Every time that I look this up, all the websites or articles say the answer is switching the settings to "When last connected to this Mac". I don't want the AirPods to ever automatically connect to my Mac, even when it was the last device it was connected to. Does anyone have any ideas for this?
AirPods (3rd generation)
This thing drove me crazy for years. I'm using my AirPods only with my iPhone and larger headphones with Mac and never want it to switch back and forth, but it always does.
I might have just solved it with AirPods 4. It works under the latest macOS at the moment (15.3).
I looked in all possible places where settings can be stored and found something interesting, and it likely works.
Steps:
1 - Connect AirPods to Mac, go to Settings, select "When last connected to Mac".
2 - Open Terminal, run the following command, you will be asked for a password.
sudo defaults read /Library/Bluetooth/Library/Preferences/com.apple.MobileBluetooth.devices
The output will look something like that:
{
... different stuff ...
"FC:A5:C8:B8:07:67" = {
... different stuff ...
OwnerNoMagicPairing = 0;
... different stuff ...
UserNameKey = "My AirPods 4";
... different stuff ...
};
... different stuff ...
}
You are looking for the section with your AirPods name in UserNameKey; it should (but probably might not) have the OwnerNoMagicPairing key set to 0.
Next, you need to copy the top-level key of this section ("FC:A5:C8:B8:07:67" in case above).
3 - Run the following command, replacing "FC:A5:C8:B8:07:67" with your specific value from above.
sudo defaults write /Library/Bluetooth/Library/Preferences/com.apple.MobileBluetooth.devices "FC:A5:C8:B8:07:67" -dict-add OwnerNoMagicPairing -int 1
You may rerun the first command to check that now OwnerNoMagicPairing set to 1.
4 - Open AirPods settings again, check that "When last connected to Mac” is still selected, and click disconnect.
After that, when I insert my AirPods, it connects to my iPhone.
On Mac, click connect on AirPods, and it switches to Mac.
Put AirPods back to the case, take them out, and insert them again - they still connect to my iPhone, even though they were last connected to Mac and even if my iPhone screen is off.
Play anything on Mac and AirPods doesn’t switch to it automatically.
Fn fantastic!
My AirPods 2, which I no longer use but still added to my settings, also have this key. So this should work with other Apple headphones too.
Mr. Dakota Brower wrote:
This would be easy for Apple to solve by adding "never" as an option for automatically connecting.
Tell Apple what you'd like to see:
marcusalles wrote:
Should be a simple button in the control centre to "connect to AirPods". The Apple "hand holding" always drives me nuts.
Tell Apple:
yes, but then my mouse did not work anymore... also bluetooth.. What an annoying thing this automatic connection is isn't it? Kind regards, Hans Bos
Thank you!! Just shared my feedback with that link.
The 'connect to airpods' drives us crazy.. help
Edit from original: Auto Ear Detect does NOT work. Bluetooth is such trash.
I agree. But if you need to, just plug stuff in. Or try OldToads solution as mentioned in other posts.
Can there be a setting of [never connect to this device]?
I want to have bluetooth turned on with my MacBook, my kid's, my wife's. All 5 family/work iPads; all our AirPods, our Beats headphones... They all try to steal my AirPods, his Beats, even though I've gone through all steps to keep them on kid's iPad, my phone, my wife's phone. We use bluetooth for other devices and file sharing. The only thing is "Hey, Kid! Can you turn off bluetooth?!"
Even though we share, can there be a setting of [only connect to this device]?
How to FULLY stop AirPods from automatically connecting to Mac.
