Bose 700 Controls: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

A comprehensive guide to making the most of Bose 700 via their touch, button, and app controls.

The Bose 700 are among the best Bose headphones on the market today. They have outstanding noise cancellation, excellent sound quality, and a variety of controls for media playback, calls, and voice assistant activation. Unfortunately, getting all these Bose 700 controls memorized can be taxing.

Not to mention that these headphones also have three different types of controls, making things extra challenging, even for experienced customers.

Not to worry! This article aims to help you navigate the different controls of the Bose 700. We’ll also give you some handy tips and tricks for getting the most out of your device. Let’s get into it!

Bose 700 Controls: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet

To keep things simpler, here’s a cheat sheet you can download for future reference:

3 Ways to Control Bose 700: Touch vs. Button vs. Bose Music App

You can control the Bose 700 headphones via three different options:

• Bose 700 touch controls
• Bose 700 buttons
• Bose Music app

Each control type has a specific set of functions, making it independent from the others. So, where exactly can we find these controls? Let’s find out in the sections below.

Bose 700 touch controls

You can access the Bose 700 touch controls on the panel located towards the front of the right ear cup (marked with an R).

Bose 700 buttons

The Bose 700 button controls consist of three buttons. Here’s where you can find them:

• Noise Control button: Towards the back of the left ear cup (marked with an L).
• Power/Bluetooth button: Towards the back of the right ear cup and above the Voice Assistant button.
• Voice Assistant button: Towards the back of the right ear cup and below the Power/Bluetooth button.

Bose Music app

The Bose Music app is the Bose 700’s companion app made for various tasks, including updating the Bose 700 software, customizing controls, etc.

You can download the Bose Music app on iOS and Android devices. Unfortunately, as of writing this article, it’s still unavailable on Mac and PC, which only use the Bose SoundTouch app.

How to Turn the Bose 700 On or Off

Not all headphones have a power button, so you’ll be glad to know that the Bose 700 do. The option to manually turn your Bose headphones on and off may seem trivial. But it’s a helpful feature, especially if you prefer making sure your headphones are off when they should be and not wasting battery life.

Aside from manually powering your headphones on and off, you can also program them to shut off automatically. Here’s how:

• Manual on or off
• Auto-off mode
• Motion Detect timer

Manual on or off

The process of turning your Bose headphones on or off is simple. All you need to do is press the Bose 700 power button once, then release it.

Auto-Off mode

The Auto-Off mode is a setting found in the Bose Music app.

Brand new headphones have this option set to ‘Never’ by default. As a result, the headphones continuously stay on until their battery drains. Auto-Off mode, on the other hand, will automatically turn off the Bose 700 if no audio has been played for a set time.

Here’s how to enable the Bose 700’s Auto-Off feature:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Auto-Off under Power.
4. Choose a timeframe for when you want to trigger Auto-Off mode.

Motion Detect timer

The Motion Detection timer is another feature that automatically shuts down your headphones after one hour of no movement. It’s also available in the Bose Music app but isn’t as customizable as the Auto-Off mode.

Here’s how to check if this feature is enabled:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Auto-Off under Power.
4. Look for Motion Detection under Advanced, and toggle the button to the right.

How to Pair & Operate Bose 700’s Bluetooth

One of the many excellent features of the Bose 700 headphones is their flexibility when pairing with other devices.

Here’s a guide on how to use the Bose 700 headphones’ Bluetooth pairing actions:

• Turn on Pairing Mode
• Switch to another paired device
• Reconnect a previously paired device

Turn on Pairing Mode

To initiate pairing mode on the Bose 700, do the following:

1. Turn on your mobile device or audio source’s Bluetooth.
2. Press and hold the Power/Bluetooth button on the right ear cup. Wait until the Bluetooth light pulses blue, and you hear a voice prompt saying your headphones are ready to connect.
3. On your mobile device, scan for available Bluetooth devices.
4. Then, select the Bose 700 from your phone or tablet’s list of available Bluetooth devices.
5. Wait until the Bluetooth light turns solid blue, and you hear a voice prompt indicating you’re connected.

To check the status of your Bluetooth connection, look at the status light at the bottom of the right ear cup. Here’s what each of the lights means:

• Slowly blinking blue: the headphones are ready to connect.
• Blinking blue: the headphones are connecting.
• Solid blue: the headphones have successfully connected.

Switch to another paired device

As mentioned earlier, the Bose 700 can support two active Bluetooth connections at the same time.

