Use hearing devices with iPhone
- June 7, 2024
- Apple
Table of Contents
Use hearing devices with iPhone
You can use Made for iPhone (MFi) hearing aids or sound processors with iPhone and adjust their settings.
Pair a hearing device with iPhone
If your hearing devices aren’t listed in Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices, you need to pair them with iPhone.
- Open the battery doors on your hearing devices.
- On iPhone, go to Settings > Bluetooth, then make sure Bluetooth is turned on.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices.
- Close the battery doors on your hearing devices.
- When their names appear below MFi Hearing Devices (this could take a minute), tap the names and respond to the pairing requests.
Pairing can take as long as 60 seconds—don’t try to stream audio or otherwise use the hearing devices until pairing is finished. When pairing is finished, you hear a series of beeps and a tone, and a checkmark appears next to the hearing devices in the Devices list.
You need to pair your devices only once (and your audiologist might do it for you). After that, your hearing devices automatically reconnect to iPhone whenever they turn on.
Adjust the settings and view the status of your hearing devices
- In Settings: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices > MFi Hearing Devices.
- Using accessibility shortcuts: See Use accessibility shortcuts on iPhone.
- On the Lock Screen: Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices > MFi Hearing Devices, then turn on Control on Lock Screen. From the Lock Screen, you can do the following:
- Check battery status.
- Adjust ambient microphone volume and equalization.
- Choose which hearing device (left, right, or both) receives streaming audio.
- Control Live Listen.
- Choose whether call audio and media audio are routed to the hearing device.
- Choose to play ringtones through the hearing device.
Use your hearing devices with more than one device
If you pair your hearing devices with more than one device (both iPhone and iPad, for example), the connection for your hearing devices automatically switches from one to the other when you do something that generates audio on the other device, or when you receive a phone call on iPhone.
Changes you make to hearing device settings on one device are automatically sent to your other devices.
- Sign in with your Apple ID on all the devices.
- Connect all the devices to the same Wi-Fi network.
Turn on Hearing Aid Compatibility
Hearing Aid Compatibility may reduce interference and improve audio quality with some hearing aid models.
- Go to Settings > Accessibility > Hearing Devices.
- Turn on Hearing Aid Compatibility.
The FCC hearing aid compatibility rules require that certain phones be tested and rated under the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) C63.19 hearing aid compatibility standards.
The ANSI standard for hearing aid compatibility contains two types of ratings:
- M: For reduced radio-frequency interference to enable acoustic coupling with hearing aids that don’t operate in telecoil mode
- T: For inductive coupling with hearing aids operating in telecoil mode
These ratings are given on a scale from one to four, where four is the most compatible. A phone is considered hearing aid compatible under the FCC requirements if it’s rated M3 or M4 for acoustic coupling and T3 or T4 for inductive coupling.
For iPhone hearing aid compatibility ratings, see the Apple Support article About Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) requirements for iPhone.
Hearing aid compatibility ratings aren’t a guarantee that a particular hearing aid works well with a particular phone. Some hearing aids might work well with phones that do not meet the FCC requirements for hearing aid compatibility. To ensure that a particular hearing aid works well with a particular phone, use them together before purchasing.
This phone has been tested and rated for use with hearing aids for some of the wireless technologies it uses. However, there may be some newer wireless technologies used in this phone that have not been tested yet for use with hearing aids. It is important to try the different features of this phone thoroughly and in different locations, using your hearing aid or cochlear implant, to determine if you hear any interfering noise. Consult your service provider or the manufacturer of this phone for information about hearing aid compatibility. If you have questions about return or exchange policies, consult your service provider or phone retailer.