With wireless earbuds, you can put one in the charging case and use the other only when you only want one ear occupied. How can you simulate the same effect with wired earbuds? Easy: Use an accessibility feature in iOS and iPadOS. Here’s how to make this work.
- Time to complete: 2 minutes
- Tools Needed: iOS 16 or iPadOS 16
- Materials Needed: Wired earbuds or headphones
iOS 16 settings
Foundry
Go to Settings > Accessibility > Audiovisual (in the Hearing section).
Mono audio
Foundry
Audio balance
Foundry
below balancedrag the slider all the way to the left (for left only) or all the way to the right (for right only).
There’s no way to set this up as an audio profile or any other method you can tap to enter and exit. When and if you want to resume balanced stereo sound, drag that slider back to the center (it reads 0.00) and uncheck Mono Audio.
This also works with wired and wireless headphones, if you want one “cup” on and one off, and want to have all the sound on one ear and not let any sound through.
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