Craig Lloyd
Headphone jack-less phones are old news—it was a little over two years ago that Apple announced the iPhone wouldn’t have one anymore. But if you’re new to the experience, here are some handy products to help you survive without.
Bluetooth Headphones
If you use headphones a lot, Bluetooth is the way to go when you don’t have a headphone jack (but if you absolutely need wired headphones, read further down).
There are a ton of great Bluetooth headphones to choose from as well, so even if you’re limited to only Bluetooth, you’ll still most likely find a pair that you like. We have a buying guide that discusses the best picks for all types of styles, including over-the-ear and “truly wireless” models.
Personally, my favorite Bluetooth headphones are Anker’s Soundcore Liberty Air ($79), which sort of resemble AirPods, but are half the price and create a tight seal in your ear canal, which is a necessity for me.
Lightning or USB-C Headphone Adapter
If you absolutely must keep your beloved wired headphones, you’re not completely out of luck—you can get a headphone jack adapter that plugs into your phone’s charging port.
Apple makes a Lightning to headphone jack adapter that works with iPhones, and Google makes a USB-C to headphone adapter for their Pixel devices (or any other device without a headphone jack that uses USB-C). Simply just plug them into the charging port and you’ve got your headphone jack.
Obviously, you won’t be able to charge up your device when you have headphones plugged in, so that’s perhaps the only downside when going this route. But, that might be worth the tradeoff if you really want to stick with wired headphones.
Bluetooth Adapter for Your Wired Headphones
Now, if you still want to keep your existing wired headphones, but don’t mind going the Bluetooth route, you can get a Bluetooth adapter that you plug your wired headphones into, turning them into Bluetooth headphones of sorts.
We have a buying guide that details a few different options, but you can expect to pay around $20 for one, which isn’t bad at all. Plus, most of them come with controls so that you can play and pause the music from the adapter itself instead of on your phone, which can be pretty convenient.
Bluetooth Receiver for Your Stereo
Want to connect your phone to your home or car stereo? It can be difficult to do without a headphone jack, but this is where Bluetooth receivers come in handy.
Of course, we have a buying guide for these as well, and you can buy one that either sits on a shelf and has multiple inputs, or you can get a portable one that you can carry with you to use with your car stereo or the entertainment system on airplanes.
These will give your various audio outputs Bluetooth capabilities so that you can connect your phone to them wirelessly without needing a headphone jack (when you otherwise normally would).
