Google’s newly introduced Pixel Buds 2a are a giant step up from the unique A-series, boasting a extra sturdy design, ANC, the Tensor A1 processor, and multipoint connectivity. It’s nice to see the corporate deliver so many options from its premium earbuds all the way down to its price range lineup. Nevertheless, the absence of Bluetooth audio sharing on the Pixel Buds 2a isn’t only a easy omission. It’s a part of a complicated sample we’ve not too long ago found concerning audio sharing help throughout Pixel gadgets, leaving us questioning Google’s total plans for the characteristic.

Audio sharing is a characteristic that means that you can begin or take heed to an audio broadcast. You’ll be able to both share your individual gadget’s audio with a number of close by gadgets or be part of an current broadcast began by one other gadget. These broadcasts are transmitted over Bluetooth Low Power and could be began or joined by any gadget that helps Auracastthe Bluetooth know-how that allows this characteristic.

That is the place issues get difficult. Again in March, Google introduced that Pixel 9 homeowners working Android 16 would be capable to stream Auracast broadcasts. The corporate highlighted Auracast’s use in listening to aids however made no point out of its use for basic audio sharing. This omission is unusual for just a few causes. First, when Android 16 rolled out to the Pixel 9 collection in June, Auracast help wasn’t enabled by default and required customers to toggle it on in developer choices. Second, the Pixel 9 collection isn’t the one gadget household to help Auracast; the Pixel 8 collection does as properly. Lastly, Google’s personal Pixel Buds Professional 2 help Auracastbut the announcement failed to say them.

The primary level is well defined by the truth that the characteristic is now out there by default in Android 16 QPR1suggesting Google merely wasn’t able to launch it in June. Whereas it is a minor challenge, Google ought to have higher communicated the delay to its customers. (The corporate nonetheless doesn’t supply any help pages on the characteristic, as an illustration.)

The second level is more durable to clarify. We’re sure the Pixel 8 collection helps Auracast; in any other case, Google wouldn’t have gone out of its approach to allow the characteristic on these gadgets. I haven’t observed any points utilizing Auracast on my Pixel 8 Professional, although I can’t assure the expertise can be flawless for everybody.

The final level is essentially the most complicated. When Google initially launched the Pixel Buds Professional 2 final yr, Auracast labored completely. Now, nevertheless, the characteristic appears to be disabled on new items. For months, we assumed Google had pushed a firmware replace to dam it, however a latest discovery by a Reddit person suggests the block isn’t on the earbuds in any respect. They discovered that Auracast could be re-enabled on the Buds Professional 2 by merely resetting the paired Pixel telephone’s Bluetooth settings. This wouldn’t be attainable if the characteristic had been disabled on the firmware stage. To substantiate the block was certainly on the telephone facet, I requested my colleague, Adam Birney, to check his Pixel Buds Professional 2 with a non-Pixel gadget, the Samsung Galaxy S25. Lo and behold, Auracast labored.

We don’t know why Auracast is disabled on the Pixel Buds Professional 2 when paired with a Pixel telephone. After we requested Google for an replace, a spokesperson informed us they “don’t have anything new to share about Auracast presently.” It’s attainable Google bumped into unresolved points and selected the best path to cover the characteristic from most customers. However because the firm received’t remark, we’re left to invest.

The Pixel Buds Professional 2 fiasco isn’t the tip of the story. Google might also be artificially limiting the characteristic on its price range A-series telephones, prone to push customers towards its costlier fashions. After we first reported that A-series telephones would miss out on Auracastit was unclear if this was as a consequence of {hardware} limitations or product segmentation. Whereas we nonetheless can’t affirm the Pixel 8a’s capabilities, we had been in a position to allow and use Auracast on a rooted Pixel 9aproving its omission is a software program block, not a {hardware} one.

There’s nothing inherently improper with limiting software program options to pick out fashions. Corporations have to differentiate their merchandise past {hardware}, and software program growth prices money and time. However Google’s haphazard method to Auracast — from the problems on the Pixel Buds Professional 2 to the shortage of help on the A-series — suggests a scarcity of curiosity in pushing the usual ahead. Presently, Samsung seems like the one main firm that really cares about Auracast, bringing it to a variety of its telephones, tablets, earbuds, and TVs.

This can be a disgrace, as a result of Auracast is a superb know-how that solves a typical Bluetooth headache: sharing audio. Anybody who has tried to observe a film with a good friend on a airplane is aware of the battle. Present audio-sharing options are a large number — some are proprietary and solely work with a selected model’s earbuds, whereas many gadgets lack the characteristic totally.

Auracast is supposed to be the common resolution, but it surely’s caught in a vicious cycle. If telephone makers like Google don’t broadly help it, headphone makers don’t have any cause to prioritize it. And if few audio merchandise help it, telephone makers have little incentive so as to add it. In the end, customers lose out. I hope Google addresses these rollout points and champions Auracast with the identical power it’s giving to Qi2 help on the brand new Pixel 10.