Windows 11 gets multi-device Bluetooth audio, but hold on

Unless you pull a few tricks, Windows generally only works with one audio output at a time, which is disappointing if you’re trying to share a song or video and don’t want to look like two teenage girls from the 2010s sharing a single set of wired Apple headphones. The latest Windows 11 update could fix this problem, at least if you have compatible hardware.

So says the Windows Insider Blog, which announced that the Shared Audio feature is now available in Windows Insider Preview Build 26220.7051. You can access Shared Audio if you connect two Bluetooth audio devices at once and click the appropriate tile in the quick settings menu.

Microsoft

Here’s the bad news: audio devices and your Windows hardware must be compatible with specific implementations of Bluetooth LE. This is the most Bluetooth earbuds released in recent years, but apparently whatever special sauce there is on the Windows hardware side is very selective. Microsoft only listed the latest Snapdragon-powered Surface laptops and tablets in its initial availability, along with the Qualcomm-powered Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge. More Galaxy Book5 models, all with Intel Core Ultra 200 processors, will be added in a later update.

It looks like you need cutting-edge Bluetooth drivers to enable this feature, and it’s slowly rolling out via Windows Update. The laptops listed represent only a small portion of the hardware that should be compatible, even if you stick to devices using Snapdragon processors. Hopefully the feature will be a little more accessible by the time it becomes available in Windows General Update.