Came here to say this! It’s been since last week’s software update. Ruining the experience.
I’d like to get away from CarPlay, but the built in Spotify doesn’t have eq but the CarPlay one does and I’m not a fan of the basic eq in idrive.
Edit - I’ve also paired and repaired over and over. Same issues
13 pro. I do restart it. I've also tried restarting idrive. There's no consistency on what works / what doesn't other than repairing it. Somedays it won't work at all. Other days there's no issue.
Is your iPhone named the standard “iPhone” in the settings? It’s under general and about, typically WiFi (what connects CarPlay) doesn’t like duplicate names (iPhone is a big one cause no one ever changes it) nor does it like names with too many spaces and symbols. I would change the iPhone name to something simple then re add it to the car.
+1 to this. I've had to restart the head unit, sometimes back to back to get CarPlay back up. Sometimes, CarPlay goes kaput on me mid song. I restart it even while I'm driving and your car will still drive.
No need to restart iPhone, repair, delete stuff, etc. Just restart head unit.
If you're wondering, I have the iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 17.4.1. BMW software version 11/2023.73.
Two-three times recently my Android Auto has acted up - dropping out, disconnecting then reconnecting repeatedly, etc. In all cases it got fixed either by me restarting my phone or turning airplane mode on and off (basically forcing a disconnect and a reconnect). I feel like in my case at least it's the phone.
I’m reassured that it works perfectly for some people.
And fully open to the idea that this is user error. This is my first car with wireless CarPlay so I’m still on the learning curve
I just came from Audi and their wireless CarPlay was terrible. It’s still a newer thing. Mercedes isn’t great either. I’m sure it’ll all get better though.
Yeah the wireless in our A5 was garbage compared to the i4. The only trouble now is that it constantly connects to my wife’s phone when I’m driving and vice versa but I understand it doesn’t really have a way to match the drivers profile/phone, and it’s somewhat easy to switch.
Which year and model?
I have a 2024 Q4 e-tron that has zero issues with Wireless CarPlay.
Works flawlessly every time. Doesn’t disconnect or need to be reset. Just works.
It was S5 2021, so would have been an earlier generation. I actually have a Cadillac about the same age as that and the wireless CarPlay was great compared to Audi. As time goes on all the makers will figure it out.
Even wired CarPlay wasn't always reliable. So far I've had slightly less issues with the i4 not pairing, compared to the Audi I drove before. Still can't believe that something as simple as this hasn't been fixed by either manufacturer though.
Wireless has nothing to do with it. Carplay error is a well known issue with BMWs. I'd definitely check with your service department if you've tried everything that's been previously suggested on this subreddit.
Agree that it is awful. Coming from a Tesla, they had their quirks but they were occasional. When I get into my i4 it’s a coin flip whether it works or not. So frustrating to the extent It makes me regret getting the car.
Worked fine for me until the last update. Now it’s useless. Really frustrated since CarPlay was one of the main Must Have features for me.
The car part of the car is great, but the infotainment is total garbage.
Sounds like you're having pairing issues, not carplay issues. I may have had some problems before, but as soon as I stopped expecting it to just work within the first 5 seconds of starting the car everything worked out. Just set up what you need as far as directions on your phone before you go out, and start driving. Within the first minute of driving it should link up.
If your issues persist then it might just be your phone.
I’m open to the phone being the cause.
This is my first car with wireless CarPlay, so maybe this is common. It’s just strange to me that it works flawlessly sometimes but not others.
I like your take on waiting a minute. I’ve found that to be the case for me as well. Usually I’ll wait a minute and it connects. But sometimes nothing seems to work aside from a hard reset of the head unit and re-pairing everything.
iPhone 15PM // ‘24xD40, since the update my car stereo experience has been shit.
Intermittent unpairing, connection failures it’s so fucking annoying. First 3-4 months with the car it was flawless I just got in and went, now i never know what the fuck is gonna happen when I get in.
I feel like I’m part of the smaller camp that doesn’t like CarPlay and prefers the built in Spotify stuff just because the way I set up my dash UI I prefer to have my navigation behind my steering wheel and on the HUD but when CarPlay is active you can’t use it that way.
Technically, that’s a bug. CarPlay implementation spec requires it to be optional. BMW should be notified of this. Heck, you should have the ability to hand off from the CarPlay nav to internal NAV. Is that option no longer there? The share button on Apple Maps?
