[Update: Fixed] Google confirms Assistant’ s activation failure issue with Bose QC-35 II / Pixel Buds on Android Oreo

Update (June 16):

The issue has now been resolved.

Original story:

Google’s newest Android version Oreo has had a rough start, for it caught more bad press than appreciation. A new issue has now joined the list of problems involving this latest OS – Google Assistant doesn’t work with the Bose QC-35 II headphones as well as the company’s own Pixel Buds when these are paired with an Oreo-powered device.

For its part, Google has officially acknowledged the problem, saying they are aware and investigating it. Here’s the complete statement from Google employee Andy B (who is also the Community Manager at Google Search and Assistant help forum):

We want to confirm we’re aware of an issue affecting some Android Oreo users who are attempting to use the Google Assistant with their Bose QC-35 II headphones and/or Pixel Buds. This issue doesn’t appear to affect Google Pixel phone models. We are actively investigating, and I will be posting relevant updates here

To give you an idea about the matter in question, for quite some time, Android device owners have been chiming – on the official Xperia support forum, Bose community, as well as the Google Search and Assistant help forum – that pressing the left button on their Bose QC35 II headphones or tapping the right Pixel earbud (used to launch Google Assistant), doesn’t work anymore in the intended way.

As Google employee Andy said, the problem doesn’t affect Google’s Pixel branded phones. We’ve come across complaints from users with devices like Sony Xperia ZX1, OnePlus 3/3T, saying the issue was introduced by the Oreo update.

While digging deep, we managed to locate a thread on the official Bose help forum, where someone claiming to be part of the ‘Assistant on headphones’ engineering team at Google also confirmed the same. Here’s what they exactly said:

We’re aware of the loss of assistant functionality on the Bose QC35 II when paired with a non-Google Android phone on Android 8.0.0 due to an OS bug. We’re planning on pushing a workaround in the next version of the Google app

Furthermore he also added that a workaround for the issue has been included in the latest Google App beta.

The latest beta version of the Google app is rolling out on the Play Store with the workaround. The updated version is 7.17.17

But looks like the beta update could not fix the glitch, as users continue to report the same issues even after updating to the latest version. Here’s are some of the users complaints:

It’s worth mentioning that there’s no official confirmation from Google about the issue being fixed yet, so wait is currently the only option for all those who are affected it. We hope the company will catch hold of the triggering elements and fix the problem sooner than later.

And like always, we’ll be updating all relevant developments as and when they occur. So keep a tab here.

Google Search and Assistant Help Forum | Xperia Support Forum | Bose Community | One Plus Forum

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