Apple is developing a new API that will allow third-party accessories, including Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Meta’s Quest headsets, to automatically pair with a user’s Apple devices in the same way AirPods and Apple Watch do today, according to Apple’s European interoperability request page.
The plan responds to a Meta request filed in October 2025 under the EU Digital Markets Act, asking Apple to allow a Meta device, once paired with an iPhone or iPad, to automatically become available on a user’s other Apple devices without additional prompts. Third-party accessories have never been able to leverage this capability, meaning owning non-Apple hardware alongside an iPhone has always involved more friction. If Apple develops this, this gap will be closed, at least for manufacturers with access to the new API.
Apple told Meta on February 4 that it plans to allow third-party apps to access cryptographic materials that make a pairing made on one Apple device usable on another, secured by a session key and one-time user consent per accessory. Apple plans to complete development by spring 2027 and ship it “shortly thereafter”, which suggests an iOS 27.x update, possibly iOS 27.4, although Apple has not yet confirmed a version.
The feature runs on AccessoriesSetupKit and Proximity Pairing, an infrastructure built by Apple to comply with a March 2025 European Commission decision and which today only works in the EU, the same infrastructure behind the proximity pairing feature is already available to EU users. Meta objected that its adoption would force the company to abandon Core Bluetooth, which it relies on for pairing anywhere outside Europe, and asked Apple to uncouple the two. Apple has so far refused, although it told Meta that support outside the EU “is something we’re still considering.”
Demand remains in phase three since Apple’s last update. Meta has not yet invoked the DMA’s formal dispute resolution process, which would trigger a review by Apple’s Interoperability Requests Review Board within 30 business days. Until then, Apple’s plan continues with a spring 2027 deployment linked to AccessoriesSetupKit, in the EU only.
