Want to use your iPhone Lightning headphones on your MacBook? There’s an adapter for that!
Yes, it’s getting a bit entertaining with all the adapters. It used to be that headphones and earphones with a 3.5 mm jack could easily be used on iPhone and MacBook. With the introduction of the iPhone 7, the jack was removed and set to Lightning – reasonably understandable. However, this resulted in a new problem when the MacBooks were completely converted to USB-C: they still have a 3.5 mm audio port – or USB-C.
Apple solution for sound reproduction in or on the ear: Bluetooth devices. But if you don’t want that and want to continue using a cable, you can’t use the headphones on two devices without an adapter, no matter if you use USB-C, 3.5 mm jack or Lightning. Sensible combinations are:
- Lightning to 3.5 mm jack
- USB-C to Lightning
With the former you simply turn back time and can use your headphones again on the MacBook and any audio system in the world, but have to use an additional adapter on the iPhone.
Does your MacBook have enough Ports?
With the second solution you are free of adapters on your iPhone, but it will make a mess on your MacBook (which is not noticeable anymore will all the other adapters). However, it occupies a USB-C port, which is very important for the current MacBook lineup, because apart from the Touch Bar models, they only have one or two ports at all. So calculate beforehand whether you have connected the power supply and an external SSD to work on a MacBook Pro without Touch Bar at the same time: then you no longer have a port available for the Lightning Adapter.
Just buy a second pair of headphones.
In addition, the adapter is not cheap with almost $30. Our pragmatic tip: Buy a second pair of headphones for $30. If you need them for work in the office, you can leave them right there and don’t have to drive them around anymore.
Buy on Amazon: Anker USB-C Lightning
