iPhone: Control iPod functions through headphones

Contributor Icon Contributed by qmchenry  
Tag Icon Tagged: Apple iPhone  

The little microphone/switch that bulges out on the right side of the headphones included with the iPhone can do some neat tricks other than answer or hang up a call. When not in a call, you can use this switch to control the iPod functions of the iPhone. It’s a testament to Apple’s designers to implement something simple like this that would be easy to overlook.


When not on a call, if you click the iPhone’s headphone switch once, music will start playing without having to access the iPod features through the screen. The iPhone doesn’t even need to be unlocked for this to work.

Tap the switch once again and the music will pause.

Double-click the switch twice quickly and you will fast forward to the next song.

 

27 Comments -


  1. tim said on October 13, 2008

    Click 3 times and you jump back to the previous song

  2. Daniil said on November 11, 2008

    If you triple-tap it (3 times fast) it rewinds

  3. zach said on December 4, 2008

    where do u get these headphones?

  4. tom said on January 22, 2009

    you get them when you buy an iphone :-)

  5. Click Master said on March 13, 2009

    Triple click the switch, it plays the previous song.

  6. Rob said on July 6, 2009

    Click three times and it goes back a song! Shame no volume control though.

  7. Name said on July 22, 2009

    Rob, there is volume control, if you look theres a plus and minus on the control specifically for volume control

  8. John said on September 14, 2009

    Click and hold the headphone button to activate voice control on the new 3gs

  9. John said on September 14, 2009

    Press and hold the switch and it activates voice control allowing you to jump to any song if your voice is clear enough

  10. Anonymous said on September 23, 2009

    If you pause then dub tap then restarts the playlist

  11. Ben said on October 2, 2009

    with the skip forward & skip back control, if you hold the button on the final tap it will fast forward/ rewind the current song (ie click twice quickly and hold on the 2nd click and it will audio scrub forward). Takes a bit of practice but bloody brilliant when you get it

  12. Anonymous said on December 11, 2009

    Click once then hold to ff, click twice then hold to rewind

  13. Nicholas said on January 23, 2010

    No thats not on the model i have and it might be the same with Rob.

  14. Anonymous said on February 28, 2010

    The volume controls are on the 3GS Iphone headphones =] !

  15. Anonymous said on March 16, 2010

    and press it threew times and it goes back a song

  16. kathy said on May 17, 2010

    how do i take off the headset mode off my phone ??

  17. Daisy said on November 21, 2010

    There is volume control on that thing…look closely and you’ll see the + or – sign. Click on it!

    If you click twice to forward song, but you told the second click longer, it will fast forward the song to the middle or whatnot.

  18. Roslee7 said on January 3, 2011

    it doesnt work to click the switch to play previous song

  19. Shellio66 said on January 18, 2011

    there is volume control if you purchased the updated iphone (4) or purchase the iphone 4 earbuds on ebay

  20. Anonymous said on February 12, 2011

    yes … it does work … 1 click, play … double click to play next song … triple click to play last song

  21. Anonymous said on February 12, 2011

    the switch is a volume control as well … click the top or bottom of the switch to increase or decrease the volume

  22. Anonymous said on February 12, 2011

    the earphones and switch works with iTunes as well (plugged into your Mac)

  23. Stealthartist1 said on June 16, 2011

    hold centre button for voice commands

  24. Kaitlynbancroft said on July 18, 2011

    Can u use the voice controls on the iPod touch 2 nd gen an if so how

  25. Sapan said on August 21, 2011

    All the functions work amazingly.. I was looking for how to change to the previous song, and found some new tricks too…
    Thanks all… Keep sharing…

  26. tonyastro said on August 29, 2011

    if you click 3x it will play the previous song! oh and if you click 3x it will play the previous song! and you know what if you click 3x …

  27. Mister anonymous said on October 17, 2011

    Here is everything in short
    1x = play music/ pauze music
    2x = next song
    3x = previous song
    2x = (second longer) fastforward
    3x = (third longer) fastbackward
    Hold = voice control

 

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment -