3.5 adaptor

iOS
#1

I’ve got a generic Lightning to 3.5mm adaptor which pops up like a Bluetooth set of headphones, BeatsX in this case. Once connected it shows in Bluetooth as GA-Lightning.

Play/pause works, volume doesn’t and there is static in the headphones at first, but this goes away faster a minute or so. I haven’t had a chance to make sure the mic is working.

Has anyone seen anything like this before? Is there some funkiness in the way that lightning to 3.5mm adaptors work that would make them need to do something odd like this??

#2

The official Lightning to 3.5mm adapter doesn’t do anything like that.

1 Like
#3

Yeah, I have one of those too but picked up a couple of cheap ones while buying some other bits and pieces for about $6 after discounts (vs $15 each for genuine ones)… mostly because at least one was destined for a 14 year old who has this habit of losing things.

Interestingly, I have gone back to the original eBay listing and actually read the description. CLEARLY something I didn’t do before since it very clearly states exactly what it does and how it works. Silly me for assuming that these were simple devices. Damn you late night whim eBay purchases!

My best guess here is that the adaptor gets power from the lightning connector to run its bluetooth module… but why? Why would you complicate things and do it this way? Surely this isn’t the way all generic ones work? is it?

Why?

It’s also worth adding that searching for lightning to 3.5mm (and bluetooth) turns up lots of articles from 2016 when they 3.5mm jack was being dropped and finding newer information is somewhat of a challenge.

#4

I have a couple of the genuine ones and they work without a problem. I have had problems with generic lightning cables in the past so these days I only buy the genuine ones.