Up until now, pairing intercom systems to phones or the bike or a combination of both has been a frustrating storm of button pushes, waiting for beeps, and more often than not giving the intercom a small slap to make it work.
Now, however, SENA has developed a pairing system that uses your smartphone and QR codes to easily pair between devices.
The basic concept is that since QR barcodes have billions if not trillions of permutations, each person using a SENA that is supported will find a button marked SIP in their SENA App.
After that, once registered, it’s as easy as meeting up with your friends for a ride, opening up your app, and presenting your QR code for scanning.
The app then takes care of all the Bluetooth 4, 4.1, or 5 background hookups, and in a few seconds, you’re paired and talking.
This is definitely a step in the right direction for group riding, as instead of wasting 20 minutes at the start trying to get on the same channel, making sure you have a duplex connection, et al, the app just does it for you.
The only downside to the feature at the moment is if you use a comm system other than the supported headsets, you’re stuck doing the button-pushing dance.