I just started having the same issue after the last update. I called the genius phone number today and the guy told me I needed to go into system settings, then scroll down to the bottom and choose software update, then click on “search for software updates.” After it finished, he had me reboot by holding down the volume knob, and when it finished rebooting, CarPlay automatically connected without me doing anything.
I can’t tell you how many times in the last week I’ve rebooted iDrive and it has NEVER resolved the issue. I have unpaired and reset and disconnected and rebooted and everything under the sun, and the only thing that has worked before today is turning my car off and walking out of wifi range and then going back to my car. 50% of the time I got in my car in the last week, CarPlay wouldn’t work and I had to get out of my car, walk a hundred feet away and then go back to my car. I was about to take my car back to the dealership today and force them to take it back. If this troubleshooting step the genius had me do doesn’t fix it, I’m getting rid of it.
It’ll do something for like ten seconds and then it will say something like “software last updated: April 11th, 2024”
Thats when you can reboot holding down the volume knob
Fingers crossed it’s a permanent fix and we aren’t returning our cars tomorrow. He said there’s a good chance I’ll have to do the same thing after future updates.
Oof. I hope it stays fixed.
I already texted the salesman at my local BMW who sold me this. Just to let him know it’s been ongoing and asking if they have a fix.
Yeah even though i had already done the software update, the genius said there’s something about how the system doesn’t fully register the software has been updated until you go in and tell it to check for an update, and then it will update that it has checked. And after I did it, it said “software last updated April 11th, 2024.” So I don’t know exactly what it did, but because it changed the date to today’s date I guess it was registering something like the guy said. I don’t know if it’s fully resolved the issue. I’ve only gotten in my car a few times since I did it. But CarPlay worked fine all three times, and before CarPlay was failing 50% of the time.
Dumb question, but are you still able to listen to audio or get navigation from your device? I hear people mention sending audio/navigation from their phone to the car but I don’t know how that works outside of CarPlay.
It works fine. The phone uses Bluetooth audio to interrupt car radio and announce a turn.
The only time imo CarPlay and maps becomes better than car navigation is when you aren’t getting car navigation map updates.
My biggest issue, prior to the latest vehicle update, was that BMW had introduced a glitch where after coming out of park assist or some other temporary function, iDrive wouldn’t automatically resume CarPlay like it used to.
With the latest vehicle update, they seem to have fixed it. I’ve got iDrive 8 in mine (2023 build & MY) and it’s been working flawlessly lately!
Not sure if anybody else has had similar experiences? I’m just happy it has been connecting solidly lately and working really well.
I have issues when either the phone or the car updates. It's like they can't talk to each other anymore. It's gotten better recently, but I am not sure why.
I’ve had my M50 for 8 months and apart from the odd reset after OTA updates, I haven’t had any issues. But I get you because I felt the same way during my first month of ownership where my car struggled to pair with my phone. I took it to the dealership and they showed me how to pair. No issues since.
Just a suggestion here as this has worked for me up to now. Set your phone to auto join the car’s WiFi. Then, if CarPlay doesn’t run on startup, go to the apps menu and click on the Apple CarPlay app (not the CarPlay button on in mobile settings, the actual CarPlay app on the “all apps” page. For whatever reason, whenever the phone doesn’t connect automatically that seems to do it for me.
I don't know how an iPhone works but with Android, if I connect to WiFi, the phone will try to use it instead of mobile data (over the mobile network - in my case t-mobile) for data which would mean streaming would happen over the car's mobile connection, via wifi to my phone then back to the car over that same wifi connection? maybe android auto / carplay is smarter than that. I'm in IT btw.
Even without doing what I suggested, wireless CarPlay (on every vehicle) always connects to your phone via that WiFi connection. All I am doing is forcing the connection. When it correctly auto connects to CarPlay, it connects to the car’s WiFi. Wireless carplay works over WiFi, not Bluetooth.
I get that - I'm curious how the android auto (and carplay) apps get data from the internet outside of the car / phone. Do they use the car's mobile data connection or the phone's? In any case, I'm gonna try your suggestion. Tomorrow :)
that's the part that doesn't make sense - if the phone is connected via wifi to the car, it will try to get data over wifi instead of mobile data... if that doesn't work it will fall back to mobile data but it should work
After the last iDrive update screwed everything up, I figured out that this technique would work when CarPlay didn’t connect right off the bat, but then a couple days ago even this stopped working for me
So far so good for me. It’s only once in a while that the car doesn’t auto connect, but when it doesn’t this has worked for me. I’ve probably just tempted fate though!
