Controlling the iPhone

[Davidfromdigswell]

My i3 is my first BMW so I guess predictably I am struggling a little with the menu system. I have managed to connect my iPhone 5 over bluetooth and it will also play audio when attached via USB. What I have not been able to do is to access the iPhone menu structure through the controller, I cannot for example select podcasts without using the menu on the phone itself. Am I missing something? Any help from more experienced BMW owners would be appreciated!

 

[AndyW]

Hi David - yes, to get to podcasts from the car (I'm doing this from memory so excuse any mistakes), first you need to download the ConnectedDrive app, and connect your iPhone to the USB socket with a cable. You then start the app and go to Connected Drive in the menu in the car - it should then be obvious.

 

[Davidfromdigswell]

Thanks for this Andy. I have been struggling all day to get my connected password and was promised three times that I would immediately be sent a text which never came. Somebody else has commented that they were told the servers were down in Germany so hopefully this will get sorted out tomorrow. I was looking forward to a pre-conditioned car tomorrow morning but never mind

 

[AndyW]

I got so fed up waiting I phoned them up & got my login then & there, over the phone. Won't help if the servers are down though.

 

[jamie94bc]

It's nothing to do with the servers in Germany! I had mine activated today after talking to a BMW i Genius who said it would be done by Wed morning.

The first text with the username was garbled though, I had to request a username reminder from the website, definitely a bug which needs sorting!

 

[agj]

What I have not been able to do is to access the iPhone menu structure through the controller, I cannot for example select podcasts without using the menu on the phone itself.

Hi,
I have a iPhone 5 too and didn't have to download an app.

Try this :
- once your iPhone is connected to the car via Bluetooth
- click on the "Media" on the central console to access what is not "Radio"
- click your Controller to the left (well, it is to the left on a continental car. Try both left and right, just in case )
- on the screen, you'll see the possibility to scroll down and select "other sources" (actual designation on your "English-speaking" i3 may vary)
- once there, select your phone.

If your i3 works like mine does, you should then gain access to the contents of your phone using the Controller/screen only.
You can search your library by song, artist, composer, playlists etc (since I have no podcasts subscribed on my iPhone, I'm not 100% sure "podcast" are on the list, but worth trying).

The super-cool thing is that the artwork (if available in your phone) shows on the screen.

Beware though that the volume difference between radio and iPhone is huge. So if your iPhone volume is set to low, you may not hear anything. Just pump up the volume both on your device and on the car.

Tell us if this works for you too.

 

[Davidfromdigswell]

Thanks for this but still no luck so I rang up the Connected Drive helpline and they told me it is an Apple issue which BMW are trying to get sorted. So for the moment any output has to be controlled using the phone itself and not te cars media controls.

 

[AndyW]

Oh, that weird. I was just going to post up that I got it completely wrong last night! You can access your podcasts from the media menu when your iP5 is connected via bluetooth, like agj says. I was thinking of stuff like Audible & Napster, which you can also control from the car, but only when the phone's plugged in with a cable. I was listening to a comedy show the other day which I get sometimes on Audible and sometimes via podcast, knew I'd had to access it via ConnectedDrive, and got confused, doh.