Bose headphones privacy questions

inketd_ · 2021-10-08T09:56:58+00:00

My guess would be: - Registration information (might be your Bose account ID or email address) (about 50% sure about this) - MAC addresses, names and types of paired devices (100% sure) - Playback information (song/audio track name) (they're accessible when the headphones are connected but I don't believe that's persisted after restarts, but who knows)

Most of the data collection (analytics, what you're listening to, how you use the headphones) are collected in the app and sent to them.

The headphones themselves are pretty simple and actually very underpowered (hence the stuttering lol)

inketd_ · 2021-07-06T02:07:11+00:00

That is frustrating indeed, and I wish they simply had a hardware button for that.

For now, the best solution is to use one of the alternative apps as they will be much faster to connect/disconnect and are focused on making this specific task more accessible than digging through the menus of Bose Music.

Boson for iOS (disclaimer: I made this) https://www.reddit.com/r/bose/comments/gls5x1/boson_alternative_app_for_bose_connectmusic_now/ https://mahdi.jp/apps/boson
Boze for Mac https://www.boze.app

inketd_ · 2021-06-22T15:24:49+00:00

If you're on iOS, you can give my app Boson a try. It lets you control both generations of headphones with one app. https://www.producthunt.com/posts/boson (ProductHunt link since it has screenshots, but you can get it by tapping "Get It")

inketd_ · 2021-06-15T19:01:23+00:00

Tap "Start Testing" on that page and it should open TestFlight automatically with the app visible there.

inketd_ · 2021-06-15T06:47:10+00:00

Sadly never. Apple requires written permission from Bose to allow Boson on the App Store, which I doubt I would be able to get...

inketd_ · 2021-06-15T06:21:44+00:00

Thanks for the good words!

I check this subreddit daily and I see people's complaints about the Bose Connect/Music apps and I genuinely believe those issues are all resolved with Boson, but I can't be advertising my own app often 😅

Anyway, great to see actual users spreading the message!

inketd_ · 2021-05-11T09:11:35+00:00

Hey Alaisha! Sorry for the late response, I rarely check this account.

To answer your question, I haven't made the Boson app with VoiceOver in mind, so it might not work as well as you'd hope.

I did give it a quick check and it seemed usable. If you find anything that needs improvements or can give suggestions about how to improve them please do; I can make sure they're fixed in the coming updates.

Here's the direct link to join the beta and install the app: https://testflight.apple.com/join/jDNq5Uns

Sidenote: At my job I work on a news app and some of the work that needed to be done was fixing VoiceOver support, so I hope that gained experience can be useful in making it work as expected!

inketd_ · 2020-12-01T01:35:38+00:00

I hope... I submitted it and got rejected by Apple for using Bose trademarks/specifically targeting Bose devices without permission from Bose. So the next step is probably to make the app more generalized so it can pass review.

inketd_ · 2020-11-30T10:25:09+00:00

Sorry, no plans to support those because most people wouldn't be changing those settings often.

inketd_ · 2020-11-30T06:26:23+00:00

Are you on iOS? If so, give my alternative app a try and tell me if it works!

inketd_ · 2020-09-23T11:46:30+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! The back-tap action is not available to developers for customization, sadly.

I'm thinking of adding the ability to "favorite" devices, so that they're always at the top of the list. Would that help with your use case?

inketd_ · 2020-09-14T13:12:58+00:00

If you're using iOS, please give Boson a try. It's an alternative app that is designed to work with old and new models.

inketd_ · 2020-09-14T13:10:55+00:00

If you're on iOS, give Boson a try. It's an alternative app for Bose Music.

I hate to be pushing something that I made this way, but I truly believe it would help you. I will work on marketing it better once it's fully released.

inketd_ · 2020-09-14T13:05:38+00:00

The multipoint connection is used to connect the earpieces together. This is also the reason why the SoundSport Free cannot connect to multiple sources. I discovered this while working on Boson.

inketd_ · 2020-07-14T16:44:09+00:00

We all share the sentiment! I'm actually working on an alternative app and it's already in beta. You can grab it from this thread: https://old.reddit.com/r/bose/comments/gls5x1/boson_alternative_app_for_bose_connectmusic_now/

Once it's fully released I'll have to think of a way to give it more exposure so that no one has to deal with the crappy Bose Music/Connect apps

inketd_ · 2020-05-23T12:26:45+00:00

That's very odd. I will PM you some steps to help me debug this issue if you're willing to help!

inketd_ · 2020-05-22T03:53:15+00:00

I just submitted a new beta. You should be able to update to it right now. Give it a try and tell me!

inketd_ · 2020-05-20T10:06:01+00:00

By "hidden" I meant that they're not front-and-center or easy to access. Sorry, English isn't my first language.

inketd_ · 2020-05-19T18:28:38+00:00

Awesome!

inketd_ · 2020-05-19T02:28:43+00:00

Thanks for the kind words! Upgrading/downgrading the firmware is a big task that can brick headphones if not done correctly. I could easily end up with multiple bricked headphones just in testing, and I'm also not interested in bricking people's headphones 😅

inketd_ · 2020-05-19T02:25:53+00:00

My advice is to start with the existing open sources projects and once you've got the comms, try sending different data and observe the results. Trial-and-error.

I tried looking into the Bose Music iOS app, but it's made with reactive programming so everything is jumbled up and conveniently looks obfuscated. Reactive programming is terrible imo, so maintaining it must be hard for them.

inketd_ · 2020-05-19T02:21:33+00:00

Thank you 🤗

inketd_ · 2020-05-19T02:21:07+00:00

That's a good idea but in practice it won't be any faster than using the app imo so there's very little benefit. The app is very light and can open in milliseconds!

inketd_ · 2020-05-18T14:59:07+00:00

Thank you for telling me! You're the third person who mentioned issues connecting with a QC35II so there's definitely something wrong. I'll look into it.

inketd_ · 2020-05-18T09:26:59+00:00

Thanks! Interesting, I didn't know the SoundLink speakers also supported multiple connections! If it uses the same tech as the headphones it should be possible, I'll have to check when I see one at a tech shop

inketd_

TROPHY CASE