Make iPhone & iPod Earbuds Stick to MacBook Pro with a Silly Mac Trick

Mar 25, 2011 - 12 Comments

stupid-mac-tricks-earbud-magnets

Now here’s a seemingly stupid Mac trick that is actually kind of useful: grab your iPhone or iPod earbuds (the white ones that ship with the devices), and place them about an inch inward on the corners of a MacBook Pro… they’ll stick! Seriously, the white Apple earbud headphones will stick to the corner of the Mac, just like what is seen in the picture up top.

What is this magic? Is this some kind of witchcraft? Is this some kind of special Apple power? No, it’s just magnets. It turns out that much like the iPad and it’s Smart Cover, the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and MacBook all have magnets in the upper lid to keep it shut when closed, so you can use them to hold onto other stuff too.

That means more than just the iPhone earbuds will stick to the magnets as well. In fact, I just tested this out with a metal pen and a small screwdriver and the magnets held them too, stuck right into the corners of the screen. Useful for those items? Not really, but it’s fun.

On a serious note, this is sort of useful if you want a place to quickly hold your earbuds while you do something else, they are very easy to stick right to the screen. The Apple earbuds are pretty full featured and can do quite a bit really, and now you can add magnetic attachment to the Mac to that list.

This also makes a decent prank to play on someone if you let your imagination run wild, although it’s not as heart-stopping as a fake kernel panic.

stupid-mac-tricks-earbud-magnets

Thanks for sending this in Peter! If you know of any other fun, silly, stupid, or useful Mac tricks, do share them with us!

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Posted by: William Pearson in Fun, Mac

12 Comments

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  1. Erin Styles says:

    TikTok (the future) brought me here.

  2. Jay says:

    It’s really useful. Works on mid-2010 Core 2 Duo MacBook. :)

  3. Logan says:

    Even though my macbook broke, this workx on my new acer! Now i just put the earbuds by the webcam and its really cool! I sometimes store pens with the extra long magnet

  4. Bitch says:

    I love this, what a waste of time ugh

  5. Eduardo says:

    Don’t forget to take them off before closing the lid.

  6. Andras Hatvani says:

    My 3.5 year old iMac does this trick, too! :D

  7. Joseph says:

    Well I got my Ipod touch to stick, the bodyguards skin gives it extra grip though. Sticking Ipod classic to the other side… I wonder if you put magnets on the bottom it would sleep? My day wasted.

  8. Ian says:

    Wow the magnets are stronger than I’d expect. Very useless but fun.

  9. Reb says:

    @Naren
    No worries for such short time while you try it.

    Btw it’s a nice idea :)

  10. MetallicAsh says:

    I ended up sticking keys, scissors and many other things. I honestly waisted about an hour of college playing with the magnets ><

  11. Naren Bharatwaj says:

    Out of curiosity, won’t this weaken the headphones?

    • icebreaker says:

      It might even break them because it pulls the magnetic spool towards it. So don’t try this with your earphones.

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