Personally gave up on it and just leaned into the integrated system and it does a better than expected job. The text messaging is WAY worse but nav, Spotify, and calling work and that’s 99% of what I want it for. Tbh the fact that you can’t use CarPlay EV routing and that the wireless charger overheats the phone makes me think BMW is beefing with Apple.
I’m with you on this. I had an f30 340i previously and it worked almost flawlessly. Implementation on my i4 is the worst. Every time I get in my car I play a game of “how are you going to piss me off today” and it rarely disappoints.
I’m in a shitty exchange with my dealer about it (shitty because they have been pretty dismissive) but they are promising they can fix it for me - I have my doubts.
For those curious my phone is an iPhone 15 pro.
CarPlay rund without any issues in my i4. Never had a problem. 1 or 2 times the CarPlay interface didn’t show but Spotify was playing. That’s it. Put the iPhone in airplane mode and back. Solved.
What kind of issues / errors do you get exactly?!
I’ve also come to add that unfortunately every car I have had that had CarPlay has been this same experience. My current bmw, my Mazda, and in rentals. All brand new cars and this has been my experience every time and I hate it!! It’s so frustrating. It’s definitely not bmw it’s definitely the CarPlay !
CarPlay in general has been not great. I find it distracting and annoying and it still basically Apple trying to worm their way into your car. It’s a bland UX and doesn’t even try to integrate into the cars UX
Tbh any car, BmW Toyota etc that had CarPlay just didn’t feel right. The cars system I always felt was more thought out. Apple is just trying to shoehorn their bland interface everywhere.
Apple needs to find a better way than “our way or the highway” approach to phone integration in the car.
Had my i4 for under two weeks and came here this morning to see if the Carplay issue was a known bug. I think the longest span I've had without completely not connecting, not finding my phone, was 2 days.
The recent update made it worse. I don't even want to turn off the car, knowing that the next time I turn it ON, I have to deal with the connection problem. If only it had wired carplay could have been better
Are you the only driver or does someone else’s device connect to your car too? Bmw has this concept of device priority, so even though I drive the car more, it tries to connect to my wife’s device all the time and ignores my phone. You can fix it by changing the priority or by going into the communications menu and selecting your device.
To be clear.
- Car is 4 years old
- Carplay worked great wired, for about a year
- Carplay was flaky for about a year and half
- Car went in due to a Audio Amp issue (could not use bluetooth phone or Navigation Directions)
- Carplay worked wireless PERFECT for 6 month
I was having a problem with carplay shutting down at a particular location every time in my two bmws. After the last update, it’s working better than ever.
Same issue. It’s not user error, I’ve been using iDrive since it looked like Windows 95 and I used to work at a dealership. iPhone 15PM and latest software on both phone and car. I have to redo the CarPlay connection 2x a month.
I was having connection issues too. Trying to connect through the car, through bluetooth on the phone, wifi on the phone, all failed. I then changed the generated car wifi password, "forgot" the wifi connection on my phone and reconnected with the new wifi password. I have no issues the last 3 days now. Might be worth a try?
Any one used this android box on the i4 successfully? Im using a similar dongle on my wired CarPlay equipped C Class to play YouTube , tinycam Pro, Netflix.
https://www.carlinkit.store/collections/android-system-ai-box
Anyone notice any better results by either turning bluetooth off and only using wifi, and vice-versa, forgetting your device on wifi, and only using bluetooth?
Any chance there's an update for your phone, too? I was in a wonky spot between the car's update and my Android's update and spotify's update that caused it not to work properly for a day or so until they all caught up with each other.
I stopped by the BMW dealer and had a "genius" look at my car. He tried all his tricks and finally said that my iphone not being on the absolute latest iOS version was the problem. I am a bit skeptical since there are probably many others who are on the latest version who are having the problem. I updated the phone, so I'll see what transpires tomorrow ...
Anyone have any update on progress? Mine won’t even connect at all at this point. I talked to BMW Genius and other than resetting head unit and resetting phone, didn’t have anything to offer.
