Disabling Hands-Free Audio

Support and Help
1

whenever i open OBS for example my bluetooth headphones switch from headphone mode to hands free mode, drastically reducing audio quality. is there a way to completely disable this hands free mode like in windows?

2

Edit “/etc/bluetooth/main.conf” as super user (sudo)
Add this to it under “General”

[General]
Disable=Handsfree

You need to restart Bluetooth after.

sudo systemctl restart bluetooth
3

after trying this my headphones wouldnt connect anymore. i re-paired them but they still switch to hands free when opening obs

4

I have no issues on that edit:

wpctl status | grep blue
 │     112. SRS-XB22                            [bluez5]
 │     120. output.combined_bluez_output.F8_DF_15_7F_64_73.1             [Stream/Output/Audio]
 │  *  114. bluez_input.F8:DF:15:7F:64:73                                [Audio/Source]
 │     115. bluez_capture_internal.F8:DF:15:7F:64:73                     [Stream/Input/Audio/Internal]

My edit looks like:

less /etc/bluetooth/main.conf|grep Handsfree
Disable=Handsfree

Mine used to do the same as what you see now, but not seen any issues since the edit.

I’ll check against OBS and report any findings.

5

Still nothing on my end:

wpctl status 
PipeWire 'pipewire-0' [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, cookie:2671395231]
 └─ Clients:
        32. WirePlumber                         [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2378]
        33. pipewire                            [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2379]
        46. WirePlumber [export]                [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2378]
        47. Wayfire Volume Control              [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2286]
        48. Wayfire Volume Control              [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2286]
        49. xfce4-pulseaudio-plugin             [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2447]
        83. pipewire                            [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2379]
        84. pipewire                            [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2379]
       110. Blueman                             [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2632]
       113. WirePlumber                         [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:2378]
       126. wpctl                               [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:11645]
       128. OBS                                 [1.2.7, me@cachyos-x8664-zfs, pid:3577]

 137. Strawberry                                                  
             86. output_FR       > onn. TWS Earphones:playback_FR	[active]
             93. output_FL       > onn. TWS Earphones:playback_FL	[active]
└─ Streams:
       137. Strawberry                                                  
             56. output_FR       > Tzumi-Headphone:playback_FR	[active]
             58. output_FL       > Tzumi-Headphone:playback_FL	[active]

This may be related to your hardware.

Also please have a look here, Changing a device/node property
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/WirePlumber

And that assumes your using 24.04 with WirePlumber