CarPlay and new iPhones

I have an i3 ordered that should be here in November just in time to replace my '17 Volt that I'm rather looking forward to returning to GM. It's not been a *bad* car per say, but rather just... 'meh.'

My Volt has CarPlay and it has always been a little glitchy, occasionally taking a long time to establish a connection with my phone, or requiring me to unplug and plug the phone back in once or twice to get it to connect. Last Friday, though, I picked up the iPhone 11 Pro, and my Volt's CarPlay has been nothing but problematic since.

Should I expect better from BMW's wireless CarPlay? I'll have a 12-month trial period to decide whether it's worth paying their [ridiculous] subscription fee, but I was hoping to hear anecdotes from other folks ahead of time.

I'm using an iPhone 11 Pro Max in a 2019 i3s that I began leasing in May of this year.

I find Car Play to be pretty clunky in the i3, and of limited utility. Pretty much the only thing I use it for is having incoming text messages read to me and replying to them via voice-to-text.

Since the i3 doesn't have a touch screen (not that it should, mind you), everything must be done by rotating the iDrive control wheel, which can get pretty tedious. It's downright awful in Google Maps, where you can't even use the up/downleft/right function of the controller, and are forced to rotate the controller in order to choose a direction to pan maps or select the zoom in/out controls. It's pretty pathetic.

I have a great experience with wireless CarPlay. I use it every day going to work and back; it predicts where I am headed and offers directions for me with minimal input (try pinning a favorite destination or two in Maps). The iOS 13 'dashboard' view is a fantastic improvement, finally you can see the map AND what you are playing! Speaking of, the 'now playing' screen is a great improvement showing album art as a 'box' instead of as the entire background.

I prefer the non touch interface. I do not like distracting UI systems that require me to touch a screen. While the iDrive wheel is a hassle sometimes, Apple Maps reduces the amount of 'moving' that has to be done when trying to get directions. Moving back to the 'dashboard' is done by hitting BACK or holding the joystick to the left. Moving between screens is a rotation left/right, easy to due since they are using Fitt's Law in which a UI target is known at an extent of an input control (I rotate furiously left to get to dashboard/task switcher UI, rotate right a bunch to get into app selection mode). I wish CarPlay could use iDrive buttons for more functionality but I understand they must set 'least common denominator' UI inputs for every car manufacturer (display at certain ratio, touch interface *OR* a rotating wheel with 'button').

The wireless aspect of BMW CarPlay integration is what really makes the difference. My friends have USB based CarPlay and have to find a cable or mount their phones in a dock. My experience is to instead get in the car and go. My 2018 did not come with CarPlay but had the wifi hardware, I used a service to trick the car into thinking I had a subscription. It's been great.

derekgates said:

While the iDrive wheel is a hassle sometimes, Apple Maps reduces the amount of 'moving' that has to be done when trying to get directions.

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, how does Waze function in iOS 13.x with the iDrive controller?

Does CarPlay also work when plugged into the phone via USB? The aftermarket Alpine head unit that I installed in my pickup has a slight but annoying lag with the steering wheel buttons and screen taps, and I usually run with the phone plugged in to avoid it. Just curious if the BMW setup can also run wired, in case it has the same annoying lag.....

vreihen said:

derekgates said:

While the iDrive wheel is a hassle sometimes, Apple Maps reduces the amount of 'moving' that has to be done when trying to get directions.

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, how does Waze function in iOS 13.x with the iDrive controller?

Does CarPlay also work when plugged into the phone via USB? The aftermarket Alpine head unit that I installed in my pickup has a slight but annoying lag with the steering wheel buttons and screen taps, and I usually run with the phone plugged in to avoid it. Just curious if the BMW setup can also run wired, in case it has the same annoying lag.....

Click to expand...

Ah, I have no clue. I don't use Google products when I can help it. I used Waze via a friends phone on a VW CarPlay instance it drove me crazy; difficult to use WITH touch (you still have to use the directional arrows on screen to move the map around, for instance). I can only imagine how bad it would be with the directional wheel. Then again, how often does the map need to move? Are there any other aspects that can be tested? All CarPlay apps are 'forced' to have non touch compliant UIs so I would assume it can't be "that bad'?

I have had such little problems with the wifi CarPlay that I haven't tried to plug it in. I am certain that works like any other car using the USB plug under the center armrest. The wif is extremely good.

Hi. Any possible way to get CarPlay to show in full screen? Not sure why it’s only taking up 2/3 of the screen...

Sorry for the possibly ignorant post but I'm a new owner of a used '17 i3.
No CarPlay option for me even with subscription?
I found the BimmerTech option but whoa!!!
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/shop/bmw-i3/bmw-carplay-usb-activation
Someone please tell me there's another way!

Diversity83 said:

Hi. Any possible way to get CarPlay to show in full screen? Not sure why it’s only taking up 2/3 of the screen...

Click to expand...

I used https://fscmap.com/femtoevo/ to solve this. You will need an ENET cable (OBD2 to Cat5) to read data off of your car to generate the token on an USB key to change the CarPlay display mode.

umptysquat said:

Sorry for the possibly ignorant post but I'm a new owner of a used '17 i3.
No CarPlay option for me even with subscription?
I found the BimmerTech option but whoa!!!
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/shop/bmw-i3/bmw-carplay-usb-activation
Someone please tell me there's another way!

Click to expand...

Do you have the wide screen navigation? You might be able to make this happen. My 2018 i3s did NOT have CarPlay as an option in BMW website, but I had the hardware and the wifi antenna under the rear seat. I used https://fscmap.com/femtoevo/ to activate CarPlay and wide screen. Their site has information

I have a little bit of info on https://www.evernote.com/l/ABPnvf1JFy5O86xMNkw4n_IOprogjlQ1-ww/ that shows the iDrive hardware and where the wifi antenna would be. I wanted wireless CarPlay so I worked towards that. I think that wired CarPlay can still be possible on older cars but I am not 100% sure on that. I thought it needed ID6 iDrive. The FemtoEVO site has more information/support.