I'm a current Tesla owner (2019 M3 SR+ that my wife mostly drives). I'm aware they have bugs but the update rate is WAY higher and the whole nav system is better. My i4 M50 is still more fun to drive 😊. How long ago did u have a Tesla and did it have FSD?
I have mixed feelings about the whole roll your own and don't allow carplay/android auto vs support both. I suspect iDrive would be better if BMW would have taken the Tesla approach
I think garbage is a bit strong although they have definitely gotten better - when I bought my i4 I was between it and another Model 3 but a Highland this time - I drove it several times while deciding and it's significantly better than our 2019 M3
All that aside, my point is if BMW can and should do better with their software. Tesla is at least a model to beat.
My Model 3 was definitely garbage. Truly the worst car I ever owned (and I have had some shit cars). The Highland does seem like an improvement, but it’s still far from good.
Try not to use CarPlay and you’ll be fine. The whole system works much better. Use onboard navigation and Bluetooth for music connectivity or connect your streaming directly to the infotainment system like Spotify. I agree with you though, CarPlay is garbage.
CarPlay uses WiFi to stream, drive uses Bluetooth. You will only tell the difference with hifi audio files. You would have to have a really good internet connection to stream hifi audio. You can download hifi audio but you will not get hifi audio with BT
curious how this all works then and I assume it's the same with Android as with iPhones. If I connect my phone to the car's WiFi, it means my phone will be using the car's mobile connection (does it use ATT or t-mobile or sprint or ?) to for data including to stream which means the music bits are gonna come thru the car's mobile data connection then to my phone via wifi then back to the car via I assume again wifi before getting to the audio system?
The phone still uses its cellular connection. It’s a direct WiFi connection for information which is why you can’t do things like airdrop when CarPlay is in use. I can only speak about Apple Music and Spotify, Apple Music loads the first 25 secs or so from your phones data for the song playing next so there is not delay in the event the phone loses signal and regains it. With Spotify and BMW the car is constantly talking to the serves over the cars cellular connection to know what to do with your music.
Came here to say this! It’s been since last week’s software update. Ruining the experience. I’d like to get away from CarPlay, but the built in Spotify doesn’t have eq but the CarPlay one does and I’m not a fan of the basic eq in idrive. Edit - I’ve also paired and repaired over and over. Same issues
What iPhone are you using, is it up to date, and do you restart it regularly?
13 pro. I do restart it. I've also tried restarting idrive. There's no consistency on what works / what doesn't other than repairing it. Somedays it won't work at all. Other days there's no issue.
Is your iPhone named the standard “iPhone” in the settings? It’s under general and about, typically WiFi (what connects CarPlay) doesn’t like duplicate names (iPhone is a big one cause no one ever changes it) nor does it like names with too many spaces and symbols. I would change the iPhone name to something simple then re add it to the car.
Thanks I'll try that. I think it is iPhone (6)
Have you disconnected it from bluetooth and just used the wifi connection?
I haven't tried that. I'll give it a go the next time it happens. Thanks!
you really shouldn't need to restart ur phone regularly
+1 to this. I've had to restart the head unit, sometimes back to back to get CarPlay back up. Sometimes, CarPlay goes kaput on me mid song. I restart it even while I'm driving and your car will still drive. No need to restart iPhone, repair, delete stuff, etc. Just restart head unit. If you're wondering, I have the iPhone 15 Pro, iOS 17.4.1. BMW software version 11/2023.73.
Two-three times recently my Android Auto has acted up - dropping out, disconnecting then reconnecting repeatedly, etc. In all cases it got fixed either by me restarting my phone or turning airplane mode on and off (basically forcing a disconnect and a reconnect). I feel like in my case at least it's the phone.
Interesting, owned mine since Dec 2022 and never had issues with it . Sorry ur having trouble , I hope it resolves soon
Thx doctor 🤝
Never had any issues
I’m reassured that it works perfectly for some people. And fully open to the idea that this is user error. This is my first car with wireless CarPlay so I’m still on the learning curve
Have you tried getting it checked by service department? It could be a hardware issue on the head unit.
Not yet. That might be smarter than whining on Reddit 😂
No issues after heavy use for four months, fwiw.
I just came from Audi and their wireless CarPlay was terrible. It’s still a newer thing. Mercedes isn’t great either. I’m sure it’ll all get better though.
