4 and you can connect to the USB wirelessly. This is an alternative to connecting your headphones via Bluetooth to your PS4 machine. Instead, we are using another device as a recipient for your headset Bluetooth signals which forwards the data to the PS4 using a physical connection.

1. You should purchase a dongle from Amazon which supports this workaround for connecting.
2. Plug in the USB dongle on your PS4’s USB slot. Make sure that your Bluetooth headset is in pairing mode before you enable the pairing on your dongle.

   

3. Once both devices are paired, navigate to Settings > Devices > Audio devices.
4. Now select Output device and make sure that you select the option USB Headset.

You can also change the volume and Output to headphones option as we did in the previous solution. The method for connecting and selecting the Audio output is almost the same as in Solution 2. The only change is that in this scenario, we using the medium of USB instead of wired to the controller.