Health & Wellness Tech

Intermediate

5 min read 5 stepsMay 8, 2026Verified May 2026

How to Pair Your Hearing Aids with an iPhone

Modern hearing aids can stream phone calls and music directly into your ears through your iPhone. Here is the plain way to set up the pairing.

At a Glance

Update Your iPhone and Check the Aids

~37s

Open Settings on your iPhone, tap General, then Software Update. If an update is available, tap Download and Install. Plug the phone in and let it finish, which usually takes ten to twenty minutes. While that runs, open the battery door on each hearing aid for ten seconds, then close it. That puts the aids in pairing mode. Aids with a rechargeable battery should be taken out of the charger and turned on. Keep both aids within a foot of the iPhone for the next steps.

Quick Tip

If your hearing aids are more than five years old, they may not have Bluetooth. Call your audiologist or check the box for the "Made for iPhone" logo.

Open the Hearing Devices Menu

~26s

On your iPhone, open Settings. Scroll down and tap Accessibility. Then tap Hearing Devices, which is the line with a small ear icon. The screen will show "Searching" while the iPhone looks for the aids. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on. If it is not, go back to Settings, tap Bluetooth, and switch it on. Then return to the Hearing Devices screen.

Warning

Do not pair through the regular Bluetooth list. Hearing aids only work right when paired through Accessibility, Hearing Devices.

Select Your Hearing Aids

~32s

After ten to thirty seconds, the name of your hearing aids appears on the screen, often shown as your first name plus the brand, like "Mary's ReSound." Tap the name. The iPhone will ask you twice in a row to confirm the pairing, once for the left aid and once for the right. Tap Pair each time. Both aids will play a small confirmation tone in your ears when the connection is complete.

Quick Tip

If the name does not appear after a minute, open and close the battery door on each aid to wake them up, and the iPhone should find them.

Set Up Audio Routing

~32s

Stay in the Hearing Devices menu and scroll down. Turn on "Audio Routing" for Call Audio and Media Audio so phone calls and music both stream to the aids automatically. You can also turn on "Hearing Aid Compatibility" higher in the Accessibility menu, which boosts the signal strength on calls. If you want to use the iPhone speaker for some calls and the aids for others, set Call Audio to Automatic instead of Hearing Devices.

Quick Tip

Most people want both Call Audio and Media Audio set to Hearing Devices. That way every sound from the phone goes through the aids.

Test the Connection with a Phone Call

~37s

Call a family member or your own voicemail. The voice should come through both hearing aids, not the iPhone speaker. Use the volume buttons on the side of the iPhone to adjust the loudness. Try a YouTube video or a podcast next. Triple-click the side button on the iPhone to bring up the Accessibility shortcut, which gives you separate volume sliders for each aid and lets you change presets your audiologist set up.

Warning

If you only hear sound in one ear, open and close that aid's battery door. If the issue continues, go back into Settings, Accessibility, Hearing Devices, tap your aid name, and choose Forget This Device. Then pair again from step two.

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Most hearing aids made in the last five years can connect to an iPhone the same way wireless earbuds do, and the result is wonderful. Phone calls go straight into both ears at the volume your audiologist set for you. Music, podcasts, and audiobooks come through clearly without needing any other device. FaceTime calls with the grandkids feel as if the kids are sitting next to you on the couch. Apple has built this feature, called Made for iPhone hearing aids, into every iPhone since 2014. And it works with most major brands including Phonak, Oticon, ReSound, Starkey, Widex, and Signia.

Before you start, check that your hearing aids are on the Made for iPhone list. The box your aids came in should have a small "Made for iPhone" logo on the side, or the audiologist can tell you. Almost every hearing aid sold in the United States since 2020 supports the feature. Your iPhone should be running iOS 18 (the 2026 current release) or iOS 17. Any iPhone made since the iPhone Xs (2018) supports iOS 18. To check your iOS version, open Settings, tap General, then About, and look for the Software Version line. If you see iOS 13 or earlier, update through Settings, General, Software Update before you continue.

The pairing happens through a different menu than regular Bluetooth. Hearing aids do not show up on the normal Bluetooth list. Apple put them in a special Accessibility menu so the connection stays stable through phone calls and battery changes. The first time, the steps take about five minutes. After that, the aids reconnect on their own every time you turn them on. And you do not need to do anything. If the connection ever drops, opening and closing the battery door wakes the aids back up, and the iPhone finds them again within a few seconds.

Once paired, you can control the volume of each aid right from the iPhone screen. Triple-clicking the side button on iPhones with Face ID, or the Home button on older models, brings up a quick menu with sliders for each ear. You can also use Siri to take a call, change the volume, or read a text message out loud through the aids. The iPhone settings let you create different presets for restaurants, the car, or watching television. And you can switch between them with one tap. If you wear hearing aids and have not set this up yet, this single change will improve almost every phone call and video chat you make from now on.

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Official Resources

Medicare.gov MedlinePlus — Health Info AARP Health & Technology

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