Pair Bose QuietComfort 35 with Ubuntu over Bluetooth

Solution 1:

It seems the Bose Quiet Comfort 35 does has issues with pairing with Bluetooth LE (Low Energy).

Get back to a clean state

I would recommend to clean up you past attempts to pair:

On Ubuntu, remove the headphones from the Bluetooth paired list.
On the headphones, hold the switch in Bluetooth pairing position for 10 seconds to delete all paired devices (You'll get a voice confirmation).
If you can, deactivate Bluetooth on other surrounding devices to make sure they won't interact.

Deactivate Bluetooth LE

Edit Bluetooth configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

Replace:

#ControllerMode = dual

with:

ControllerMode = bredr

Restart Bluetooth:

sudo service bluetooth restart

Pair

Make sure the headphones are in pairing mode.
Pair with System Settings > Bluetooth
Select & test the headphones in System Settings > Sound. You may want to choose High Fidelity Playback (A2DP Sink) for high playback quality.

Reactivate Bluetooth LE (optional)

As it is only the pairing that has to be done without Bluetooth LE, once it is paired you can go back to the original configuration:

sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf

Replace:

ControllerMode = bredr

with:

#ControllerMode = dual

Restart Bluetooth:

sudo service bluetooth restart

Troubleshooting

If you have issues connecting back after disconnecting/rebooting:

Make sure you have the computer and Bluetooth turned on before the headphones.
If Connection is grayed out in System Settings > Bluetooth, you can use the Bluetooth menu in the menu bar (next to the clock) to do Connection On/Off.

Solution 2:

The accepted answer did not work for me. This blog entry worked: http://erikdubois.be/installing-bose-quietcomfort-35-linux-mint-18/

Create /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf

[General]
Disable=Socket
Disable=Headset
Enable=Media,Source,Sink,Gateway
AutoConnect=true
load-module module-switch-on-connect

In /etc/bluetooth/main.conf set
```
ControllerMode = bredr
AutoEnable=true
```
Restart bluetooth
```
sudo service bluetooth restart
```
Connect your headphones
Choose High Fidelity Playback (A2DP sink)-mode in sound options

Solution 3:

I have the Bose Quietcomfort 35 II on Linux Mint 19.2. None of the solutions here worked for me. The only thing that worked was downloading the Bose Connect app on my Android phone and:

Connect your headphones to the phone
Connect your headphones to the Bose app
Go to "Connections" and make your headphones ready to connect
Pair with blueman or blueberry
Now both your phone and your computer will be connected. You can now disconnect your phone.

You won't have to do this again because the devices will be paired.

Solution 4:

The solution above didn't work for me. I got it to work, but you need to set it up manually every time you reboot.

First close bluetooth and bluez by effectively stopping them (not restarting), then starting them again using systemctl start bluetooth and sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth start.
Start bluez manager and connect the device using setup with the audio sink profile.
Manually change sound to the headphones.

I am a newbie with scripts, maybe someone more experienced than me can make a script that does all these actions at boot.