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Official Apple iPhone iOS6 F30 Thread

144K views 233 replies 48 participants last post by  boltjaM3s 
#1 · (Edited)


We have all seen the commercial from BMW showing off the man pulling up to the driveway in his F30 and receiving a text message from his wife being read by the car. If you haven't seen the video then, you can quick take a peek now.



Well, with iOS 6, iPhone users can finally take advantage of this feature in the car over bluetooth. The set up is mostly straight forward but I have to admit that I'm not 100% sure what I did to get it working in the end. I think the solution was getting the settings right then walking away from the car for a while and returning to the scene. It wasn't very scientific but it ended up working. The only problem we seem to be having now is that the notifications are only working with text messages and not emails. We'll keep working on it to see if it is something simple like needing all your email addresses set up to send notifications over bluetooth.

The quick and easy way to get this set up on your car is to do the following:

  • Upgrade your phone to iOS 6
  • If you have paired your phone previous, remove the pairing from your phone and the iDrive system just to start fresh.
  • In iDrive go to Telephone -> Bluetooth -> Your Phone and the push the iDrive controller to the right to get to the main configuration screen
  • Scroll down to Configure Bluetooth and make sure that the check box for "Office" is checked
  • On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Bluetooth -> Your BMW and touch the blue arrow to go to the settings. Make sure that the Show Notifications slider is set to "ON"
  • On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Messages. Make sure the following sections are "ON": Notification Center, Show Preview and View in Lock Screen. We also changed the alert style to Alerts in this section.
  • After getting it all set up and testing by letting the phone lock itself (not pushing the lock button) and sending a text message from another device, it still did not work for us initially. This is the part about shutting off the car and walking away for at least 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe there is a bug that needs the connection to be severed and re-connected to make things work. It is sort of a mystery right now. After coming back and having a message sent the system worked and the notifications came through to the iDrive and were read aloud by the car.

We should have more information on this as we go but we wanted to get a quick report out to show you that it at least sort of works!

BMW F30 3 series iOS6 integration review

BMW F30 3 series iOS6 integration review

BMW F30 3 series iOS6 integration review

BMW's official statement about iOS 6 compatibility
During the past several months, BMW has done extensive Apps, Bluetooth, and USB / audio testing with "pre-release" versions of iOS 6 running primarily on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S devices. This testing has occurred in collaboration with Apple, and we are confident that the final production version for the devices listed above will work well with our vehicles.

The BMW Group continues to work closely with Apple on the validation of the iPhone 5 for BMW vehicles and will be able to announce relevant developments in the future. It is expected that all app compatibility will continue as will the ability to access one's song library using the BMW and MINI controls and screen. The specific feature, Plug-in, which works through BMW Apps and MINI Connected to replicate the look of the iPhone interface will not be available at launch. The full scope of compatibility between the iPhone 5 and BMW Group vehicles will be known once the validation process is completed. Since 2004 the company has established a history of finding solutions for iPod and smartphone integration where none had previously existed.

Have an iPhone 5? Check out the Official iPhone 5 F30 Integration Thread
 

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#6 ·
GOOD NEWS!

I can confirm that iOS6 can receive text messages to iDrive via Bluetooth, no cradle or USB cord necessary. You get an envelope icon on the display, you navigate to Office > Messages and your texts are there.

No luck with emails (this was a reported bug in the iOS6 beta). This was using an iPhone 4 and an F30 with the most recent firmware.

BJ
 
#7 ·
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC1TIis-cmI&feature=youtu.be&hd=1&t=10m20s

Another thing that might not be remembered:

Back in May, Apple announced the features of iOS6 including something called "Eyes Free" which allows Siri integration into cars. They put up a graphic showing BMW as one of the partners committing to the program "within 12 months". Would work with the 4S and the 5.

The video should start at the 10:20 mark where this is mentioned.

BJ
 
#14 ·
Tim:

A few tricks that helped me after struggling for an hour:

1. Turn on "messages" under Telephone > Bluetooth settings in iDrive.

2. In the iPhone go to Settings > Messages and make sure notifications are on, change the number of notifications from what it's at now, choose 'alert' style, choose 'show on screen'.

3. In the iPhone go to Settings > Bluetooth and click on the BMW link and make sure "show on screen" is selected.

4. The thing that finally did it for me was to connect via the white Apple USB cable and the Connected app. That allowed the iPhone and iDrive to "see" each other that first time. Since then, no issues wirelessly.

Note: The iPhone must go to sleep during your testing. You can't hit the off button and force it. Have to let it sit (set to 1 minute in Settings) until it goes full-black, then send a test text from another phone.

Note: Mail is not working, only text messages.

BJ
 
#16 ·
I wonder if BMW will put any resources into the current generation i-drive to get things like Mail integration over bluetooth for the iphone working now that iOS supports this... especially considering the huge number of iPhone owners out there.

It would be nice if we can get i-drive software updates for at least a year or two before they move on to bigger and better things (new i-drive hardware).
 
#24 ·
I wonder if BMW will put any resources into the current generation i-drive to get things like Mail integration over bluetooth for the iphone working now that iOS supports this... especially considering the huge number of iPhone owners out there.

It would be nice if we can get i-drive software updates for at least a year or two before they move on to bigger and better things (new i-drive hardware).
That's phone-dependent for now. Combox software updates to keep up with compatibility issues have been released periodically for the last 2 years.
 
#18 ·
Thanks for excellent help as always on this forum guys.

