An apparatus and method operative in a portable terminal, for connecting with a Bluetooth or other short range protocol device are disclosed. The portable terminal searches for the presence of accessories such as a headset or printer within a short range. The terminal pairs with at least one discovered accessory in a pairing process and acquires and stores connection information associated with each paired accessory in the pairing process. The connection information includes at least one of a Bluetooth address, a WiFi address, a security key, and function information for the paired accessory. The connection information is then shared with at least one peer terminal to facilitate subsequent pairing between the at least one peer terminal and the accessory.