When Bluetooth shows “paired” or “connected” but audio won’t play (or it keeps switching to the “wrong” device), the issue is usually routing, a stale pairing record, or one device silently grabbing the connection.
This playbook starts on your phone (because most switching problems originate there), with clear stop points so you know when to stop digging and change approach.
Before you start: if you’re trying to use a headset for Microsoft Teams or another Microsoft app, remember Bluetooth has separate modes for music vs calls. “Connected” doesn’t always mean “connected for the right thing.”
First, do one quick reset that fixes a surprising amount: turn Bluetooth off on the phone, wait 10 seconds, turn it back on.
If the problem is still there, go step by step.
1. Mobile stop point: confirm where your audio is actually going
On phones, Bluetooth can be connected while audio is routed somewhere else (speaker, phone earpiece, another Bluetooth device, or a “cast” target).
- iPhone: Open Control Center → long-press the audio card → tap the AirPlay icon and pick the intended device.
- Android: Press a volume button → tap the output/device picker (varies by brand) and choose the Bluetooth device.
If you see the right device selected but audio is still silent, don’t keep changing app settings yet.
Stop point: If audio routes correctly to the device after selecting it once, your issue is routing, not pairing. If it keeps switching away by itself, move to the next step (another device is competing).
2. Mobile stop point: find (and disconnect) the “connection thief” device
Many headphones and car systems remember multiple devices and will connect to the most recently active one. So your phone says “connected,” but the headset is actually sending audio to a tablet, laptop, TV, or an old phone in a drawer.
- Temporarily turn Bluetooth off on your other nearby devices (laptop/tablet/TV) for 1 minute.
- If it’s a shared headset/car, ask anyone nearby to disable Bluetooth briefly.
- If your headphones support multipoint, try disabling multipoint in the headphone companion app (if available).
Stop point: If audio becomes stable once other devices’ Bluetooth is off, you’ve confirmed a competing connection. The long-term fix is to remove the headset from the other device(s) or disable multipoint.
3. Mobile stop point: “Forget device” the right way (and re-pair cleanly)
If routing is correct and nothing else is stealing the connection, your pairing record may be stale. Re-pairing fixes mismatched profiles (music vs calls) and weird no-audio states.
- On your phone, go to Bluetooth settings → tap the device → Forget/Unpair.
- On the headset/speaker/car system, remove the phone from the device’s memory too (often called “Delete device,” “Clear paired devices,” or a Bluetooth reset).
- Restart the phone.
- Put the Bluetooth device into pairing mode again, then pair.
Stop point: If it works right after re-pairing but breaks again later, the issue is usually a competing device (Step 2) or a call-audio profile/permissions issue (next step).
4. Mobile stop point: check call-audio permissions and profiles (important for Teams)
For Microsoft Teams and other calling apps, Bluetooth uses a different “hands-free” path than music. You can have music working but calls silent (or the reverse).
- Android: In Bluetooth settings, tap the gear/info icon for the device and make sure Calls (or Phone audio) is enabled.
- iPhone: There’s no separate Calls toggle per device, but you can test by placing a quick call and using the in-call audio picker to select the headset.
- Teams-specific check: During a Teams call, open audio device selection and ensure the Bluetooth headset is chosen for both speaker and microphone.
Stop point: If the headset works for music but not calls after these checks, test with the phone’s built-in Phone app call. If it fails there too, it’s a Bluetooth profile issue. If it works in Phone but not Teams, it’s likely app routing/settings inside Teams.
5. Desktop steps (when the phone is fine, but your computer keeps stealing audio)
If your phone behaves, but audio keeps jumping when your Windows PC or Mac is nearby, the computer may be auto-connecting and becoming the active audio target.
- On the computer, turn Bluetooth off for a minute and see if the headset stabilizes on the phone.
- If confirmed, remove the headset from the computer (unpair) or disable “auto-connect” in the headset’s companion app if it has one.
Then, set the correct output explicitly:
- Windows 11: Settings → System → Sound → choose the headset under Output. In the volume flyout, also confirm the selected output.
- macOS: System Settings → Sound → Output → choose the headset.
If you’re using Microsoft Teams on desktop, pick the same headset under Teams audio devices as well—otherwise Windows/macOS and Teams can disagree.
6. Desktop stop point: Windows “Hands-Free” vs “Stereo” confusion (when sound is low quality or flaky)
On Windows, some headsets expose multiple modes. The hands-free mode is for calls (mic + audio), and stereo is for higher-quality music. Sometimes Windows picks the wrong one or flips when an app tries to use the microphone.
- In Teams, try selecting the headset explicitly for Speaker and Microphone.
- If audio becomes muffled or cuts out when the mic activates, test with the headset mic disabled (as a test only): set Microphone to your laptop mic, keep Speaker as the headset.
- If that stabilizes audio, your headset’s hands-free path is the trigger. Consider using a USB dongle headset for calls, or keep mic on the computer and headphones for output.
Stop point: If you need reliable call audio for work and Bluetooth keeps flipping modes, it’s not you—this is a known limitation pattern with some Bluetooth stacks and headsets.
7. When to stop and contact support (or switch approach)
- The Bluetooth device connects, then disconnects every few seconds on multiple phones and computers (likely hardware or firmware issue).
- You can reproduce the issue only on one device model or OS version (likely OS-specific bug—worth reporting).
- For Teams: the headset works in other apps but not in Teams after device selection is correct (likely Teams setting/caching issue).
If this is a work-managed PC (common in Microsoft environments), your IT policies or drivers may control Bluetooth behavior. At that point, it’s reasonable to stop experimenting and ask IT to check Bluetooth drivers and audio device policies.
Final thoughts
Most “connected but no audio” Bluetooth problems are really output routing problems or a second device quietly stealing the connection.
If you do only two things: confirm the audio output picker on your phone, then temporarily disable Bluetooth on nearby laptops/tablets to catch the competing device.