In a move that kinda would be considered crazy if it wasn’t from a company called Nintedo, the Japanese video game maker is now patching its current console the Switch to enable bluetooth headphones. The 2-in-1 handheld and home console was launched in early 2017 and did not support the ability to output audio through Bluetooth, despite the fact that it had a Bluetooth 4.1 transmitter and uses Bluetooth controllers. That is, until the recent September 2021 patch.
The latest #NintendoSwitch update is now available, including the ability to pair Bluetooth devices for audio output.
— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 15, 2021
For more information, including restrictions on some features while using Bluetooth Audio, please visit the support page: https://t.co/vzAB6lZTDu pic.twitter.com/6J5xcDl5kU
With this new update, you can now pair your Bluetooth headphones to the console and use it to hear your game and interface audio. Though there are some limitations. You could only use up to 2 Bluetooth controllers when using headphones and the microphones usually included in Bluetooth headphones will not work. So technically, they cannot be used as an online communications device. This is likely due to Bluetooth Communications using less than ideal codecs for both the audio output and mic input.
Either way, its nice to finally be able to use the increasingly popular lines of Bluetooth headphones we keep seeing now in the mobile space on the Nintendo Switch. A bit of sad-ish news though for the consumers who bought the Bluetooth dongles that gave us this functionality for the past few years.