Why Apple's i. Phone 7 Headphones Don't Work on the Latest Mac. Book. Recently, a new staff member started at Lifehacker. She booted up her brand- new, company- issued Mac. Book Pro, and went to plug in her Ear. Pods to listen to some tunes while she worked. She was met with the same baffling conundrum as other Apple die- hards who rush to procure the latest release: Why the hell can’t you use the i.

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Phone 7’s Lightning connector headphones with the new Mac. Book Pro? Why Get Lightning Headphones in the First Place?

First, some background. In 2. 01. 2, Apple introduced the smaller Lightning port on the i. Phone 5 replacing the 3.

While the Lightning port necessitated a new charging cable, the Lightning connector was more compact than its predecessor and one could plug it into i. OS devices in either direction, making it more convenient. With the i. Phone 7, Apple made the “courageous” decision to force the use of its Lightning- compatible Ear.

Pod headphones by removing the 3. In short, your 3.

Ear. Pods that came with the phone, you bought a new pair of Lightning headphones, or you went wireless with Bluetooth- compatible headphones to listen to music. Using your old 3. Phone 7 is still possible, but requires the 3.

Lightning adapter that comes included with the new i. Phone. That meant carrying around an extra, easy- to- lose little piece of equipment.

It’s an example of Apple making design decisions that impact function for the sake of form, a decision the company’s made at many points in its past (for example, its decision to remove the optical drive in its 2. Macs). I admit, I get a wee bit frustrated when trying to remember which cord goes in which slot for all. By routing audio through the Lightning port, the phone can play higher quality, 2. Headphone manufacturers are also taking advantage of the fact that headphones can draw power from the i. Phone’s Lightning port, adding features like noise cancellation and interference- reducing DACs (digital- to- analog converters) to improve sound quality.

But Lightning- only headphones only work on i. OS devices with Lightning ports. There Are No Functional Adapters Yet. Naturally, you might think there’s some sort of workaround, or an adapter that can easily fix this incompatibility issue. After all, Apple makes its own adapters for a variety of older interfaces (for instance, VGA port adapters for mirroring your i.

OS device on a monitor). But unlike 3. 5mm headphones, which can be used with an i. Phone 7 via the Apple- made dongle, there’s no way to do the reverse and get Lightning headphones to work with anything that doesn’t have a Lightning port, making my colleague’s new Mac. Book Pro, with its four high- speed, reversible USB- C ports and single 3. We hate to break it to you, but the traditional USB ports you’ve used to connect your cameras. Lightning- to- USB- C adapters only work when charging or transferring data. Which means no audio support, which means no Ear.

Pod- powered desk concerts in your open- plan office. Apple Is Comfortable With User- Hostile Tech. Apple’s Lightning connector is convenient for Apple, but not so much for the rest of us. It’s only available on Apple’s i. OS devices, making switching to, say, an Android device an inconvenient and pricey decision—you’ll need new cables, headphones, docks etc. To play nice with others, Apple should have either left the 3.

Phone, or switched to USB- C, which is what every other cell phone manufacturer is doing. And while their move towards incompatibility with other company’s devices isn’t surprising, it does seem a little weird that they’d build this kind of glaring incompatibility into their two most recent devices—the i. Phone 7 and the latest Mac. Book pro. The decision to exclude the Lightning port from its Macs—and not to publicly address the compatibility issues —also runs counter to its history of transition tools.

During the company’s switch from Power. PC to Intel processors, it released the Rosetta translator software to keep Power. PC apps running on Intel- powered Macs. When the Mac. Book Air debuted without an optical drive, the company’s external Super. Drive optical drive eased the transition. My theory? The removal of the headphone jack and inclusion of Lightning Ear. Pods is simply a stop- gap to the company’s true goal of forcing you to go wireless and buy Air.

Pods or Beats Bluetooth headphones. Considering the options, going wireless might be the answer, though I’d rather get some headphones that, you know, sound good.

Top 2. 00 Albums on i. Tunes. Note this chart used to list the top 4. Tunes, but Apple recently changed the data feed to a maximum of the top 2. Current chart listing of the top 2.

Apple's i. Tunes music store. Albums with a light green background are new releases. View today's chart of the top 1. Tunes which includes cover art, album prices, and release dates. Related Chart: Top 2. Songs#Title. New.

Artist. Genre. Price. Life Changes. New. Thomas Rhett. Country. Buy. 2. Sleep Well Beast. New. The National. Alternative. Buy. Current Mood. New.

Dustin Lynch. Country. Buy. 4. Slowheart. New. Kip Moore. Country. Buy. 5. All the Light Above It Too. New. Jack Johnson. Rock. Buy. 6. A Moment Apart. New. ODESZAElectronic.

Buy. 7. Native Invader (Deluxe)New. Tori Amos. Alternative. Buy. 8. Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series)New. Various Artists. Soundtrack.

Buy. 9. Southern Blood (Deluxe Edition)New. Gregg Allman. Rock.

Buy. 10. Evolve. Imagine Dragons. Alternative. Buy. Play Dead. New. MUTEMATHAlternative. Buy. 12. Hitchhiker.

New. Neil Young. Rock. Buy. 13. Signs. New. Jonny Lang. Blues. Buy. 14. The Bus Songs. New. Toby Keith. Country. Buy. 15. Rainbow.

Kesha. Pop. Buy. 16. Will To Power. New. Arch Enemy. Heavy Metal. Buy. 17.#Update. New.

