How to connect your Bluetooth headphones with Steam Deck

The Steam Deck is often hailed as the best handheld console in the market today, especially with its growing library and how it’s easily capable of doubling as a portable PC.

With so many quality-of-life features and Steam games to try out, the device has been on the Christmas lists of many gamers.

There has also been a fair amount of curiosity regarding some of the features that the Deck provides. Some of them are a bit complicated, and there are many who are stuck trying to pair their audio devices with the console.

Hence, today’s guide will go over all the steps that you will need to take in order to pair your Bluetooth headphones with the Steam Deck.

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Connecting your Bluetooth headphones with the Steam Deck

Here's how you can pair your Bluetooth headphones with the Steam Deck:

• Press the Steam button on the console, which will automatically bring up the main menu. There you will need to scroll and find the Settings tab and then make your way to the option that reads Bluetooth. The first thing you will need to do here is to ensure that the Bluetooth on your Deck is turned on.
• You will find the name of the headphones that you are trying to pair under the Avail to Pair option. Make sure that the device is not connected to something else. If it is, you can press and hold down the connection button to force pair them.
• The Steam Deck will now start a process that will automatically pair the device with the headphones, and you will be able to use them for all in-game audio.
• Additionally, you will be able to use this pairing method for other wireless devices as well. Bluetooth-enabled gaming mice and keyboards go really well with the Deck, along with controllers like the Dual Shock 4 and the Dual Sense.

Certain Bluetooth devices may require an additional plug-in feature despite being wireless devices. You can either directly plug it into the Steam Deck port or use a USB converter for it, depending on the type of requirements the device has. This also means that not all headphones will be compatible with the Steam Deck, and you may need to do a fair amount of research before investing in an audio device or any other wireless gadget for the Deck.

Once you have been able to pair a device with the Deck, you will not be required to keep reconnecting it. When booting up the console, all you will need to do is head to the Bluetooth tab, and the device that you have connected with it should show under the Paired option.

However, if for some reason it reads Not Connected even when the headphones are on, then you can always click on Forget Paired Device on the Steam Deck and redo the entire connection process. It’s highly unlikely that the devices will stop pairing with each other on their own. Hence, this process is not something that you will have to do often.