Adding apps

We just purchased a 2016 and on some cars I’ve seen third-party apps like TuneIn and others displayed on the screen. My question is: how do I add these BMW “approved” apps to my car? I’ve looked on line and can’t seem to find any info on how this is done. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I have a 2017 i3 and, like you, have found no way to add apps to my car. I've checked at https://connecteddrive.bmwusa.com/ and my car is subscribed to almost everything for another year, but if I try to visit the Connected Drive Store from my car, it says that it's not available or something like that. The normal BMW ConnectedDrive functions (like remote lock/unlock, location, climatize, charging monitoring, etc) all work fine from my phone, but I haven't found any way to add any third-party apps to the car's infotainment system.

The i3 was updated to the "NBT Evo" infotainment system in 2018 and later models from the "NBT" infotainment system in the 2017 and earlier cars. I don't know if there were ever third-party apps for the older NBT, but, if so, I can't find a way to install them at this point.

I can tell that there are folks on this forum who understand the ins and outs of NBT vs NBT Evo a lot better than I do, though. Perhaps someone else can chime in here as to what apps, if any, you can install on an NBT.

Some of the newer ones might support Apple carplay, so then, you're displaying whatever is on your phone.

This is the sort of question one of the BMW geniuses at your dealership, or over the phone should be able to answer, and help you with, if it's possible on your vehicle.

I recalled reading that BMW has shut down the ConnectedDrive App store in the past year. It's a shame BMW removed support for this, as that was one of the useful functions.

I also believe the App still works without paying BMW for ConnectedDrive subscription. Lock, Unlock, Horn, locate vehicle, charge status, and send destination to car is what I use App for.

jadnashuanh said:

This is the sort of question one of the BMW geniuses at your dealership, or over the phone should be able to answer, and help you with, if it's possible on your vehicle.

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Hahahaha! That's funny!

A couple days after I bought my CPO i3, I called the number on the "BMW genius" card I got with the car and asked why I was having a lot of trouble controlling Spotify playback through the car's audio controls and why the album art didn't show up on the car's screen. He asked what kind of phone I had. I said "I have a OnePlus 7T with Android 10". He said, "OnePlus? I've never heard of that company." :roll:

He did direct me to the BMW online list of "compatible phones". There were only models by Apple and Samsung listed. Give me a break.