Google’s new Pixel Buds Pro 2 have an upgrade that you won’t find in Google’s advertising, with support for the new Auracast standard hiding just beneath the surface.
Auracast is a new feature of Bluetooth that allows users to share their audio stream with others around them, letting you share you music, podcasts, and videos with a friend without the need of additional hardware, audio cable splitters, or other hacky workarounds. However, Auracast is still in its early days, and requires two things. Firstly, your smartphone, tablet, or whatever other device you’re using needs to have the software to start an Auracast broadcast, and then your earbuds also need to support the standard.
In the case of Pixel Buds Pro 2, Auracast support exists, it’s just out of reach for a lot of users.
Google has officially said nothing when it comes to whether or not the Pixel Buds Pro 2 support Auracast, but as it turns out, they do. When pairing the new earbuds to a Galaxy Z Fold 6, Auracast appears immediately as long as LE Audio is enabled. This allows users to tie into an Auracast broadcast from another supported device. In my testing, I was able to join an Auracast stream from a Galaxy S24 Ultra through my Pixel Buds Pro 2 paired to a Galaxy Z Fold 6. It all worked rather seamlessly.
The catch for now is that if you’re using a Pixel smartphone, which many Pixel Buds Pro 2 owners likely are, you can’t use this feature. That’s because Auracast support isn’t available in Android 14, but rather found in Android 15 (and technically not even fully ready yet). The folks over at Android Authority were able to confirm that, yes, this will work in time, but only on compatible devices. You’ll need a Pixel 8 or newer to use Auracast with the new earbuds whenever Google decides to roll out the feature to users.
In the meantime, you’ll find Auracast support ready and fully working on Pixel Buds Pro 2 on compatible devices such as (some) Samsung devices running One UI 6.1 and newer as well as some Xiaomi devices.
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