How to Hear Zoom Through AirPods

Zoom allows people to stay in touch with colleagues and classmates to complete work remotely, whether they’re having a meeting, taking online courses, or running a workshop.

While Zoom is pretty easy to use, many people find connecting AirPods to the video conferencing service a challenge. This can become a major problem, especially if you use Zoom for business reasons.

If you have trouble hearing Zoom through Airpods, we can help. Here’s how to connect AirPods to Zoom on Windows or Mac, step by step.

How to Connect AirPods to Zoom

To use your Apple AirPods with Zoom, you must first configure the earbuds in Zoom’s speaker and microphone settings. Zoom has separate device settings for the speaker and mic. Check out our guide on how to connect AirPods to a laptop. Your Speaker will allow you to hear audio from the call, and your Microphone will allow you to speak to other people in the meeting.

Here’s how to connect AirPods to Zoom:

Open the Zoom app.
Go to Settings.
In the left menu, click Audio.
Under Speaker, there will be a couple of different options for your AirPods.
From the drop-down menu, select Headset. (If you choose “Headphones” instead of “Headset,” the microphone on your AirPods will not work correctly.)
Under Microphone, choose Headset if you want to use your AirPods as a mic.

You should now hear Zoom calls through your AirPods. Before joining a meeting, click Test Speaker and Test Mic to make sure your wireless earbuds are working correctly. If your still having issues connecting your AirPods to Zoom, Samsung Galaxy Buds and Bose QuietComfort earbuds work as well.

How to Connect USB Mic to Zoom

You can use an external USB microphone instead of the AirPods’ built-in microphone to vastly improve the sound quality of your voice on Zoom calls. Zoom allows users to set two different devices for audio which means you can still use your AirPods to listen and an external microphone to speak.

Open the Speaker drop-down menu.
Select Headphones.
Open the Microphone drop-down menu.
Select the name of your USB microphone.
Click Test Mic to make sure you can hear the sound of your voice.

How to Connect AirPods to Zoom on Mac

Connecting your AirPods or AirPods Pro to your Zoom meetings on a Mac is just as simple as a PC. Unplug your AirPods from any other devices connected to them before you begin. If your headphones are paired to more than one device, you may experience connectivity issues.

Connect your Macbook to your AirPods.
Open the Apple menu.
Go to System Preferences.
Click the Bluetooth icon to ensure your AirPods are on the list of connected devices.
Open the Zoom app.
Select Audio.
Choose your AirPods under Speaker and Microphone.

To grant Zoom access to your microphone, you must first ensure that you have set the appropriate permissions on your Mac. The macOS will now ask you to authorize access to Zoom to use your microphone. Zoom won’t be able to access your microphone without these permissions. To do this, go to your OS permissions and allow Zoom to access your microphone.

Select the Apple menu.
Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Then select Security & Privacy.
Navigate to the Privacy tab.
To unlock the setting changes, click the lock icon.
Choose the Microphone.
To allow the software to use your mic, tick the Zoom checkbox.

How To Test Your AirPods For a Zoom Call

To ensure that everything is working correctly, Zoom offers callers an option to test their audio devices before joining a call. When you click the link to enter a Zoom call, a pop-up will appear.

Click the Join with Computer Audio button.
Click Test speaker and microphone underneath to make sure that your AirPods are working with Zoom.
To test the speaker, Zoom will play a ringtone.
If you hear the ringtone, you know your AirPods are working correctly.
If you don’t hear the tone, click No, and Zoom will try another device.
Continue to press No until you hear the tone through your AirPods.

If this takes too much time, you might find it faster to open the drop-down menu and select your AirPods without having to cycle through any additional devices.