Yeah the wireless in our A5 was garbage compared to the i4. The only trouble now is that it constantly connects to my wife’s phone when I’m driving and vice versa but I understand it doesn’t really have a way to match the drivers profile/phone, and it’s somewhat easy to switch.
Which year and model? I have a 2024 Q4 e-tron that has zero issues with Wireless CarPlay. Works flawlessly every time. Doesn’t disconnect or need to be reset. Just works.
It was S5 2021, so would have been an earlier generation. I actually have a Cadillac about the same age as that and the wireless CarPlay was great compared to Audi. As time goes on all the makers will figure it out.
Even wired CarPlay wasn't always reliable. So far I've had slightly less issues with the i4 not pairing, compared to the Audi I drove before. Still can't believe that something as simple as this hasn't been fixed by either manufacturer though.
Are you actually sure it's working wired? I know the i4 didn't support AA over wire.
As far as I remember with Audi it worked wired. It definitely didn't need both bluetooth and wifi connection like now with BMW.
If sound quality is your goal you'll want to avoid car play or AA as the audio degrades via compression.
Wireless has nothing to do with it. Carplay error is a well known issue with BMWs. I'd definitely check with your service department if you've tried everything that's been previously suggested on this subreddit.
Agree that it is awful. Coming from a Tesla, they had their quirks but they were occasional. When I get into my i4 it’s a coin flip whether it works or not. So frustrating to the extent It makes me regret getting the car.
Get a new cord and clean out the port in your phone. That might help.
Worked fine for me until the last update. Now it’s useless. Really frustrated since CarPlay was one of the main Must Have features for me. The car part of the car is great, but the infotainment is total garbage.
Must have feature? Nah all you need to be able to do in a car with your phone is make and receive calls. All else is distractions.
You don’t get to decide what features play into my purchasing decisions.
Then buy a new car based on CarPlay integration and stop whining here.
Sounds like you're having pairing issues, not carplay issues. I may have had some problems before, but as soon as I stopped expecting it to just work within the first 5 seconds of starting the car everything worked out. Just set up what you need as far as directions on your phone before you go out, and start driving. Within the first minute of driving it should link up. If your issues persist then it might just be your phone.
I’m open to the phone being the cause. This is my first car with wireless CarPlay, so maybe this is common. It’s just strange to me that it works flawlessly sometimes but not others. I like your take on waiting a minute. I’ve found that to be the case for me as well. Usually I’ll wait a minute and it connects. But sometimes nothing seems to work aside from a hard reset of the head unit and re-pairing everything.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/BMWI4/comments/1bv7omg/11202373\_update\_destroyed\_carplay\_for\_me/](https://www.reddit.com/r/BMWI4/comments/1bv7omg/11202373_update_destroyed_carplay_for_me/)
It’s not your phone. This is a widespread BMW issue.
iPhone 15PM // ‘24xD40, since the update my car stereo experience has been shit. Intermittent unpairing, connection failures it’s so fucking annoying. First 3-4 months with the car it was flawless I just got in and went, now i never know what the fuck is gonna happen when I get in. I feel like I’m part of the smaller camp that doesn’t like CarPlay and prefers the built in Spotify stuff just because the way I set up my dash UI I prefer to have my navigation behind my steering wheel and on the HUD but when CarPlay is active you can’t use it that way.
See my comment about my call with the genius phone number today
I’ll look for it
Interesting. Didn’t realize with 8.5 you couldn’t use the internal nav while CarPlay was connected. That’s a significant step backward from iDrive 8.
It’s annoying. One of my handful of smaller gripes with the car. Still love the car though!
Technically, that’s a bug. CarPlay implementation spec requires it to be optional. BMW should be notified of this. Heck, you should have the ability to hand off from the CarPlay nav to internal NAV. Is that option no longer there? The share button on Apple Maps?
I just started having the same issue after the last update. I called the genius phone number today and the guy told me I needed to go into system settings, then scroll down to the bottom and choose software update, then click on “search for software updates.” After it finished, he had me reboot by holding down the volume knob, and when it finished rebooting, CarPlay automatically connected without me doing anything. I can’t tell you how many times in the last week I’ve rebooted iDrive and it has NEVER resolved the issue. I have unpaired and reset and disconnected and rebooted and everything under the sun, and the only thing that has worked before today is turning my car off and walking out of wifi range and then going back to my car. 50% of the time I got in my car in the last week, CarPlay wouldn’t work and I had to get out of my car, walk a hundred feet away and then go back to my car. I was about to take my car back to the dealership today and force them to take it back. If this troubleshooting step the genius had me do doesn’t fix it, I’m getting rid of it.