Turning your headphones on will automatically connect them to the two most recently used devices. But for that to happen, those devices must be on and within nine meters of your headphones.

To switch between the last used devices, simply pause the audio on one device and play it on the other.

Reconnect a previously paired device

If you want to connect to a device that isn’t one of the last two you used, follow these steps:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Source on the app’s home screen.
3. Locate the device you want from the list and toggle the switch next to it.

How to Control Audio Playback on the Bose 700

Controlling audio playback is done via the Bose 700’s touch controls. So, if your primary purpose for using these headphones is music listening, it’s best to get familiar with the different gestures.

Here’s a guide for all the audio playback gestures:

• Play/pause music
• Skip to the next track
• Replay previous track
• Adjust volume

Play/pause music

Double-tap the touch panel on the right ear cup to play or pause your audio track.

Skip to the next track

Swipe forward on the touch panel to skip to the next track.

Replay previous track

Swipe backward on the touch panel to replay the previous track.

Adjust volume

Swipe up or down on the touch panel to increase or decrease the volume level.

How to Adjust Bose 700 Noise Cancellation Settings

The award-winning Bose 700s are some of the best noise-canceling headphones available today. They feature a highly adjustable and accurate noise-canceling system involving eight microphones.

You can adjust these noise cancellation levels via the dedicated Noise Control button on the left ear cup. However, specific ANC-related functions like Conversation Mode and Self Voice require using the Power/Bluetooth button and the Bose Music app.

Here’s a look at the different Bose 700 noise cancellation controls and how to use them:

• Activate noise cancellation
• Use noise cancellation without music
• Change noise cancellation level
• Customize default noise cancellation levels
• Enable and disable Conversation Mode
• Adjust Self Voice feature

Activate noise cancellation

The noise cancellation automatically defaults to the highest level when you turn on your headphones. You can customize it further in the Bose Music app, as explained later in the article.

Use noise cancellation without music

If you want to use the noise cancellation feature only (without audio playing), simply hold down the Power/Bluetooth button until you hear a voice prompt. Your device should then disconnect, leaving you with only the noise cancellation in effect.

Once that’s done, you can pick your desired noise cancellation level by following the instructions in the next section.

Change noise cancellation level

The Noise Control button on the right ear cup gives you access to three default levels of noise cancellation. These are:

• Level 0: Provides full transparency, allowing you to hear ambient sounds around you.
• Level 5: Provides some transparency while blocking most low-frequency noises.
• Level 10: Provides complete noise cancellation.

To switch between each level, you only need to do the following:

1. Press the Noise Control button once and immediately release it.
2. Wait for the voice prompt indicating your current noise cancellation level.
3. Continue pressing to cycle through the different levels until you reach the one you want.

Although the Bose 700’s Noise Control button only lets you access three noise cancellation levels, you can get as many as ten from the Bose Music app. Follow these steps to access them:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. On the home screen, adjust the Noise Cancellation slider to the left (for more transparency) or right (for more noise cancellation).

Customize default noise cancellation levels

If you’re not satisfied with the default noise cancellation levels assigned to the Noise Control button, you can change them to your liking. To do so, perform these steps:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings on the home screen.
3. Select Noise Cancellation.
4. Under Customize Favorites, select the preset you want to customize.
5. Choose your preferred noise cancellation level for that preset by adjusting the slider.
6. Select Save.

Enable and disable Conversation Mode

Conversation Mode pauses your audio and returns you to full awareness when you need to talk to someone quickly. You can activate it this way:

1. Press and hold the Noise Control button for at least one second to turn on Conversation Mode.
2. When the conversation is over, press any button or tap/swipe the touch panel to return to your previous setting.

Adjust Self Voice feature

Noise cancellation levels remain unchanged during calls. So, if you have it on its maximum setting when taking a call, you may have trouble hearing and regulating your voice.

Thankfully, the Bose 700s’ Self Voice feature is designed to kick in automatically whenever you get calls. This feature lets you hear your voice while on a call, allowing you to speak more naturally.

You can customize how much of your voice you want to hear by following these steps:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings on the home screen.
3. Select Self Voice.
4. Choose between High, Medium, Low, or Off.

How to Manage Calls on Bose 700

The Bose 700 headphones let you control all incoming calls via touch commands on your right ear cup, eliminating the need to use your smartphone.

Here are the different call functions you can execute and how to do them:

• Answer or end a call
• Decline a call
• Adjust call volume
• Mute your mic
• Disable call notifications

Answer or end a call

Double-tap the touch panel on the right ear cup.

