Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The new Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 support Auracast, which is the marketing name for Bluetooth LE Audio broadcasts.
- This means the Pixel Buds Pro 2 can listen in on Auracast streams started by other Bluetooth devices.
- However, Google hasn’t enabled the Auracast feature yet on any of its Pixel phones.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 are a significant upgrade over the original Pixel Buds Pro in terms of comfort and battery life, but they also brings some new features not seen in they’re predecessors, like Gemini Live and Find My Device integration. According to Google’s spec sheet, another new feature the Pixel Buds Pro 2 have over the originals is support for LE Audio, which got me thinking: Do the Pixel Buds Pro 2 support Auracast? I can now confirm that yes, Google’s latest Pixel Buds do, in fact, support Auracast, and I even managed to try it out with my own earbuds.
If you aren’t aware, Auracast is a feature that’s built on top of the Bluetooth LE Audio standard. It was made to fix one of the biggest problems with streaming audio over Bluetooth: the inability to stream audio to multiple Bluetooth devices. Most Bluetooth devices can only transmit audio to a single other device, which is a limitation of the core Bluetooth Classic Audio specification. To get around this limitation, some manufacturers like Samsung and Apple deploy custom Bluetooth stacks that let their phones share audio to multiple devices. The problem with this approach is that it only works if everyone has a phone or headset from the same manufacturer.
Auracast solves all these problems by standardizing how devices broadcast audio over Bluetooth. One device starts an audio stream that’s broadcast over the air, and then nearby devices that support Auracast can choose to listen in on the audio stream. The device that starts the audio stream acts like a mini radio tower that blindly broadcasts audio around it.
Excluding the Pixel 8a, Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 9 series also support Auracast, though the interface for actually connecting to audio streams is currently hidden in Google’s Android 15 software. Google will likely enable this Bluetooth audio-sharing interface on Auracast-capable Pixel phones in an upcoming Android 15 QPR update. I think the reason it hid it is that it didn’t have any Auracast-capable headsets that it could sell to users — at least, not until now.
The Pixel Buds Pro 2, as I mentioned before, support Auracast. To test this, I activated Android 15’s hidden Bluetooth audio-sharing interface on my Pixel 8 Pro, started an Auracast broadcast, and connected to that broadcast using my Pixel Buds Pro 2 paired to my Galaxy Z Fold 6. I was then able to hear all of the audio playing from my Pixel 8 Pro through my Pixel Buds Pro 2, even though my buds were paired to my Galaxy Z Fold 6. This is because the Galaxy Z Fold 6 just helps the Pixel Buds Pro 2 connect to the Auracast broadcast, as the buds themselves don’t have any way to select a broadcast and enter the correct connection details.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
When I later paired my Pixel Buds Pro 2 to my Pixel 8 Pro and then disconnected them, Android 15 displayed text in Settings that confirmed the buds support audio sharing. I was already sure of this, given my testing, but it was nice to see it laid out so clearly.
I find it strange that Google has been so cagey in regards to whether or not the Pixel Buds Pro 2 supports Auracast. This is something I asked it about before launch, but I never got a clear answer, so I’m glad I was finally able to confirm for myself that the buds support the feature. Hopefully, we won’t need to wait too long for Google to roll out the Bluetooth audio-sharing interface so Pixels finally have a way to stream audio to multiple Bluetooth devices.