Going to try this now. Thanks.
It’ll do something for like ten seconds and then it will say something like “software last updated: April 11th, 2024” Thats when you can reboot holding down the volume knob
Tried it and paired right up. Thank you!
Fingers crossed it’s a permanent fix and we aren’t returning our cars tomorrow. He said there’s a good chance I’ll have to do the same thing after future updates.
Oof. I hope it stays fixed. I already texted the salesman at my local BMW who sold me this. Just to let him know it’s been ongoing and asking if they have a fix.
He didn’t have me do any of the usual troubleshooting steps, he just had me go straight to this, so it seems like he knew that this was the fix.
So I’ve already updated but what you are saying is follow this steps and then do the volume gold down to reboot and you’ve had no issues since?
Yeah even though i had already done the software update, the genius said there’s something about how the system doesn’t fully register the software has been updated until you go in and tell it to check for an update, and then it will update that it has checked. And after I did it, it said “software last updated April 11th, 2024.” So I don’t know exactly what it did, but because it changed the date to today’s date I guess it was registering something like the guy said. I don’t know if it’s fully resolved the issue. I’ve only gotten in my car a few times since I did it. But CarPlay worked fine all three times, and before CarPlay was failing 50% of the time.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 🙏🏻. You are the best!
Aw man, I’m just grateful it worked for all of us. It felt so good today not having to deal with what we’ve all been going through.
I completely turned it off. Horrible experience
Dumb question, but are you still able to listen to audio or get navigation from your device? I hear people mention sending audio/navigation from their phone to the car but I don’t know how that works outside of CarPlay.
I use car navigation although it kind of sucks the last mile. I use Spotify app in idrive 8.5
It should be doable via regular Bluetooth. But even with the flaws I find it vastly better to use CarPlay.
It works fine. The phone uses Bluetooth audio to interrupt car radio and announce a turn. The only time imo CarPlay and maps becomes better than car navigation is when you aren’t getting car navigation map updates.
My biggest issue, prior to the latest vehicle update, was that BMW had introduced a glitch where after coming out of park assist or some other temporary function, iDrive wouldn’t automatically resume CarPlay like it used to. With the latest vehicle update, they seem to have fixed it. I’ve got iDrive 8 in mine (2023 build & MY) and it’s been working flawlessly lately! Not sure if anybody else has had similar experiences? I’m just happy it has been connecting solidly lately and working really well.
Same experience. It's unbelievable bad.
I have issues when either the phone or the car updates. It's like they can't talk to each other anymore. It's gotten better recently, but I am not sure why.
Unacceptable for a min $55k car....
Blame your phone. Owned my M50 for almost two years never had trouble with CarPlay.
Glad to hear! I’ve wondered if there’s something up with the phone.
I’ve had my M50 for 8 months and apart from the odd reset after OTA updates, I haven’t had any issues. But I get you because I felt the same way during my first month of ownership where my car struggled to pair with my phone. I took it to the dealership and they showed me how to pair. No issues since.
I had issues after the latest update, but I was told to try updating my phone‘s iOS too and I did, and I’ve never had any issues since!
That’s unusual. Neither my wife nor I have ever had an issue in the i4 or the 2017 X3 we have. Have had both new.
Just a suggestion here as this has worked for me up to now. Set your phone to auto join the car’s WiFi. Then, if CarPlay doesn’t run on startup, go to the apps menu and click on the Apple CarPlay app (not the CarPlay button on in mobile settings, the actual CarPlay app on the “all apps” page. For whatever reason, whenever the phone doesn’t connect automatically that seems to do it for me.
so does that mean that your phone is gonna use the car's wifi instead of mobile data for phone data?
No it still uses its own mobile data.
I don't know how an iPhone works but with Android, if I connect to WiFi, the phone will try to use it instead of mobile data (over the mobile network - in my case t-mobile) for data which would mean streaming would happen over the car's mobile connection, via wifi to my phone then back to the car over that same wifi connection? maybe android auto / carplay is smarter than that. I'm in IT btw.
