Most pairing failures are not faults. They are the device being connected to something else, or never having been put into pairing mode at all.
Put the device into pairing mode properly
A Bluetooth device only accepts a new phone when it is in pairing mode, and being switched on is not the same thing.
- Earbuds: put both buds in the case, leave the case open, and hold the button on the case for five to ten seconds until the light flashes, usually blue and white alternating.
- Speakers: hold the Bluetooth button, not the power button, until the light flashes quickly or it announces that it is pairing.
- Car stereos: find the phone or Bluetooth menu on the stereo and choose add or pair a device from there.
A slow flash normally means connected. A fast flash normally means pairing. If nothing is flashing, it is not ready for you.
The step people miss
The device is already connected to something else. Earbuds hold onto the last phone they saw. If your laptop is open on the desk, or your partner's phone is in the next room, the buds may have already gone to it and will not appear on yours.
Turn Bluetooth off on every other device in the room, then try again. This solves it more often than anything else on this page.
If it still will not appear
- Forget it and start over. In your phone's Bluetooth list, tap the gear next to the device and choose Forget or Unpair. Then pair from scratch.
- Turn Location on. Android uses location permissions to scan for nearby Bluetooth devices, so with location off, scanning quietly finds nothing.
- Restart both. The phone, and the device.
- Charge it. Many earbuds and speakers refuse to pair on a very low battery even though they still switch on.
- Check the device limit. Car stereos in particular often remember only five or six phones and silently refuse the seventh. Delete an old phone from the stereo's list.
- Reset the accessory. Nearly every pair of earbuds has a factory reset, usually holding the case button for twenty to thirty seconds. Look up your exact model; the button timing differs.
It pairs but the sound is wrong
- Sound still coming from the phone: open the Bluetooth entry for the device and check Media audio is enabled, not just call audio.
- Only one earbud works: put both back in the case, close it, wait ten seconds, open it. If that fails, reset the buds and pair again.
- Choppy or cutting out: something is in the way. Bluetooth is easily blocked by a body. Move the phone to the same side as the earbud that is cutting out, and away from a microwave or a busy Wi-Fi router.
- Sound is delayed against video: normal for cheap Bluetooth audio and not fixable in settings. Some players have an audio delay adjustment.
Counterfeit earbuds
If a cheap pair of well-known-brand earbuds pairs badly, drops constantly and resets itself, it may simply be a fake, and no amount of settings work will fix the radio inside it. That is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon on it.