iPad Pro I’m embarrassed to say, I actually needed a headphone jack on the iPad Pro 2021

[sblemmy]

Since Apple “courageously” removed the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, I’ve been highly supportive of the move. With the proliferation of high quality and affordable Bluetooth headphones, who needs a 3.5mm port? Even the most archaic users (like my wife) can just pick up a pair of Lightning headphones or use the 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.

Well, fast forward to today. I’m currently at a conference, and one of the presenters couldn’t fly into town. No problem — I’ll connect my trusty iPad Pro to the projector (via a USB-C hub with HDMI) and we’re good to go. Or, so I thought. The conference setup had an HDMI cable to connect video, but the audio feed was piped through a 3.5mm cable to the speakers in the room.

Embarrassingly, we had to connect using someone else’s Windows laptop (which required IT’s help) and wasted 15 minutes of the hour and half for the panel fiddling with laptops and connectors.

 

[cbautis2]

They need to update their tech there to include Bluetooth speakers

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yup -- pretty darned handy to have it built in...

 

[rui no onna]

Yup -- pretty darned handy to have it built in...

Never really understood why they had to take it off the iPad as well when there's plenty of unused space. The 3.5mm jack is one of the reasons I'm getting a 9th gen for my mom instead of a higher end model.

 

[zakarhino]

Yep. The "use an adapter, what's the big deal" argument only gets said by people that don't actually use adapters, they've never run into power user situations like you have or even basic scenarios such as wanting to plug in headphones at the same time as charging.

 

[akash.nu]

Yep. The "use an adapter, what's the big deal" argument only gets said by people that don't actually use adapters, they've never run into power user situations like you have or even basic scenarios such as wanting to plug in headphones at the same time as charging.

This situation is not really a “power user” situation. It’s just dealing with older AV setup at a conference room ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ entirely depends on where one is presenting. I’ve not needed a jack like that since a few years now while presenting in conferences.

 

[mw360]

Yeah, Apple made a fool of you there, and you aren't the only one it's happened to. If you're lucky, the people in the room will be able to laugh along because they've been burned by donglemania too, but if it's a tough crowd you get roasted for bringing your Apple toys to work.

 

[ian87w]

Never really understood why they had to take it off the iPad as well when there's plenty of unused space. The 3.5mm jack is one of the reasons I'm getting a 9th gen for my mom instead of a higher end model.

Agree. The removal on iPhones made sense considering the tight space inside and the need of IP rating. But on the iPad? Plenty of space inside it, and no IP rating. There's really no reason for the removal of the jack other than to push Airpods sales.

And it sucks because the competitors are following suit without any rhyme nor reason. Samsung also remove the headphone jack on the Galaxy Tab. Really dumb imo.

 

[ian87w]

Since Apple “courageously” removed the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, I’ve been highly supportive of the move. With the proliferation of high quality and affordable Bluetooth headphones, who needs a 3.5mm port? Even the most archaic users (like my wife) can just pick up a pair of Lightning headphones or use the 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.

Well, fast forward to today. I’m currently at a conference, and one of the presenters couldn’t fly into town. No problem — I’ll connect my trusty iPad Pro to the projector (via a USB-C hub with HDMI) and we’re good to go. Or, so I thought. The conference setup had an HDMI cable to connect video, but the audio feed was piped through a 3.5mm cable to the speakers in the room.

Embarrassingly, we had to connect using someone else’s Windows laptop (which required IT’s help) and wasted 15 minutes of the hour and half for the panel fiddling with laptops and connectors.

You're lucky. I often found myself in venues where the projector still uses VGA(!), not even HDMI. Luckily the venue management had a drawer full of various dongles, knowing many people would need one...

 

[Feyl]

I actually like that Apple removed the jack from all iPads except the cheapest one. If I'll ever need a new iPad I know which one I'll buy and my decision is easy and fast.

 

[nicho]

You're lucky. I often found myself in venues where the projector still uses VGA(!), not even HDMI. Luckily the venue management had a drawer full of various dongles, knowing many people would need one...

It sounds to me like this venue had barely made the step up. That headphone jack should surely have been drawing its input from the projector - HDMI can handle audio and video.

 

[Digitalguy]

Never really understood why they had to take it off the iPad as well when there's plenty of unused space. The 3.5mm jack is one of the reasons I'm getting a 9th gen for my mom instead of a higher end model.

Because the reasons given by Apple were bs.... Space taken by the jack is minimal and you have plenty of iP68 phones with a jack.... The real reason was selling Airpods and man did Apple hit the jackpot with their "courage".... Airpods alone bring in around $12 billions per year, more than the revenues of a whole company like Nvidia....

 

[Kung gu]

It seems Apple consider iDevices to be wireless only.

While Macs still have it because of their culture. The 24" iMac M1 still has a headphone jack.
So the headphone jack is here to stay on Macs which is good.

 

[DoghouseMike]

If it happens again, check the projector for audio ports, our ancient (VGA!) projector has audio in/out, I’ve used more modern ones with the same thing, HDMI to projector, projector to amp/speakers/etc. Might be a bit of a headslap moment, but we live and learn.

