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iPhone Nav prompts through F3X's speakers w/o enhanced BT - Solution

4K views 33 replies 8 participants last post by  Polite Canuck 
#1 · (Edited)
The below is to provide information on a possible way to get your iPhone to provide turn by turn navigation prompts over the F3X's speakers for cars without the Enhanced Bluetooth option. I am not sure if this will work for certain and I cannot test it myself since not only has my car been in the bodyshop the past six weeks, I do have the enhanced Bluetooth option.

Just a bit of background, Bluetooth actually has several different profiles that serve different functions. For instance, the A2DP profile (available in an F30 with enhanced BT only) is only used for transmitting stereo audio one-way, i.e. streaming audio over bluetooth. In order to make/receive phonecalls over Bluetooth, cars use Head Set Profile (HSP) and/or Hands-Free Profile (HFP). I am not certain if the F3X with standard Bluetooth uses HSP or HFP; however, all evidence points to it using HFP.

Now, the Maps app in the iPhone actually uses A2DP for outputting sound over BT. Because of this, you will not be able to get it to output sound over the car's speakers unless you have enhanced BT. However, beginning with iOS 7.1, Apple added HFP as a secondary profile to the app. Strangely enough, they didn't bother to advertise it much, if at all.

I came to know about this feature on a recent business trip where I had a Chevy Equinox rental that also only had Bluetooth for making/receiving calls. So, in order to test if this will in fact work in the F30 w/o enhanced BT, try the following...

1. Let your iPhone connect to the car
2. Go into Maps and set a destination and begin Guidance
3. Touch the volume button on the lower right corner of the screen
4. Under Output, you will have "iPhone" and "[your BMW]". Select your BMW
5. Turn on "Allow HFP prompts"

If everything works as it should, each time Maps is ready to provide the next guidance prompt, your iDrive screen's display will change as if a call is being made/received and sound will output from the car's speakers. Once that particular prompt has ended, the "call" will end and the car will resume playing music or whatever until Maps is ready to provide the next instruction.

In case none of what I said above makes a lick of sense, read up the below and then test it out.

Maps navigation prompts through your car***8217;s stereo over Bluetooth

For anybody that does test, please do report back to confirm whether or not this works.

Lastly, I did search to see if this had been posted before and didn't find anything. If it has been, my apologies in advance.
 
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#3 ·
Can you stream music over BT on either/both car? If so, then yes, nav commands will output through car speakers since you already have the A2DP profile. If not, then I'm plenty curious how this is possible.
 
#4 ·
No music streaming on either car. I can't tell you how it works, it just does. Someone with more knowledge on this may chime in with the details. It may be something with iOS7. I don't think this always worked on the E92.

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#6 ·
Interesting. Seems like I wrote a lengthy post for nothing. :D

I could've sworn my iPhone nav commands weren't prompted over the car's speakers for the two loaner F30s I had w/o nav and enhanced BT. It still makes no sense to me why it would work if streaming music doesn't. Oh well!
 
#7 ·
Interesting. Seems like I wrote a lengthy post for nothing. :D

I could've sworn my iPhone nav commands weren't prompted over the car's speakers for the two loaner F30s I had w/o nav and enhanced BT. It still makes no sense to me why it would work if streaming music doesn't. Oh well!
Maybe someone didn't realize that this was a possibility with the cars so it's good that you posted it. :)

Besides the 2014 320 I have the 2012 X3. Both without Nav and enhanced bluetooth. But...the X3's voice command button works and it doesn't on the 320. I've never tried to stream music on the X3 though, I'll try it later and see if it works. The differences in the cars was a surprise to me, I was stunned to find out that the voice command button in the 320 is useless and I'm still pissed off about it. :mad:
 
#9 ·
If that was really the case, why would Apple have added the HFP prompt option in iOS 7.1 for the first time? I use my iPhone for navigation when travelling for work, and in no car out of the dozens (except the Equinox) does the screen change to phone/call display during a prompt. Also, the difference in sound quality between A2DP (stereo) and HFP (mono) is unmistakable so I'm pretty sure iPhone's nav commands default profile is A2DP. Google further confirms this.

The only thing that would make sense here is if HFP prompts are already ON (perhaps the iPhone can auto select when pairing with a BMW???) for people who have been getting sound through their speakers.
 
