How to Pair Hearing Aids to an iPhone

Can you connect hearing aids to your iPhone?

Yes, when the aids support a link the iPhone uses, and there are two routes. Made for iPhone (MFi) aids pair in the iPhone's accessibility settings: Apple's support article sends you to Settings, then Accessibility, then Hearing Devices. To find out whether your aids are MFi, Apple points to its own list of MFi hearing devices and system requirements, which covers the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro. Check that list, or ask the maker, before you start.

Other aids connect as ordinary Bluetooth devices. Phonak's US guide for the Audéo I-R tells you to switch Bluetooth on and search for the aids in the phone's connectivity settings, the same place you would pair headphones. The user guide of your own aids says which route they take.

How to pair hearing aids to an iPhone, step by step

Apple's article on Made for iPhone hearing devices, published September 14, 2026, gives this order. The steps below are a paraphrase; the menu names are Apple's.

1. Update iOS on the iPhone.
2. Put the aids in pairing mode. Apple gives 3 ways, depending on the aid. With replaceable batteries, open the battery door on each aid and close it when you're ready. With an on/off switch, turn each aid off and back on. With built-in rechargeable batteries and no switch, take the aids out of the charger.
3. Open Settings, tap Accessibility, then Hearing Devices, and tap Pair MFi Hearing Device. Follow the prompts, select your aids, then tap Pair.
4. If Pair MFi Hearing Device doesn't appear, tap the name of your aids when it shows in Hearing Devices, then tap Pair on each Bluetooth pairing request.

One rule catches people out: the iPhone keeps one hearing device at a time, so pairing a new one replaces the one paired before. If the aids never appear, Apple's checks start with compatibility and pairing mode and include updating the aids to the maker's latest firmware.

Oticon, ReSound and Phonak: what each maker adds

The makers' guides follow Apple's menu but change the details. Oticon's iPhone page starts with a restart: on rechargeable aids, hold the lower button of each aid for 3 seconds to switch it off and 2 seconds to switch it on. The aids' names then appear under MFI HEARING DEVICES. Tap them and confirm both pairing requests if you wear 2 aids; Oticon says pairing can take up to a minute.

ReSound's app guide, a 2019 document written for iOS 13 and newer, uses a different order: turn the aids off first, switch Bluetooth on, open Accessibility and Hearing Devices, and only then turn the aids on so the iPhone can find them. After you tap Pair, it sends you to the App Store for the app and has you connect the app as a separate step.

Phonak's Audéo I-R guide takes the other route, through the Bluetooth menu. It warns that the first pairing can take up to 2 minutes, and that if the list shows several entries for your aid, you pick the one without the LE_ prefix. The aids can be connected to up to 2 devices at once and paired with up to 8.

Made for iPhone, ASHA and LE Audio

The three names describe different things. Made for iPhone is Apple's, and Apple's list of MFi hearing devices is where a model is checked. ASHA is Android's: the Android Open Source Project describes hearing aid audio carried over Bluetooth Low Energy on Android phones and tablets, through connection-oriented channels. ReSound's guide shows the split in practice, with an Android route that starts in Google Play rather than in the phone's accessibility menu.

LE Audio comes from the Bluetooth SIG, which says it adds support for hearing aids and introduces Auracast broadcast audio. A label on the box settles nothing on its own: whether a given aid works with a given phone depends on both models and their software, which the maker's current compatibility list states. Bluetooth hearing aids in general, and what the wireless step adds to the price, are on Bluetooth hearing aids.

When pairing fails or the sound stays on the phone

If the aids are connected but you hear nothing, Apple's fix is to choose them as the sound output device, the way you would pick an AirPlay speaker. If they drop out when another Apple device is nearby, handoff may be the reason: aids paired with more than one Apple device can switch to the other one when it gets a call or starts playing audio. Apple lets you change this in the Handoff setting under Hearing Devices. Oticon describes the same switching as intended: its aids move to the Apple device you are using, such as an iPhone receiving a call.

When the aids don't show up at all, update them to the maker's latest firmware; Apple notes that a maker's app can probably find and install the update. Fixes for the aids themselves, problem by problem, are on hearing aid troubleshooting.