Text Messages

The solution might not be in the car, which could be coded properly, but in your iPhone's Settings > Bluetooth > Show Notifications toggle. It should be green (active).

See http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895090 for more details.

my s3 galaxy works fine with text,s but i disabled because it is dangerous and distracting while driving its an unnecessary function anyway, and concludes my suspicions iphones are not all there cracked up to be.

Apple intentionally limits Bluetooth functionality in all its hardware, presumably because the company views unencumbered access via a wireless protocol as a vulnerability. The rationale hasn't been explained publicly as far as I now but that's typical with regards to security. The limitations also aren't new or applicable only to BMW and the i3. A quick search reveals discussions about Apple's Bluetooth implementation and other devices going back years.

stumbledotcom said:

Apple intentionally limits Bluetooth functionality in all its hardware, presumably because the company views unencumbered access via a wireless protocol as a vulnerability. The rationale hasn't been explained publicly as far as I now but that's typical with regards to security. The limitations also aren't new or applicable only to BMW and the i3. A quick search reveals discussions about Apple's Bluetooth implementation and other devices going back years.

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i think you will find apple intentionally nobbled the Bluetooth function so people cant swap music/videos between phones but have to go though i-tunes and pay for them..

websterize said:

The solution might not be in the car, which could be coded properly, but in your iPhone's Settings > Bluetooth > Show Notifications toggle. It should be green (active).

See http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895090 for more details.

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As already mentioned above, apple have limited the BT functionality, notification setting does nothing to implement complete SMS functionality.

busaman said:

my s3 galaxy works fine with text,s but i disabled because it is dangerous and distracting while driving its an unnecessary function anyway, and concludes my suspicions iphones are not all there cracked up to be.

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I see the full text function no more distracting than navigation, texts can be read out remember by using the idrive

BoMW said:

websterize said:

The solution might not be in the car, which could be coded properly, but in your iPhone's Settings > Bluetooth > Show Notifications toggle. It should be green (active).

See http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895090 for more details.

Click to expand...

As already mentioned above, apple have limited the BT functionality, notification setting does nothing to implement complete SMS functionality.

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Right. "Complete" functionality is not possible with i3 + iPhone X, but you misunderstood (understandably so). I was referring to this part of forum user spinball's post (at the bottom of page 2):

spinball said:

... I have the Office menu on my US-spec i3, but no texts show anywhere.

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I should have quoted that in my reply, and I also left out an step for checking the iPhone settings:

Go to Settings > Bluetooth, and find the i3 in the My Devices list. Select the blue "i" at far right of its row, and confirm the new screen says BMW iXXXXX at the top. Then confirm the Show Notifications toggle is green active. It was off on my iPhone 6 in iOS8. After I activated the toggle, the mail icon began to appear in iDrive after a new text arrived on the phone. Again, I can read the new texts in iDrive, but I can't reply to them via iDrive.

If the toggle on your iPhone is green, and you don't see the envelope icon next to the clock in iDrive after new texts arrive on your phone, the coding is incomplete.

The green toggle is on, show notification is on, I see the small envelope appear when a text arrives but this does not compare to Galaxy full SMS pairing.

If you have access to a Samsung Galaxy just pair it up and you will see. Sadly I can't post a photo on here to show you.

BoMW said:

The green toggle is on, show notification is on, I see the small envelope appear when a text arrives but this does not compare to Galaxy full SMS pairing.

If you have access to a Samsung Galaxy just pair it up and you will see. Sadly I can't post a photo on here to show you.

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I have no doubt what you write about the Samsung in the i3 is true. My comment was directed more toward forum members like spinball or other i3 drivers who have activated Office in iDrive via coding but who are not seeing new texts on the screen.

I suspect the "full pairing" you seek with the iPhone in the i3 will lead to a dead end.

websterize said:

Go to Settings > Bluetooth, and find the i3 in the My Devices list. Select the blue "i" at far right of its row, and confirm the new screen says BMW iXXXXX at the top. Then confirm the Show Notifications toggle is green active. It was off on my iPhone 6 in iOS8. After I activated the toggle, the mail icon began to appear in iDrive after a new text arrived on the phone. Again, I can read the new texts in iDrive, but I can't reply to them via iDrive.