Mine is working now as well, texts only not emails.

It only seems to work on new messages that come in while you're in the car; it doesn't display unread texts already on the iPhone before connection to car, or previous texts which have been read.

The computerized read-out of texts is quite funny though! :thumbup:
 
#19 ·
Thanks for excellent help as always on this forum guys.

Mine is working now as well, texts only not emails.

It only seems to work on new messages that come in while you're in the car; it doesn't display unread texts already on the iPhone before connection to car, or previous texts which have been read.

The computerized read-out of texts is quite funny though!
iDrive will only sniff the texts that come in while you're driving the car and show up on your iPhone notification screen for the first time. The thought being that you're driving the car, the text comes in, and iDrive is going to feed it to you because you can't grab the phone itself.

BJ
 
#21 ·
Yes I see this. Would be nice if it could also show unread texts or even the last few regardless of read/unread.
I guess I disagree in that if I've read them already and they're already on my phone I don't need them visible on screen, but...

If a friend texted me a phone number that I needed and I'm in the car and I need to call that number it would be good to go back a few texts, see the number in iDrive, and hit 'dial'.

BJ
 
#25 ·
Working nicely for me.

My only gripe is that I wish it would either notify me, or auto-play the message when it came in. By the time I check for messages, scroll down, and then select play I've already read it on the screen

Andrew
 
#27 ·
+1

Agree, a more useful implementation of this feature would be for the car to notify of an incoming message, ask if the driver wants it read to them. Then the only intervention required for the driver to have it read would be to hit the iDrive button once. Ignore the notification and it times out. Anything other than this or something similar falls into the 'gee whiz/who cares' category.
 
#30 · (Edited)
  • Upgrade your phone to iOS 6
  • If you have paired your phone previous, remove the pairing from your phone and the iDrive system just to start fresh.
  • In iDrive go to Telephone -> Bluetooth -> Your Phone and the push the iDrive controller to the right to get to the main configuration screen
  • Scroll down to Configure Bluetooth and make sure that the check box for "Office" is checked
  • On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Bluetooth -> Your BMW and touch the blue arrow to go to the settings. Make sure that the Show Notifications slider is set to "ON"
  • On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Messages. Make sure the following sections are "ON": Notification Center, Show Preview and View in Lock Screen. We also changed the alert style to Alerts in this section.
  • After getting it all set up and testing by letting the phone lock itself (not pushing the lock button) and sending a text message from another device, it still did not work for us initially. This is the part about shutting off the car and walking away for at least 5 or 10 minutes. Maybe there is a bug that needs the connection to be severed and re-connected to make things work. It is sort of a mystery right now. After coming back and having a message sent the system worked and the notifications came through to the iDrive and were read aloud by the car.
I got it working with a little variation from your list. This is with a iPhone 4S on iOS6 in a 2012 F30.

I followed your steps except rather than turn everything off and walk away from the car, once I got everything configured as you did I just turned off BT on the iPhone then turned it back on and waited for the iPhone to pair up again. It worked fine after that.

Also, I prefer the "Banner" style notification on the phone and the car still receives the messages when configured this way... so the notification style selection does not seem to matter.

Only thing I can't figure out is how to delete the messages from the iDrive display. When you option over to the delete all choice it is greyed out and won't let you delete. :confused:

EDIT: Used the car again this afternoon and the messages were deleted. So it looks like once you delete them from the iPhone then the next time it pairs up they get removed from the car.
 
#32 ·
Is this only for the F30 or will this work on an '08 E90 with iDrive?
 
#38 · (Edited)
Here is the official word from BMW about iOS 6 compatibility. You heard it here first -

During the past several months, BMW has done extensive Apps, Bluetooth, and USB / audio testing with "pre-release" versions of iOS 6 running primarily on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S devices. This testing has occurred in collaboration with Apple, and we are confident that the final production version for the devices listed above (iOS 6 and iPhone 5) will work well with our vehicles.

The BMW Group continues to work closely with Apple on the validation of the iPhone 5 for BMW vehicles and will be able to announce relevant developments in the future. It is expected that all app compatibility will continue as will the ability to access one***8217;s song library using the BMW and MINI controls and screen. The specific feature, Plug-in, which works through BMW Apps and MINI Connected to replicate the look of the iPhone interface will not be available at launch. The full scope of compatibility between the iPhone 5 and BMW Group vehicles will be known once the validation process is completed. Since 2004 the company has established a history of finding solutions for iPod and smartphone integration where none had previously existed.
 
#40 ·
I followed the steps today and it didn't work until I turned BT off and back on on my iPhone 4. Once it reconnected, the texts started appearing.
 
#41 ·
Emails do work, but it is buggy. Another member posted a solution on one of the forums. Basically once the car connects to the phone, you have to manually each time go into settings, notifications, mail and switch the number of show threads to a different value, if 5 is checked off, select 1 or 10. This has to be be done each time. Kinda tedious, but works
 
#45 ·
FYI, non-BMW related, but with iOS6, you lose your You Tube app. You have to go to the App Store and download a new one. Apple is cutting ties with Google stuff, apparently.
 
#46 ·
I upgraded my 4s to IOS 6.0 and now when I get into my car and connect the phone to the apple wire (via USB) it starts playing my music through the phone, it shows the artist information on the navi but doesn't play thru the car. This happened to me a handful of times prior to the update but I would reboot my phone and all would be good. I can still reboot my phone and it will play through the car but it's annoying and is happening every time now...fix for this?
 
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