Smart wear detection of HUAWEI earphones

Once the earphones are connected to your phone/tablet, the phone/tablet will be able to detect the wearing status of the earphones and automatically pause and resume audio playback, or switch between audio channels during calls. You can enable Smart wear detection by finding the target earphones' card in the AI Life app and going to Settings > Wear detection. To enable this feature for a pair of WATCH Buds earphones, open the Huawei Health app and go to Devices > WATCH Buds > Earbuds > Settings > Wear detection.

The earphone and phone/tablet requirements for this feature are as follows:

  • FreeBuds 6i/FreeBuds Lipstick 2/FreeClip/FreeBuds Pro 3/FreeBuds 5/WATCH Buds/FreeBuds Pro 2/FreeBuds 5i/FreeBuds Lipstick/FreeBuds Pro/FreeBuds 4/FreeBuds Studio/FreeBuds 4i: Compatible with all phones/tablets (regardless of the device brand and system).
  • FreeBuds SE/FreeBuds 3/FreeBuds 3i/FlyPods 3: Compatible with phones/tablets running EMUI 10.0/HarmonyOS 2.0 or later.
  • : Compatible with phones/tablets running EMUI 10.0.1/HarmonyOS 2.0 or later.
Table 1. Audio output rules when the earphones are connected to a HUAWEI phone/tablet with Smart wear detection enabled

Scenario

Not worn

Taken off

Music playback

The audio is played by the phone/tablet.

Removing either/both earphones will pause audio playback, and putting the earphones back on within 3 minutes will resume audio playback. The audio channel will not switch, regardless of whether the audio player is running in the foreground or background.

Video playback/Live streaming

The audio is played by the phone/tablet.

Removing the earphones will switch the audio channel to your phone/tablet, and wearing either or both earphones will switch the audio channel back to the earphones when the video is resumed.

For TWS earphones, removing either earphone will not switch the audio channel. However, for certain video/live streaming apps, video playback/live streaming may not pause and the audio channel will switch to the phone/tablet. Feel free to report this issue to the video app's vendor.

Calling

The audio is played by the phone/tablet.

Removing the earphones will switch the audio channel to your phone/tablet, and putting one/both earphones back on will switch the audio channel to the earphones.

For TWS earphones, removing either earphone will not switch the audio channel.

 
  • The Smart wear detection settings are only valid on the currently connected phone/tablet if the HUAWEI phone/tablet is running EMUI 10.0 or later, and you will need to configure the settings for different phones/tablets on a separate basis. For other system versions or non-HUAWEI phones/tablets, the Wear detection settings will remain valid regardless of the connected device, and you will not need to configure the settings for each device.
  • Audio output rules when the earphones are connected to a non-HUAWEI phone/tablet with Smart wear detection enabled:
    • When you are not wearing the earphones: Whether the audio is played from the earphones or phone/tablet speaker during audio playback/video playback/phone calls will depend on the phone/tablet model.
    • When you take the earphones off: The rules stated above for HUAWEI phones/tablets will apply.

To learn more:

Shortcuts and some advanced earphone settings are not available on my phone/tablet

Music playback does not pause when the earphones are removed, nor resume when the earphones are worn again