If the toggle on your iPhone is green, and you don't see the envelope icon next to the clock in iDrive after new texts arrive on your phone, the coding is incomplete.

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The "toggle" you are mentioning is not there on my iPhone 6 running iOS 9.0.2. "Sync Contacts" is the only toggle.

imolazhp said:

The "toggle" you are mentioning is not there on my iPhone 6 running iOS 9.0.2. "Sync Contacts" is the only toggle.

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I got the toggle to appear after doing a TON of coding, un-pairing the phone and re-pairing it. However, it still isn't pushing to iDrive, I now have the icons in iDrive showing where unread email and texts would be from the phone but they are not coming through. Even with the options checked in the options section for the phone. Any other tips?

BoMW said:

busaman said:

my s3 galaxy works fine with text,s but i disabled because it is dangerous and distracting while driving its an unnecessary function anyway, and concludes my suspicions iphones are not all there cracked up to be.

Click to expand...

I see the full text function no more distracting than navigation, texts can be read out remember by using the idrive

Click to expand...

i have to disagree glancing at a map or road is far less distracting than reading a long text. (especially if you've just been dumped by your girlfriend) remember it only takes a couple of seconds and your in the rear of a car or run over a child.

busaman said:

BoMW said:

busaman said:

my s3 galaxy works fine with text,s but i disabled because it is dangerous and distracting while driving its an unnecessary function anyway, and concludes my suspicions iphones are not all there cracked up to be.

Click to expand...

I see the full text function no more distracting than navigation, texts can be read out remember by using the idrive

Click to expand...

i have to disagree glancing at a map or road is far less distracting than reading a long text. (especially if you've just been dumped by your girlfriend) remember it only takes a couple of seconds and your in the rear of a car or run over a child.

Click to expand...

Absolutely true. Reading text messages in the car is dangerous and should not be enabled. Surely they are not that important that you cant wait a little to read them?

Agree reading text message is dangerous. That's why there is a feature to convert text message to speech. Unfortunately, in i3, this feature is far down the menu and you have to do many clicks and many turns on the knob before it is activated. Basically it is useless. BMW may have good engineers, but certainly not in the software department.

imolazhp said:

Any other tips?

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Are you able to send destinations from Google Maps to the car? This will rule out something isn't amiss with the car's Connected Drive. Your coding could be fine.

If so, make sure the Office box is checked in the Bluetooth configuration screen. I'm in the office right now, but think it's at "Settings > Connections > Bluetooth > (highlight your phone) > Press the Option button (or scroll right) > Configure Bluetooth." That's from the link I referred to earlier.

One more thing: forget about the complicated configuration gymnastics, and just use a phone's voice command. It's more direct and less distracting. Siri has become very robust — faster, fewer drops — in the past year, and it does more than I realized. (Activate Siri on your phone and click the ? in the lower left corner.) Adding reminders, weather, reading you your texts, etc., it's very powerful. After a long press on the i3's voice activation button, just say "read new text." I reply to texts with Siri, too. Try it.

The nice thing about the envelope icon in iDrive is that it indicates a new message in case you miss the phone's vibration or watch's tap, but I usually hear/feel the buzz. Then again, the icon is small and easy to miss, too.

Reading an iDrive screen is so 2007.

Are we really arguing about reading text messages? Really? Jesus it's frustrating to own an i3 sometimes, especially coming from an e46 where anytime you needed help with anything on a forum you got helped, not rediculed for every single thing...

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I got texts working but already don't like it because if I read them on the iDrive they still show unread on the phone, and visa-versa. Still no emails though. Overall the enthusiast in me was saying WGAF about reading texts and emails in the car but the nerd in me wanted it to work even if I just end up turning it back off, lol.

I'll give it a little time and see how it goes, I have a 1100 mile trip coming up early December and thought I might like it for that trip. I'm not really concerned about getting emails to work, but to answer your question websterize, I can "send to car" from google maps. Also, Siri can suck it, hate that bish.