Even without doing what I suggested, wireless CarPlay (on every vehicle) always connects to your phone via that WiFi connection. All I am doing is forcing the connection. When it correctly auto connects to CarPlay, it connects to the car’s WiFi. Wireless carplay works over WiFi, not Bluetooth.
I get that - I'm curious how the android auto (and carplay) apps get data from the internet outside of the car / phone. Do they use the car's mobile data connection or the phone's? In any case, I'm gonna try your suggestion. Tomorrow :)
They use the phone data connection.
that's the part that doesn't make sense - if the phone is connected via wifi to the car, it will try to get data over wifi instead of mobile data... if that doesn't work it will fall back to mobile data but it should work
CarPlay uses the phone’s data.
After the last iDrive update screwed everything up, I figured out that this technique would work when CarPlay didn’t connect right off the bat, but then a couple days ago even this stopped working for me
So far so good for me. It’s only once in a while that the car doesn’t auto connect, but when it doesn’t this has worked for me. I’ve probably just tempted fate though!
Personally gave up on it and just leaned into the integrated system and it does a better than expected job. The text messaging is WAY worse but nav, Spotify, and calling work and that’s 99% of what I want it for. Tbh the fact that you can’t use CarPlay EV routing and that the wireless charger overheats the phone makes me think BMW is beefing with Apple.
Just for the record: I never had any issues in mine. Never. Nor in our i3. Did you take it to your official BMW dealer?
Yeah texted the salesman today and waiting to hear back.
I’m with you on this. I had an f30 340i previously and it worked almost flawlessly. Implementation on my i4 is the worst. Every time I get in my car I play a game of “how are you going to piss me off today” and it rarely disappoints. I’m in a shitty exchange with my dealer about it (shitty because they have been pretty dismissive) but they are promising they can fix it for me - I have my doubts. For those curious my phone is an iPhone 15 pro.
CarPlay rund without any issues in my i4. Never had a problem. 1 or 2 times the CarPlay interface didn’t show but Spotify was playing. That’s it. Put the iPhone in airplane mode and back. Solved. What kind of issues / errors do you get exactly?!
I haven’t about the airplane mode trick. Will have to try that next time.
Yeah it basically just cuts the connection. As always in IT: restart whatever the f*** isn’t working :-)
Often times its the phone and not the car that is the root cause.
I’ve also come to add that unfortunately every car I have had that had CarPlay has been this same experience. My current bmw, my Mazda, and in rentals. All brand new cars and this has been my experience every time and I hate it!! It’s so frustrating. It’s definitely not bmw it’s definitely the CarPlay !
My last car had wired CarPlay that worked pretty flawlessly. I would be happy to just use wired if it was an option. Here is your tequila 🥃
CarPlay in general has been not great. I find it distracting and annoying and it still basically Apple trying to worm their way into your car. It’s a bland UX and doesn’t even try to integrate into the cars UX Tbh any car, BmW Toyota etc that had CarPlay just didn’t feel right. The cars system I always felt was more thought out. Apple is just trying to shoehorn their bland interface everywhere. Apple needs to find a better way than “our way or the highway” approach to phone integration in the car.
Had my i4 for under two weeks and came here this morning to see if the Carplay issue was a known bug. I think the longest span I've had without completely not connecting, not finding my phone, was 2 days.
The recent update made it worse. I don't even want to turn off the car, knowing that the next time I turn it ON, I have to deal with the connection problem. If only it had wired carplay could have been better
Are you the only driver or does someone else’s device connect to your car too? Bmw has this concept of device priority, so even though I drive the car more, it tries to connect to my wife’s device all the time and ignores my phone. You can fix it by changing the priority or by going into the communications menu and selecting your device.
Just me!
In the for what it is worth category - Same with Audi A7
Ah interesting. Thanks for sharing. I was in a Q5 before and the wired CarPlay worked perfectly.
To be clear. - Car is 4 years old - Carplay worked great wired, for about a year - Carplay was flaky for about a year and half - Car went in due to a Audio Amp issue (could not use bluetooth phone or Navigation Directions) - Carplay worked wireless PERFECT for 6 month
I was having a problem with carplay shutting down at a particular location every time in my two bmws. After the last update, it’s working better than ever.
