Do Vizio TVs Have Bluetooth? (Two Workarounds!)

If you recently purchased a Vizio TV, and you were hoping to be able to connect your AirPods, or some other Bluetooth headphones or speakers to it, unfortunately you are out of luck.

Do Vizio TVs have bluetooth?

No, Vizio TVs don’t have Bluetooth and you can’t use the Vizio’s SmartCast app as a work around either. While some Vizio TVs have “Bluetooth LE” (low energy Bluetooth), this can only be used to connect your TV to the SmartCast mobile app! You cannot connect Bluetooth headphones or speakers.

So the official stance that Vizio has taken is, aside from the Bluetooth LE, which can ONLY be used to pair the SmartCast mobile app, Vizio TVs do not support Bluetooth!

Here is a screen shot of my conversation with Vizio support confirming this:

Vizio SmartCast app

SmartCast is Vizio’s in-house streaming platform. It’s built directly into Vizio TVs and it allows you to stream, control and connect to content on your TV.

If you’ve heard of Roku, SmartCast is basically the same thing.

Stream

On the streaming front, SmartCast offers tons of streaming apps like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube TV, Disney+, HBO Max, etc…all available out of the box.

Of course you’ll need separate subscriptions to these services in order to use them, but the apps are available to you directly on your Vizio TV.

Here is a list of all the smart TV apps Vizio SmartCast offers.

Control

There’s also a Vizio SmartCast mobile app that you can download for free from the Google Play or the App Store.

Once it’s downloaded you can sync to your TV directly to your phone (using the Vizio TV’s built in Bluetooth LE) and start using your phone as a remote!

You can even use speech commands through the app to control your TV.

Some other benefits include being able to pull up an entire keyboard when you’re typing or searching for a title (typing with the Vizio remote can be flat out painful, so this is a pretty neat feature).

Cast

Finally, you can cast your phone, tablet or laptop directly to your Vizio TV using Apple Airplay and Chromecast, built directly to your TV.

So if you want to pull up some family photos during your next get together, or even cast your next Peloton ride straight to your TV, it’s all possible.

The nice thing about SmartCast is that it is continually getting worked on and improved by the Vizio team. Anytime there is an update, you get it automatically, for free, via a software update!

Can you use Vizio SmartCast as a Bluetooth workaround?

If you’ve owned a Roku TV before, you might be wondering if you can use the Vizio SmartCast app as a Bluetooth workaround.

You see, similar to Vizio TVs, Roku TVs don’t have Bluetooth built in buy they do offer a smartphone app that allows you to use your phone as a remote.

This Roku app has a featured called “private listening” that allows you to pair your Bluetooth audio device to your mobile phone and listen to your TV through it!

Unfortunately the Vizio SmartCast app does not currently allow you to do this.

It’s a bummer because I don’t think it would be too much trouble for Vizio to enable this and I am certain there is demand for it.

Who knows though, apps are being updated all the time so maybe there is hope for the future?

Enabling Bluetooth on your Vizio TV using a workaround

The somewhat good news here is that there are two decent work arounds if you are really desperate to use your Bluetooth headphones or speakers with your Vizio TV.

The first is by buying a Bluetooth transmitter and the second is by connecting directly to the Audio Out ports on your Vizio TV.

Bluetooth transmitter

A Bluetooth transmitter is simply a product that plugs into a non-Bluetooth enabled device (in this case your Vizio smart TV) and turns it into a fully functioning Bluetooth device.

These days the technology has gotten so good that there is very low latency with these devices (meaning the sound will come near real time, without delay).

If you’re thinking about going this route I highly recommend the TOKSEL Visible Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter (check price on Amazon). This thing get’s amazing reviews and will make your smart TV Bluetooth in seconds.

This one does require a headphone jack (AUX) on your TV, so make sure you have one before buying it.

If your TV doesn’t have a headphone jack, no problem, go with the Avantree Bluetooth 5.0 Transmitter. Same amazing reviews, but it offers multiple different options for setup (Optical, Aux, RCA, USB).

“Audio Out” port

If you don’t want to buy an entirely new device, you can try connecting your Bluetooth device directly to your TV using the Audio Out ports on the back.

The key here is to check the available connections on your Bluetooth device and see if those connections are compatible with your Vizo TV’S Audio Out ports.

Basically what you’re looking for is an Aux port (headphone jack) on your Bluetooth device, and a Red and White Analog out port on your TV. If you have that, you can likely connect directly!

Vizio support has a decent write-up detailing how to do this.

Conclusion

No, Vizio TVs do not come Bluetooth enabled. While they do have something called “low-energy Bluetooth”, that capability can only be used to sync your mobile phone with Vizio SmartCast. You cannot connect your Bluetooth headphones or speakers.

However, there are two possible work arounds. The first involves using a Bluetooth transmitter and the second requires you to use the “Audio Out” port on the back of your Vizio TV.

I know this isn’t ideal for everyone though so for those folks I complied a list of other TV brands and models that come fully Bluetooth enabled.

Where you able to get your Bluetooth device synced up with your Vizio TV? Let me know how you did it in the comments section below!