Decline a call

Tap and hold the touch panel for one second.

Adjust call volume

Swipe up or down on the touch panel during a call to increase or decrease call volume.

Mute your mic

Press and immediately release the Voice Assistant button to mute your mic while on a call. Repeat this step to unmute.

Disable call notifications

The Bose 700 headphones use voice prompts to announce incoming calls so that you don’t have to keep checking your phone. However, you can choose to disable them if they distract you. Here’s how to do just that:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings on the home screen.
3. Toggle the switch next to Voice Prompts to turn off call notifications.

How to Set & Activate Voice Assistant in Bose 700

You can program the Bose 700 headphones to trigger Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and Tencent Xiaowei Assistant for better hands-free accessibility.

In addition, you can also set up the Bose 700 to access mobile device voice control. This setting turns the headphones’ mic into an extension of your device’s mic, thus allowing you to use built-in assistants like Apple’s Siri and Samsung’s Bixby.

Here’s how to set up and control the different assistants on your headphones:

Set up your voice assistant

When adding a new voice assistant, you’ll have to go through a setup process to ensure it’s fully integrated into the functions of the Bose Music app and the headphones.

When you’re ready, refer to these steps:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Voice Assistant.
4. Choose your desired voice assistant from the list.

How to activate your voice assistant

To wake up your voice assistant, just do the following:

1. Press and hold the Voice Assistant button on the right ear cup and wait for a tone.
2. After the tone, simply say your request.

In addition to this, Amazon Alexa comes with an optional voice feature. By saying the wake word “Alexa,” you can automatically initiate Alexa without using the Voice Assistant button.

To enable this feature for Amazon Alexa, do the following:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. On the home screen, select Shortcut.
3. Select Enable/Disable Wake Word.

How to Check Bose 700’s Battery Status

The norm is that every time you power on your Bose 700, a voice prompt announces the battery level. If the battery levels are low, you’ll hear the voice prompt going, “Battery low, please charge now.”

Aside from that, there are two other ways for you to check the battery status of your headphones:

Via the touch controls

If you’re using your headphones and want to check how much battery life is left, tap and hold the touch panel until you hear a voice prompt indicating the battery level.

Just remember that this isn’t a default gesture. So, you’ll need to set it up separately on the Bose Music app. Here’s how:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. On the home screen, select Shortcut.
3. Select Hear Battery Level.

Via the status lights

You can also check battery levels by looking at the status light at the bottom of the right ear cup. This light indicates both battery and Bluetooth status.

Here’s what each of the different lights means about battery levels:

• Blinking white: the headphones are still charging
• Solid white: medium to full charge
• Solid red: low charge
• Blinking red: the headphones need to charge
• Blinking red and white: error indicating an internal issue
• Quickly flashing white: the headphones are updating

How to Customize Bose 700 Controls

You can customize some controls on your Bose 700 headphones via the Bose Music App. This app allows you to make software changes to your headphones, such as disabling voice prompts, checking battery levels, or adjusting your noise cancellation.

Here are a few other Bose 700 features you can customize through the app:

Change language for voice prompts

Multilingual folks won’t have to worry because the Bose 700 headphones come with eight pre-installed languages:

• Japanese
• Korean
• Chinese (simplified)
• Spanish
• German
• French
• Italian
• English

To change your headphones’ voice prompt language, just follow these steps:

1. Connect your headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Settings.
3. Select Voice Prompts, then Language.
4. Choose your desired language from the list.

Customize Bose 700 touch shortcut

Another feature you can customize on the Bose 700 headphones is the touch shortcut. As previously discussed, you can program this shortcut to notify you of battery levels or trigger Amazon Alexa when you tap and hold the touch panel on the right ear cup.

Heavy Spotify users can also enable the Spotify One Touch feature via this shortcut. To do so, simply do the following:

1. Connect your Bose headphones to your mobile device and open the Bose Music app.
2. Select Shortcut.
3. Select Spotify from the list.

Once finished, you can launch Spotify using the same gesture mentioned above.

Conclusion

With all these innovative features and functionalities, Bose 700 headphones are arguably one of the most competitive models to have come out in this increasingly saturated market. If pricing isn’t as much of a barrier to you, these headphones are a pretty wholesome package to own!

Hopefully, with the help of this guide, you’ll now be able to listen to your favorite tracks on your Bose 700 headphones without feeling frustrated from fiddling with all the controls.

Which of these explanations did you find the most helpful? Are you enjoying your Bose 700s? Make sure to tell us in the comments!