Google TV is getting a handy audio switcher, and it's about time

So, you want to watch your favorite crime drama, but there’s drama going on at home preventing you from hearing your show. Being able to listen to your TV via a pair of Bluetooth headphones makes the whole situation better. The only issue was that switching audio devices on Google TV is rather tedious. Thankfully, Google TV is finally bringing an audio switcher.

You should all be familiar with what an audio switcher is. However, if you’re not, it’s a panel in the UI that allows you to quickly choose what device you hear the audio from. So, if you want to hear your audio through your headphones, you would choose headphones from the audio picker. If you want to use your device’s speakers, you will choose them.

Google TV is finally getting an audio Switcher

For the most part, Google TV and Android TV devices allow you to pair your Bluetooth headphones. This is all fine and dandy, but the implementation isn’t quite streamlined. You have to dive into the settings in order to pair the headphones. This also means that switching between your headphones and your TV’s speakers also involves navigating several settings screens. This is the kind of thing that would probably cause people to avoid using headphones altogether.

However, according to a new report, it appears that Google TV is finally bringing an audio Switcher. So, rather than looking through several menus and settings, you can simply access the panel through the Quick Settings. It’s extremely quick and easy to access the Quick Settings in Google TV, so switching your audio devices will become much quicker and easier.

This will encourage more people to use their Bluetooth devices with Google TV, undoubtedly. Also, it’s a great feature to bring, because Google is also bringing Fast Pair to Google TV.

We’re not quite sure how widespread the audio switcher will be. Google didn’t announce exactly what model of devices will get this feature. Obviously, we expect it to hit its first-party Chromecast devices. As for other devices, we’ll just have to wait for the company to start releasing the feature.