Answering Phone Calls with Soundlink Revolve

[M.T.Frieze]

I would like to use my Bose Soundlink Revolve connected to my phone by bluetooth as a speakerphone. With my car, and with every other bluetooth speaker I have used, once the speaker is paired, calls are automatically routed to the speaker. With the Soundlink Revolve, unless you answer the call using the multifunction button, the call must be manually connected using the android phone. It is not an issue with the phone, as I have exactly the same behavior with every phone that is connected to the Bose Soundlink, but have never had this problem when phones are connected to my car or other speakers. Let me clarify the exact behaviors that are rather annoying.

1. If I place a call using my android phone, even though the Bose Soundlink Revolve is turned on and paired to the phone, I must manually press the "Bluetooth Connect" button on my phone or press-hold the Multifunction button on the speaker. With every other bluetooth speaker/car that I have used, once a call is placed, it automatically routed to the speaker without any other user interaction. For example, when a phone is connected by bluetooth with my Toyota Corolla, all outgoing calls from my phone go directly to the car audio without me having to press "Bluetooth Connect" on my phone after placing each call.

2. If I receive a phone call, the Bose Soundlink announces the call. If I accept the call using my android phone, the call is routed to the phone, and I must either press the Bluetooth Connect button on the phone or press-hold the Multifunction button on the speaker to route call to the Bose speaker. Again, this is unlike any other bluetooth speaker I have used, where the default behavior is that once a call is received, it is automatically routed to the speaker. Yes, I have read the manual: if I answer the phone call by pressing the multifunction button on the Soundlink, the call is routed to the speaker. However, since my phone is in my pocket, I would much prefer to accept the call on my phone rather than having to press a button on the speaker to accept the call.

From bulletin boards, it appears that this has been a common complaint for this and other Bose speakers in the past. This "feature" should be fixed with a firmware upgrade; if someone wants to use this current behavior, could there be an option for automatic routing of calls as an alternative to the current behavior.

[joelirwin]

@M.T.FriezeI don't work for Bose and have an iPhone 7+ but here is my two cents on this:

1. Bose speakers (and I mean all of them) have had a problem with getting connected for outgoing calls - even when the speaker (I have two Revolves and a Mini 2) is connected to the phone.  I dial the call, it the outgoing speaker switches back to the internal speaker of the phone.  I sometimes have to reselect the Bose speaker twice to get it to stick.  Occasionally it won't switch - the behavior is inconsistent.  However, it should never happen at all. If the speaker is connected and you dial, you should hear output on the speaker. Period.  The problem does NOT occur on any of my Bose headphones such as the QC35ii and the Soundsport wired.  I have been 'complaining' about this hear in this forum since 2018.  I can not say if it is a global issue or just an Apple issue but others have talked about it here as well.  At this point I doubt the firmware will ever get fixed for this.

2. For incoming calls, it is all about how the vendor decides to implement the receipt with the various Bluetooth application programming interfaces.  Like you, I would think it would have been 'smarter' if the call comes in an you accept it on your phone that it still come out on the speaker.  Unfortunately, I am 'guessing' that the phone itself does the processing and hence Bose has no say over where the phone call will go.  I am guessing that since I have the same situation in my 2011 Toyota Prius.  If a call comes in on my phone and I accept it from my phone, I then have to manually switch it back to the car.  If I accept it on the steering wheel, it goes to the car.  Again, I think the implementation change lies with Apple and not with Bose or Toyota.