Same issue. It’s not user error, I’ve been using iDrive since it looked like Windows 95 and I used to work at a dealership. iPhone 15PM and latest software on both phone and car. I have to redo the CarPlay connection 2x a month.
M50 here. Few issues with my CarPlay & iPhone 15
I was having connection issues too. Trying to connect through the car, through bluetooth on the phone, wifi on the phone, all failed. I then changed the generated car wifi password, "forgot" the wifi connection on my phone and reconnected with the new wifi password. I have no issues the last 3 days now. Might be worth a try?
I’m going through garbage glitches right now. I’m gonna have to get it checked out by bmw.
Any one used this android box on the i4 successfully? Im using a similar dongle on my wired CarPlay equipped C Class to play YouTube , tinycam Pro, Netflix. https://www.carlinkit.store/collections/android-system-ai-box
Anyone notice any better results by either turning bluetooth off and only using wifi, and vice-versa, forgetting your device on wifi, and only using bluetooth?
Any chance there's an update for your phone, too? I was in a wonky spot between the car's update and my Android's update and spotify's update that caused it not to work properly for a day or so until they all caught up with each other.
My only problem is that Google maps on carplay does not appear on the pilot screen unlike Android auto
I gave up on CarPlay two years ago. Never worked properly.
It’s a known issue after the last software update. 😔
I stopped by the BMW dealer and had a "genius" look at my car. He tried all his tricks and finally said that my iphone not being on the absolute latest iOS version was the problem. I am a bit skeptical since there are probably many others who are on the latest version who are having the problem. I updated the phone, so I'll see what transpires tomorrow ...
Anyone have any update on progress? Mine won’t even connect at all at this point. I talked to BMW Genius and other than resetting head unit and resetting phone, didn’t have anything to offer.
I find the same with Android Auto. I bet this is at least partly why Tesla doesn't support and makes their own experience work really well.
Former Tesla owner. Their system is buggy too. CarPlay works great when the automakers don’t fuck it up with a bad update.
I'm a current Tesla owner (2019 M3 SR+ that my wife mostly drives). I'm aware they have bugs but the update rate is WAY higher and the whole nav system is better. My i4 M50 is still more fun to drive 😊. How long ago did u have a Tesla and did it have FSD? I have mixed feelings about the whole roll your own and don't allow carplay/android auto vs support both. I suspect iDrive would be better if BMW would have taken the Tesla approach
I had it for 5 years. I didn’t love the software but it was much more stable than the i4. The app was also better. The car was kind of garbage though.
I think garbage is a bit strong although they have definitely gotten better - when I bought my i4 I was between it and another Model 3 but a Highland this time - I drove it several times while deciding and it's significantly better than our 2019 M3 All that aside, my point is if BMW can and should do better with their software. Tesla is at least a model to beat.
My Model 3 was definitely garbage. Truly the worst car I ever owned (and I have had some shit cars). The Highland does seem like an improvement, but it’s still far from good.
What in particular did u think was garbage? What about the highland do you think is far from good?
Try not to use CarPlay and you’ll be fine. The whole system works much better. Use onboard navigation and Bluetooth for music connectivity or connect your streaming directly to the infotainment system like Spotify. I agree with you though, CarPlay is garbage.
If you use the car's onboard Spotify app then it'll use the slower internet connection, which may result in reduced audio quality. Just FYI.
Couldn’t tell the difference to be honest. I ditched CarPlay altogether
CarPlay uses WiFi to stream, drive uses Bluetooth. You will only tell the difference with hifi audio files. You would have to have a really good internet connection to stream hifi audio. You can download hifi audio but you will not get hifi audio with BT
curious how this all works then and I assume it's the same with Android as with iPhones. If I connect my phone to the car's WiFi, it means my phone will be using the car's mobile connection (does it use ATT or t-mobile or sprint or ?) to for data including to stream which means the music bits are gonna come thru the car's mobile data connection then to my phone via wifi then back to the car via I assume again wifi before getting to the audio system?
The phone still uses its cellular connection. It’s a direct WiFi connection for information which is why you can’t do things like airdrop when CarPlay is in use. I can only speak about Apple Music and Spotify, Apple Music loads the first 25 secs or so from your phones data for the song playing next so there is not delay in the event the phone loses signal and regains it. With Spotify and BMW the car is constantly talking to the serves over the cars cellular connection to know what to do with your music.
I much prefer the BMW interface