If you’ve ever tried to share audio between two pairs of AirPods on a Mac, you already know the pain. Apple’s “Share Audio” feature works beautifully on iPhone and iPad — bring a friend’s AirPods close, tap a button, and you’re both listening. Independent volume controls, separate listening modes, the whole deal. It’s one of those little Apple touches that just works.
On macOS? Nothing. No Share Audio. No easy button. Just silence and frustration.
The Problem
This has been a thorn in my side for a while. Whether I’m watching a movie or just wanting to share a playlist with someone sitting next to me – the Mac simply doesn’t offer the same seamless audio sharing experience that iOS devices have had since 2019.
The official workaround? Dig into Audio MIDI Setup, a utility most people don’t even know exists. From there, you manually create a “Multi-Output Device,” add both pairs of headphones to it, then switch your system audio output to this new virtual device. It technically works, but it comes with some real downsides:
- No independent volume control — one slider controls both devices
- No master clock selection without diving deeper into MIDI settings
- Devices with different sample rates can cause pitch-shifted audio
- If someone takes an AirPod out, the whole thing disconnects
- You have to redo the setup every time
It’s the kind of experience that makes you wonder why Apple hasn’t just brought Share Audio to the Mac already. The Bluetooth spec supports it. The hardware supports it. It’s a deliberate gap in the ecosystem, and it’s been years.
Enter PairPods
This is where PairPods comes in, and it’s exactly the kind of solution I love: a small, focused, open-source app that solves one problem really well.
PairPods is a free macOS menubar app built by Pawel Wozniak that lets you share audio between multiple Bluetooth devices with a single click. No MIDI setup, no virtual devices to configure, no command-line wizardry. Just connect your Bluetooth devices, open the menubar dropdown, check the boxes for the devices you want, and toggle “Share Audio.” That’s it.
What Makes It Great
Beyond the simplicity, PairPods handles the things that Apple’s Audio MIDI Setup workaround doesn’t:
- Per-device volume control — adjust each device independently right from the menubar
- Master clock selection — tap a crown icon to pick which device drives the sync, which helps avoid pitch-shifting between devices with different sample rates
- Sample rate visibility — see each device’s sample rate at a glance so you can identify mismatches before they become a problem
- Battery level display — check your AirPods’ battery right in the app when the device supports it
- Auto-reconnect — configurable timeout (5s, 10s, or 30s) so a brief disconnect doesn’t kill the whole session
- Works with everything — not limited to AirPods or Beats. Any Bluetooth audio device your Mac can see, PairPods can share to
That last point is worth emphasizing. Apple’s iOS Share Audio feature only works with AirPods and select Beats headphones. PairPods doesn’t care what brand your headphones are — if macOS can connect to them, PairPods can share audio to them. AirPods, Galaxy Buds, Sony WH-1000XM5s, a random Bluetooth speaker — all fair game.
Installation
If you’re a Homebrew user, it’s one command:
brew install --cask pairpodsOtherwise, grab the latest release from the GitHub releases page, unzip it, and drop it in your Applications folder. The whole app is about 1.5 MB.
It requires macOS 13.5 (Ventura) or later and supports both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs. Updates are handled through Sparkle, so you’ll get notified when new versions are available.
Open Source Done Right
As someone who builds and distributes free apps myself, I have a real appreciation for projects like this. PairPods is MIT licensed, the source code is on GitHub, and it’s a native SwiftUI app — no Electron bloat, no subscription, no telemetry beyond an update check. It’s the kind of software I wish there was more of.
The project is actively maintained too — v0.7.0 just dropped, and the repo has a solid set of contributing guidelines if you want to pitch in.
The Bottom Line
Apple should have brought Share Audio to macOS years ago. Until they do — if they ever do — PairPods fills that gap perfectly. It’s free, it’s open source, it’s tiny, and it just works. If you’ve ever wrestled with Audio MIDI Setup or wished your Mac could do what your iPhone does with shared audio, go grab it.
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