Yandel. Latin Urban. Buy. 18. Broken Machine (Deluxe)New. Nothing But Thieves. Alternative. Buy. This One's for You. Luke Combs. Country. Buy. 20. Decrease.

New. Todd Galberth. Christian & Gospel. Buy. 21. Antisocialites. New. Alvvays. Alternative. Buy. 22. Vol. 2 Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol.

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 23.

Trolls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 24. LCD Soundsystem. Electronic.

Buy. 25. Probably Wrong: Session Two - EPNew. Parker Mc. Collum. Country. Buy. 26.! Is Now. New. Death from Above 1.

Alternative. Buy. Melodrama. Lorde. Alternative. Buy.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix, Vol. Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 41.

JAY- ZHip Hop/Rap. Buy. 42. Everybody (Deluxe)Logic. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy.

Insecure (Music from the HBO Original Series), Season 2. New. Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 44. American Teen. Khalid. R& B/Soul. Buy. All the Earth. New. The Belonging Co.

Christian & Gospel. Buy. 46. We're Not Going Anywhere.

New. David Ramirez. Folk- Rock. Buy. 47. Search Party. New. Various Artists. Pop. Buy. 50. Traveller. Chris Stapleton. Country.

Buy. 51. Villains. Queens of the Stone Age. Rock. Buy. 52. A Deeper Understanding.

The War on Drugs. Alternative. Buy. DAMN. Kendrick Lamar. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy.

Happy Endings. Old Dominion. Country. Buy. 55.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Mix, Vol. Music from the Animated TV Series)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 56. K Magic. Bruno Mars. Pop. Buy. 57. The Joshua Tree. U2. Rock. Buy. 58. Wicked (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Various Artists.

Soundtrack. Buy. 59. Descendants 2 (Original TV Movie Soundtrack)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 60. Lemonade. Beyonc.

Various Artists. Rock. Buy. 86. Now That's What I Call Disney. Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 87. Dear Evan Hansen (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 88. Appetite for Destruction.

Guns N' Roses. Rock. Buy. 89. Freudian. Daniel Caesar. R& B/Soul.

Buy. 90. Broken Machine. New. Nothing But Thieves. Alternative. Buy. The Blood Experience. New. Charles Butler & Trinity. Gospel. Buy. 92. Mr.

Misunderstood. Eric Church. Country. Buy. 93. Waiting for Morning to Come. New. Being As An Ocean.

Rock. Buy. 94. Greatest Hits.. So Far!!! P! nk. Pop. Buy. 95. Tangled Up. Thomas Rhett. Country.

Buy. 96. Project Baby 2. Kodak Black. Hip- Hop.

Buy. 97. Only Death Is Real. New. Stray from the Path. Heavy Metal. Buy. Woodstock. Portugal. The Man. Alternative. Buy. 99. Winwood: Greatest Hits Live. Steve Winwood. Rock.

Buy. 10. 0. Night Visions. Imagine Dragons. Alternative. Buy. 10. 1. Aja. Steely Dan. Rock. Buy. 10. 2. One More Light. LINKIN PARKAlternative. Buy. 10. 3. Illuminate (Deluxe)Shawn Mendes.

Pop. Buy. 10. 4. Outsider. New. Comeback Kid. Heavy Metal. Buy. The Reel. New. Kid Quill. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy. The Dark Side of the Moon. Pink Floyd. Rock.

Buy. 10. 7. Music For People In Trouble. Susanne Sundf! At the Disco. Alternative. Buy. Perfectly Imperfect - EPGrace Vander.

Waal. Pop. Buy. 16. Greatest Hits. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Rock. Buy. 16. 1. Memories.. Do Not Open. The Chainsmokers. Dance. Buy. 16. 2.

NOW That's What I Call a Workout 2. Various Artists. Fitness & Workout.

Buy. 16. 3. Anastasia (Music from the Motion Picture)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 16. Fredo Kruger 2. New. Fredo Santana. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy. 16. 5. The Search for Everything.

John Mayer. Rock. Buy. 16. 6. Demo.

Too Cozy. A$AP Mob. Download Whole Something Better To Come (2015) Movie more. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy.

In Between Dreams. Jack Johnson. Rock. Buy. 18. 0. Greatest Hits. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Rock. Buy. 18. 1.

The Wall. Pink Floyd. Rock. Buy. 18. 2.

Metallica. Metallica. Heavy Metal. Buy. The Hanged Man. New. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Alternative. Buy.

Native Invader. New. Tori Amos. Alternative. Buy. 18. 5. Gold: Greatest Hits. ABBAPop. Buy. 18.

Everybody. Logic. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy. Kidz Bop 3. 5KIDZ BOP Kids. Children's Music. Buy. 18. 8. Still Striving.

A$AP Ferg. Hip Hop/Rap. Buy. 18. 9. Greatest Hits. Journey. Rock. Buy. Starboy. The Weeknd. R& B/Soul. Buy. Greatest Hits. Queen. Rock. Buy. 19. 2.

Everything Now. Arcade Fire. Alternative. Buy. IXNew. Spoken. Rock. Buy. 19. 4. Wonder. Hillsong UNITEDChristian & Gospel. Buy. 19. 5. Hydrograd. Stone Sour. Heavy Metal.

Buy. 19. 6. Big Little Lies (Music from the HBO Limited Series)Various Artists. Soundtrack. Buy. 19. Top Gun (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).