PairFree 0.4.0

PairFree aims to be one app for the settings of nearly any earbuds and headphones. It replaces heavy, brand-specific apps with a light, fast one that talks to your earbuds directly over Bluetooth.

Why PairFree:

• No account: nothing to sign up for or log in to
• No internet: the app has no internet permission, so it cannot go online
• Nothing leaves your phone unless you share it yourself, such as a device report or an equalizer profile. No ads, no analytics, no crash reports, no cloud backup of your settings
• One app to rule them all: the same screens for every brand, instead of one vendor app each
• Few permissions: Bluetooth, for earbuds you have already paired, and notifications for the optional status notification. For JBL models alone, finding nearby devices, asked for only when you open one and never used for your location. No location, no contacts
• Small and quick: about 3 MB, with no login and no server to wait for
• Open source (GPL-3.0), with every protocol documented and tested in its repository
• Your equalizer as files: save your own curves, and export and share them

Supported brands:

• SOUNDPEATS: tried on the H3 and Air5 Pro+. Other models use the same protocol and should work
• Soundcore (Anker): 39 models, tried on the Space A40. Built on the open-source OpenSCQ30
• Samsung Galaxy Buds: 16 models, from the 2019 Buds to the Buds4 Pro, not yet tried on real earbuds. Built on the open-source GalaxyBudsClient and Samsung's own plugin
• Sony: 24 models, from the WH-1000XM2 to the WH-1000XM6, WF-1000XM5 and LinkBuds, not yet tried on real headphones. Written from Sony's own app and checked against the open-source Gadgetbridge
• Bose: 22 models, from the QC35 to the QC Ultra 2 headphones and earbuds, not yet tried with PairFree. Written from Bose's own app and the open-source bosectl. PairFree never signs in to Bose's cloud, so anything that needs it stays out of reach
• AirPods and Beats on Apple's chips: 30 models, not yet tried with PairFree. Ported from the open-source LibrePods. Android 17 is needed, or a Pixel on Android 16 QPR3, or a OnePlus, OPPO or realme phone on Android 16
• JBL: 83 models, from the Tune 520BT to the Live Buds 4, not yet tried with PairFree. Written from JBL's own app and checked against the open-source JblTray

What it controls, on the models that have each:

• Battery for each earbud and the case
• Noise control: off, noise cancelling, transparency or ambient sound, with their scenes and levels
• The equalizer: the brand's presets, your own curves and saved profiles
• Touch controls: what each tap and hold does on each earbud, and turning touch off
• Game mode, two devices at once, LDAC and LE Audio
• The ear tip fit test, find my earbuds, voice prompts and water drain
• Settings only one brand has, such as each Galaxy Bud's ambient sound level, voice detect, Sony's speak-to-chat and DSEE upscaling, Bose's listening modes, JBL's TalkThru, or the AirPods' Conversation Awareness
• A status notification with the battery and buttons for noise control and game mode, in place of Google's Fast Pair notification if you like

PairFree shows only what your earbuds support. If your model has not been tried, the Device tab copies a device report you can send, so it can be added for everyone. Record from the official app goes further: it reads, on your phone, what the brand's own app sends to your earbuds when you change a setting (and on SOUNDPEATS earbuds the equalizer curves), so PairFree can learn to do the same. It keeps nothing but the messages exchanged with your earbuds, and the report it makes masks their address and serial number.

Close the brand's own app before using PairFree: only one app can control the earbuds at a time.

PairFree is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by SOUNDPEATS, Anker, Samsung, Sony, Bose, Harman (JBL) or Apple.

License: GPL-3.0-or-later