For all the “BuT aIrPoD$” folks, other headphones are available. Personally, I’ve had bluetooth headphones since the iPhone 5s days, and never had a white pair.

 

[laptech]

This is what happens when plan A fails and there is no plan B. Plan A will have involved the IT people with setting up the conference confirming with the main speaker what IT device they will be using so the IT people can make sure they have all necessary cables and adapters ready to connect to the speakers device. When the main speaker cannot make it and a replacement speaker is found, the problem arises when the new speaker has a device that is not 100% compatible with the conference device.

I've been in situations where the opposite to that of the OP has occured. The equipment in the conference room is the latest and greatest but the devices owned by the speakers are old and are not able to connect to it.

 

[ian87w]

It seems Apple consider iDevices to be wireless only.

While Macs still have it because of their culture. The 24" iMac M1 still has a headphone jack.
So the headphone jack is here to stay on Macs which is good.

Apple: iDevices are wireless post PC devices
Also Apple: To troubleshoot, you have to connect to a computer with a cable
Android: I have my own safe mode, thank you

I hope Apple won't remove headphone jacks from their Macs. I do have a feeling they will...

 

[noodle63]

Pro users need flexibility! Imagine going somewhere to do a presentation and you've never seen the hardware they are providing, you need to think on your feet and work with what they have in, and all this a pressured situation. Having as many connection options as possible reduces the potential for embarrassment and gets your work done, so you look like a pro rather than a chump. Give me hardware with lots of connectors please, even if I rarely use them!

 

[MrGimper]

I had a problem when I couldn't do a presentation on my Lenovo thinkpad because the projector was VGA and my lappy didn't have a VGA port. Damn Lenovo.

 

[ian87w]

Give me hardware with lots of connectors please, even if I rarely use them!

Actually, that is what dongles are for, to give you the connectivity when you actually need it... and out of the way when you don't.
You can just get an all-in-one dongle that have HDMI/Audio/ethernet/USB-A out. That way you are mostly covered with just a single dongle.

 

[ian87w]

I had a problem when I couldn't do a presentation on my Lenovo thinkpad because the projector was VGA and my lappy didn't have a VGA port. Damn Lenovo.

Exactly my situation I described above. I even brought an HDMI to DVI dongle, but bam, it's VGA...

 

[MrGimper]

Exactly my situation I described above. I even brought an HDMI to DVI dongle, but bam, it's VGA...

Exactly.... the point is it's always gonna happen. People will be wanting Composite Video built into the next iPad "just in case"

 

[Rashy]

Removal on iPhones is understandable. More space for battery and beneficial for IP68.
But on a much larger iPad, which is also mainly used for media consumption (movies) much stronger, it's just dumb and useless. I am happy that I can plug in my ATH-M50X directly into my 10,5" Pro without having to worry about any stupid dongle (which is super flimsy btw). Never understood why they had to make the 2018 even thinner = bendgate. The regular iPad is perfectly thin for me.

 

[laptech]

Remember people, the person who was supposed to be the main speaker at the conference could not attend at the last moment. It would be presumed that this person would have carried all the necessary dongles and adapters to connect their device to conference device.

A stand in came to the rescue but did not have a compitable device. It cannot be expected that EVERYONE at a conference is expected to carry all their dongles and adapters with them just in case such a scenerio happens, or do they?

 

[joeblow7777]

Since Apple “courageously” removed the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, I’ve been highly supportive of the move. With the proliferation of high quality and affordable Bluetooth headphones, who needs a 3.5mm port? Even the most archaic users (like my wife) can just pick up a pair of Lightning headphones or use the 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.

Well, fast forward to today. I’m currently at a conference, and one of the presenters couldn’t fly into town. No problem — I’ll connect my trusty iPad Pro to the projector (via a USB-C hub with HDMI) and we’re good to go. Or, so I thought. The conference setup had an HDMI cable to connect video, but the audio feed was piped through a 3.5mm cable to the speakers in the room.

Embarrassingly, we had to connect using someone else’s Windows laptop (which required IT’s help) and wasted 15 minutes of the hour and half for the panel fiddling with laptops and connectors.

They need to update their tech there to include Bluetooth speakers

As someone who works in public education, I can tell you that there’s often still a need for legacy ports.

HDMI? If I want to connect my laptop to a projector at school I need a VGA adapter!

 

[Marshall73]

Since Apple “courageously” removed the headphone jack in the iPhone 7, I’ve been highly supportive of the move. With the proliferation of high quality and affordable Bluetooth headphones, who needs a 3.5mm port? Even the most archaic users (like my wife) can just pick up a pair of Lightning headphones or use the 3.5mm to Lightning adapter.

Well, fast forward to today. I’m currently at a conference, and one of the presenters couldn’t fly into town. No problem — I’ll connect my trusty iPad Pro to the projector (via a USB-C hub with HDMI) and we’re good to go. Or, so I thought. The conference setup had an HDMI cable to connect video, but the audio feed was piped through a 3.5mm cable to the speakers in the room.

Embarrassingly, we had to connect using someone else’s Windows laptop (which required IT’s help) and wasted 15 minutes of the hour and half for the panel fiddling with laptops and connectors.

Should have plugged the 3.5mm jack into the TV audio out.