#12 ·
I also believe that voice prompts didn't work on my 2013 338 iX with base BT. After update it now does. Unfortunately, Waze, my navigation app of choice, still won't prompt through the car speakers.
I'm also extremely disappointed about about my inactive voice command button. The first person who figures out how to program this into a Siri long press will be greatly appreciated.


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#16 ·
Intersting - this is how it worked when using google maps with a rental ford fusion as well. Makes a lot of sense. In my old e92 (which had a2dp), if my phone was connected via USB or bt audio, I'd only hear nav directions through the cars speakers if the device was currently playing sound.
 
#19 ·
I seem to be confusing everybody in here each time I post. I'll try once again for everybody's benefit.

HFP/HSP are fairly standard Bluetooth profiles used for voice calls. The main difference between the two is that HFP has additional capabilities, such as allowing you to redial last called number, etc.

If you can view your call log, dial last number, you have HFP in your car.

If you can stream music over Bluetooth, you have A2DP as well.

My understanding is that Google Maps has always had the ability to use HFP for turn-by-turn commands. The advantage of using HFP is that the phone does not have to be selected as the source at the time (for streaming BT music for instance) in order for commands to be pushed to car's speakers. It is possible the Google Maps app also supports A2DP and just had the ability to switch to HFP automatically when the phone wasn't selected as the source.

The point of this thread was that beginning with iOS 7.1, Apple's own Maps app also now supports HFP prompts on top of its default, A2DP. The advantage this brings for F30 owners without enhanced BT and Nav is that they can now finally get NAV prompts from their car's speakers. To those who think they always could get Nav prompts; it's not possible prior to this update unless you have enhanced BT in your F30.

The big huge difference between the two profiles is that HFP is mono channel, whereas A2DP is one-way stereo channel. The quality of the sound between the two is unmistakable and very telling of which profile is being used for Nav prompts, even if the display doesn't change to voice call each time a command is prompted. Prompts over HFP sound worse, similar to the quality of a voice call, which in itself is similar to being on a speaker phone. A2DP is crystal clear.
 
#20 ·
I seem to be confusing everybody in here each time I post. I'll try once again for everybody's benefit.

HFP/HSP are fairly standard Bluetooth profiles used for voice calls. The main difference between the two is that HFP has additional capabilities, such as allowing you to redial last called number, etc.

If you can view your call log, dial last number, you have HFP in your car.

If you can stream music over Bluetooth, you have A2DP as well.

My understanding is that Google Maps has always had the ability to use HFP for turn-by-turn commands. The advantage of using HFP is that the phone does not have to be selected as the source at the time (for streaming BT music for instance) in order for commands to be pushed to car's speakers. It is possible the Google Maps app also supports A2DP and just had the ability to switch to HFP automatically when the phone wasn't selected as the source.

The point of this thread was that beginning with iOS 7.1, Apple's own Maps app also now supports HFP prompts on top of its default, A2DP. The advantage this brings for F30 owners without enhanced BT and Nav is that they can now finally get NAV prompts from their car's speakers. To those who think they always could get Nav prompts; it's not possible prior to this update unless you have enhanced BT in your F30.

The big huge difference between the two profiles is that HFP is mono channel, whereas A2DP is one-way stereo channel. The quality of the sound between the two is unmistakable and very telling of which profile is being used for Nav prompts, even if the display doesn't change to voice call each time a command is prompted. Prompts over HFP sound worse, similar to the quality of a voice call, which in itself is similar to being on a speaker phone. A2DP is crystal clear.
1. I can not view my call log, etc.
2. I got the car Oct 2013 and used the Nav prompts the next day. I do not have enhanced bluetooth.

So....I think I'm still confused.
 
#27 ·
1. Let your iPhone connect to the car
2. Go into Maps and set a destination and begin Guidance
3. Touch the volume button on the lower right corner of the screen
4. Under Output, you will have "iPhone" and "[your BMW]". Select your BMW
5. Turn on "Allow HFP prompts"
Ok, I took my little road trip. I did steps 1 through 3.
For step 4, under Output, BMW was checked.

There was no option 5.

The directions came through the car speakers.
 
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