Q5 rear brake pad replacement
 

I have a 2010 Q5. Trying to replace the rear pads but since car has the electronic parking brake, I could not compress the piston. I unbolted the piston motor/EPB control and tried to manually rotate/compress piston using one of those manual tools however, the piston rotated easily but it didn't retract.
I've read threads and it seems like there's 2 schools of thought. One says this can be done manually the other says you need vagcom to send message to caliper.
Which one is correct?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

The last time I did it I used the VAG COM to fully open the parking brake, then simply compressed the piston as would on the front.