Bug 515151

Summary:	Elisa does not use selected audio output device when Bluetooth headphones are used
Product:	[Applications] Elisa	Reporter:	kde.hamlet644
Component:	general	Assignee:	Matthieu Gallien <matthieu_gallien>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	normal	CC:	nowjumpback, shy.bean3044
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	25.12.1
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Other
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description kde.hamlet644 2026-01-27 11:43:13 UTC

SUMMARY
Audio does not get played to Bluetooth headphones when they're connected. The media player widget shows that Elisa uses the speakers as output device instead of the headphones selected in audio devices and this cannot be changed (I tried: 1. System Settings>sound, 2. Audio Volume widget>Output Devices>Headphones>Play all audio via this device, 3. Audio Volume widget>Applications>Elisa>Play audio using...).
The audio volume panel icon shows the audio status of the speakers (muted) instead of the headphones as soon as playback starts after first opening the application but when clicking to open the widget, the settings return back to the original (non-muted) configuration.
I've tried this with two different Bluetooth headphones which gave the same result. Using a different media player such as Haruna or using the speakers as audio output does not cause the same issue.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. change audio output device to Bluetooth headphones
2. open Elisa music player
3. verify that in-app audio is not muted and start playback
4. observe audio not coming through and panel icon changing to muted (if speakers are muted)

OBSERVED RESULT
no audio output to Bluetooth headphones but to speakers

EXPECTED RESULT
audio output to headphones

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Windows: /
macOS: /
Linux/KDE Plasma: 6.18.6-200.fc43.x86_64
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.22.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
I found a discussion (https://discuss.kde.org/t/elisa-wont-output-to-bluetooth-headset/43593) mentioning this bug but didn't find it in the bug tracking system.

Comment 1 Ilya Zhivotikov 2026-01-28 16:40:36 UTC

Confirming this on 
Fedora 43
Elisa 25.12.1
Linux/KDE Plasma: Linux 6.18.6-200.fc43.x86_64
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.22.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1

Comment 2 Davis Gallinghouse 2026-01-29 20:14:26 UTC

I am having the same problem with Elisa.

I suspect the issue may actually be in the QtMultimedia module. I rebuilt Elisa with some additional logging connected to the QMediaDevices::audioOutputsChanged signal, and my Bluetooth headset is never reported by QMediaDevices as an available audio output. Also, while the system audio widget shows the Bluetooth headset as the active audio output and other applications play audio via Bluetooth, QMediaDevices::defaultAudioOutput returns a different audio output.

When I instead build Elisa against the libvlc audio backend, Bluetooth audio works properly.

Operating System: Fedora Linux 43
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.22.0
Qt Version: 6.10.1
Kernel Version: 6.18.6-200.fc43.x86_64 (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland

The Elisa version that ships with my system is 25.12.1. The bug still exists in the Qt audio backend at c860303d4ea278af6fd34761fd6cfaf11fa505c9, which reports a version of 26.03.70.

Comment 3 Davis Gallinghouse 2026-01-30 00:56:06 UTC

After more investigation, this does appear to be a bug in Qt itself. In Qt 6.10 they switched to a native Pipewire audio backend and their Pipewire implementation doesn't seem to see my Bluetooth headset as an available audio output. If I force Qt to select the older pulseaudio backend by setting QT_AUDIO_BACKEND=pulseaudio, Elisa correctly plays audio to my Bluetooth headset.