BT Audio

Quick question, when I use my Android phone for bluetooth audio streaming, no song info on the I Drive, if I were to use a USB cable, would I see this info, also would I able to
control via the I drive instead of the phone, seems that Android phone are the bastard stepchild of BMW.

Streaming:

Depends. What phone are you using? Another thing is what app you're using. If its the built-in song player, then the audio's meta data will be shown on the iDrive. However, if you are using streaming audio apps, such as Pandora/MOG/Spotify, etc, no, you won't get any meta data, but you can use the steering wheel controls to skip songs.

Plugged in:

Also a little iffy. My newer Galaxy S3 is quite finicky and sometimes doesn't get recognized when I plug it into the USB, but you also have to make sure what "USB mode" its in. If you have music on the internal storage and you plug it in (and it mounts correctly), theoretically, it should work fine. All meta data info plus album art. But you won't be able to use Pandora/etc over USB because BMW doesn't support that yet.


Yes, BMW seems to hate Android

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

Streaming:

Depends. What phone are you using? Another thing is what app you're using. If its the built-in song player, then the audio's meta data will be shown on the iDrive. However, if you are using streaming audio apps, such as Pandora/MOG/Spotify, etc, no, you won't get any meta data, but you can use the steering wheel controls to skip songs.

Plugged in:

Also a little iffy. My newer Galaxy S3 is quite finicky and sometimes doesn't get recognized when I plug it into the USB, but you also have to make sure what "USB mode" its in. If you have music on the internal storage and you plug it in (and it mounts correctly), theoretically, it should work fine. All meta data info plus album art. But you won't be able to use Pandora/etc over USB because BMW doesn't support that yet.


Yes, BMW seems to hate Android

Thanks for the info, I am using a Motorola Atrix 2, BT streaming works with the apps, steering wheel controls do not work to skip songs though at least on my particular phone.

These comments are for an iPhone 5 . . . may or may not match OP's Android case. Writing this post in case folks with iPhones are reading this thread.

I have the BMW supplied Y-cable - MY 2011, June 2010 build.

When iPhone is connected to the Y-cable, everything works - playlists are displayed on iDrive, iDrive controls and steering switches all work.

When iPhone is connected via a BT audio (I use Blackberry Music Gateway plugged into the audio jack) only audio part works - i.e. you can hear the song/podcast but nothing else. All you control from the steering wheel is volume.

By mistake I left the USB end of the Y-cable plugged in (with iPod attached to the Y-cable) and plugged the BB Music Gateway to the audio jack. In this case I saw the *iPod* (not iPhone 5) playlist on the iDrive but the audio was from my iPhone 5.

What does the Y cable get you that a regular iphone USB cable doesn't?

Originally Posted by RPsX5d

These comments are for an iPhone 5 . . . may or may not match OP's Android case. Writing this post in case folks with iPhones are reading this thread.

I have the BMW supplied Y-cable - MY 2011, June 2010 build.

When iPhone is connected to the Y-cable, everything works - playlists are displayed on iDrive, iDrive controls and steering switches all work.

When iPhone is connected via a BT audio (I use Blackberry Music Gateway plugged into the audio jack) only audio part works - i.e. you can hear the song/podcast but nothing else. All you control from the steering wheel is volume.

By mistake I left the USB end of the Y-cable plugged in (with iPod attached to the Y-cable) and plugged the BB Music Gateway to the audio jack. In this case I saw the *iPod* (not iPhone 5) playlist on the iDrive but the audio was from my iPhone 5.

Originally Posted by macming

What does the Y cable get you that a regular iphone USB cable doesn't?

Basically nothing. As long you have the COMBOX (post 10/10 production), you don't need to use the Y cable. You can use the regular white sync cable

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

Basically nothing. As long you have the COMBOX (post 10/10 production), you don't need to use the Y cable. You can use the regular white sync cable

Oh, mine is Aug 10. I guess there might be some benefit?

Nothing . . . mine is simply the older model (BMW audio engineer simply didn't get around to doing the obvious!) . . . missed the regular white cable by a few months . . . more cable mess but fortunately it is out of sight!

My wife's Infiniti, I tried using the BT Audio today with Pandora and guess what, the steering wheel controls change the station, where in my X5, no go, again BMW hates Android

Originally Posted by ductman

My wife's Infiniti, I tried using the BT Audio today with Pandora and guess what, the steering wheel controls change the station, where in my X5, no go, again BMW hates Android

I just went out and tried it again. Pandora and Spotify worked perfectly on my Galaxy S3. Try again?

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

I just went out and tried it again. Pandora and Spotify worked perfectly on my Galaxy S3. Try again?

Tried again, also tried the USB ports also, BT audio streams, only way I can change songs is thru the phone itself, only the volume button works on the steering wheel.

Originally Posted by ductman

Tried again, also tried the USB ports also, BT audio streams, only way I can change songs is thru the phone itself, only the volume button works on the steering wheel.

What software version are you on?

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

What software version are you on?

Multimedia Version MX-003.004.031

Originally Posted by ductman

Multimedia Version MX-003.004.031

Oops, I meant what version of Android are you running?

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

Oops, I meant what version of Android are you running?

I just updated to 4.0 Gingerbread today, that also did not do the trick, thanks for your help.

Originally Posted by ductman

I just updated to 4.0 Gingerbread today, that also did not do the trick, thanks for your help.

4.0 is ICS, not Gingerbread

Maybe you need to update your bluetooth update for the iDrive?

(from www.bmw.com/bluetooth , enter your VIN and put the firmware bin file on a USB stick and upload the file into your iDrive via the BMW Firmware Update section.)


If that doesn't work, then it has to be something with Motorola's software. All my old Sammy and HTC Android phones work fine with the iDrive's A2DP controls.


This whole situation is weird because both the Atrix and iDrive support A2DP (streaming BT audio) and AVRCP (BT controls), yet they don't seem to like each other

UPDATE: just looked at BMW's website and it specifically outlines that "fast forward/reverse" isn't supported, but does say that it can be operated "via control display"

Originally Posted by AutoUnion

UPDATE: just looked at BMW's website and it specifically outlines that "fast forward/reverse" isn't supported, but does say that it can be operated "via control display"

Just got it to work finally, it will only work thru the I Drive controller ( Pushing down ) on the
" fast forward/reverse " that supposedly is not supported but it will still not work thru the steering wheel controls, again thanks for your time.