Apple’s AirPods have gotten praise for their easy pairing process with iPhones, which lets you simply open their case and have a pairing pop-up appear on your phone. Now Google has announced a similar feature for Android.
Fast Pair is a simple way to pair Bluetooth devices with your Android phone. When you’ve got a Fast Pair-enabled device and a phone that supports it, you simply need to put your Bluetooth device into pairing mode and your phone will receive a high-priority notification asking you to “Tap to pair”. The notification includes a name and image of the Bluetooth device you’re pairing.
Once you tap, the Bluetooth device and phone are connected and a “Pairing complete” notification will appear. This notification will also contain a link to download the Bluetooth device’s companion app if there’s one available.
Fast Pair will be available with Google’s Pixel Buds and Libratone’s Q Adapt On-Ear headphones initially, and Plantronics will launch its Voyager 8200 wireless headsets with Fast Pair support soon. You’ll also need an Android device running Android 6.0 Marshmallow or higher with Google Play services 11.7 or higher.
Pairing Bluetooth headphones can be a pain. Often once you’ve put your Bluetooth device into pairing mode, you’ll need to dive deep into your phone’s settings to find the Bluetooth menu, search for your device (which can appear as anything ranging from a full product name to just a number), then begin the pairing process. Fast Pair speeds up and simplifies the Bluetooth pairing process immensely, and hopefully we see lots of headphone makers support it.
