I think I can answer this. My mum got the Bose QC 35 and out of the box they worked fine without the app. I got the exact same thing about a few months later an

I think I can answer this. My mum got the Bose QC 35 and out of the box they worked fine without the app. I got the exact same thing about a few months later and after turning it on it just repeated some audio telling me to connect to the app which did not happen on the exact same product my mum had. Perhaps mine came with a newer firmware version OOTB. As for location, android requires it for an app to scan for bluetooth devices (Not required if you connect via android settings). Maybe you use iOS?