Answering phone calls with Bose QC 35 II

[naomin]

Hello,

I cannot answer phone calls directly with my Bose QC35 II. There is a "bluetooth" button that I read should be pressed or slided to answer. Mine is a slide version and it does not seem to work. To clarify: in order to answer phone calls I have to answer them on my iPhone. Then I can communicate with the caller with my Bose headphones. So, there is no problem with the bluetooth connection - I don't have to select the bluetooth device to hear the speaker. My only issue is with the actual answering of the call. I would like to be able to answer the call by sliding that button without taking my phone out of the bag. Any tips?

Thanks

[Liam_W]

Hi there @naomin, and welcome to the Community!

I'm sorry to hear of the difficulty you've had using your headphones here, and would be happy to help!

In this instance, i'm led to believe that you may be using the wrong button here, and are using the Power/Bluetooth button instead of the Multi-Function button.

In between the volume controls, on the back of the right earcup, is the Multi-function button. This looks like a large dot in between two smaller dots.

This is the button that you would be pressing to control callback!

Pressing this once will answer a call, and answer a second call if you're already on one.When on the call, pressing this once more will end the call. Pressing and holding this button for two seconds will decline an inbound call, and if you are on 2 calls at the same time, pressing this button twice in quick succession will swap between them.

Please see the image to follow for reference for which button you should be using here.

I hope this helps, and please get back to me with any questions!

Liam W - Community Support

[Liam_W]

[dgbretz]

I have the same issue as the original post and can confirm that the multi-function button does not work.  I believe the issue is due to being connected to two phones at the same time. 

When I have an incoming call, if I press the multi-function button, I hear a beep but nothing happens.  If I hold the multi-function button, the call is ignored as noted in the previous reply from support.  I have to answer the call on my iphone which causes the phone to switch to handset mode.  Therefore, I have to go to audio settings and change back to bluetooth which obviously causes a 2-3 second delay in answering a call.

Use case: I am connected to two different iphones (an 8 and an 11).  If I turn off bluetooth on one of the phones, the multi-function button does work as expected.  I would consider this a bug but perhaps things are working as intended depending on the bluetooth protocol rules for being connected to 2 phones at 1 time.

[El Pescador]

I have the same issue. I cannot answer a call using the multi function button. I can decline and hang up and switch between calls but in order to answer the call, I have to do so on my iPhone and select Bose as the bluetooth option if it switches back to the phone. When I first purchased the headphones, I did not have this issue so I'm wondering if there was an update through the app of some kind that changed firmware or altered the functionality?

I am often also connected to my computer at the same time but I haven't done any testing to ascertain whether or not it works if I'm only connected to the phone and not another device at the same time as others have indicated might be the issue.

Please help us out here Bose!

[Jessie_O]

Hi there, 

Thank you for your post and welcome to the community!

I'm sorry to hear of the issues you are experiencing with the QC35's not answering your phone calls, I'll do what I can to assist you! 

I would recommend updating the firmware. You can do this by clicking the LINK HERE on the laptop or PC and follow the on-screen instructions. 

Let me know how it goes! 

[El Pescador]

Still not working. I updated the firmware and can answer calls when only my phone is connected but if my phone and my computer are connected at the same time, I still can't answer a call. The whole reason I wear these headphones is to be connected to both at the same time so I hope this issue gets resolved.

[El Pescador]

I just figured out my problem. Bose may or may not be able to work around this but I'm guessing not. Here's what I discovered:

If my headphones are connected to my phone and my computer AND I have Apple's "Calls on Other Devices" feature enabled to allow calls on my MacBook Pro or iPad via FaceTime, it somehow assumes control and prevents the Bose headphones from answering the call. It prompts you to answer either on your phone or on the screen of your device but in doing so, it blocks the headphones from accepting the incoming call. When I have the "Calls on Other Devices" feature disabled, I can still connect to my phone and my computer and listen to audio sources on my laptop AND accept incoming calls on my headphones using the multi-function button. The curious part about all of this is that even the "Calls on Other Devices" feature enabled, I can decline incoming calls, switch calls, and perform every other function on the headphones except answering a call that's incoming.

Hopefully that's helpful for Bose engineers to consider for future firmware updates, but in the mean time, at least the work around (for me anyway) is disabling that feature and or just answering on my phone and then switching the source to my headphones manually after I pick up.

[gregory-ciobanu]

I have no idea if my problem is the same, but I would like to add something as well. Yesterday I discovered: As soon as I get a call, I answer it. Apparently, the call is received via headphones, still, even if on the phone it is written Bose QC 35ii, the call is in the ear speaker of the phone, not in the headphone. Then, I push the button Bluetooth on the phone and have the option to choose from my watch or my headphone. As soon as I choose QC 35 ii, the sound enters the headphones, and everything works just perfectly. So, in the conclusion, how the *ell to set them the way that the answer might be made from the headphone not from the phone itself?

[davefrommaine]

This is the problem and solution. 

I had my Bose QC 35 II headphones connected to both my iPhone SE (2020) and iPad Air 2. I was unable to answer calls, getting the beep mentioned by others.

To test this solution, I did the following:

1. Turned off the "Calls on Other Devices" feature.
2. Called from an external number. 
3. Was able to successfully answer the call. 

Realizing the conflict between the iPhone and iPad receiving the same call simultaneously was creating the problem, I also tried the following:

1. Disconnected from the iPad Air 2 and connected my headphones to an iPhone 7 affiliated with a different Apple ID.
2. Turned on "Calls on Other Devices" in the original iPhone SE (2020).
3. Called the iPhone SE from an external number.
4. Was able to successfully answer the call from my headphones.