A survey conducted in 2017 showed that 87% of all users use headphones to listen to music, while 49% prefer watching a movie with headphones rather than on speakers. According to another survey, 43.5% US citizens listened to music using their smartphones. But what if your phone doesn’t recognize your headphones?
One relatively uncommon yet equally frustrating problem users face is that headphones do not show up in playback devices when connected to smartphones or PCs. Following is a guide to manually troubleshoot your headphones if you’re facing this issue.
Before we get into troubleshooting via your device’s software, we recommend you check your headphones, since this is much easier and can give you definite results quickly.
The first step is to try using another headphone in your phone or computer. If the problem gets fixed, it means the problem is with your headphones. However, don’t lose hope yet! This could also mean that your system is holding a grudge against that specific headset.
You could also try using your own headphones on another device. This can help you determine whether your headphones are at fault or not.
Combined with ensuring that the jack is working fine, you will now know whether it is a software or hardware issue.
After determining that it is simply a software issue, you can begin troubleshooting.
To troubleshoot your headphones on a Windows PC;
If you can’t see the device listed or if it isn’t working even now, the problem might be with your device’s driver. You can check the manufacturer’s website for the latest drivers and install them.
If they still don’t work, you might have to change your device, but this is very rare.
Setting the default playback device can help you get rid of the hassle of selecting your TV or favorite headphones out of many every time you want to listen to music. The function also serves to help activate your devices in case of a bug or glitch such as if headphones do not show up in playback devices.