[LuisBoston]

Over the past few days, CarPlay suddenly disconnects (disappears) and reappears constantly. I found one fix that seems to work is to leave the screen on, but that kills the battery.

I also tried deleted the device from the car and reconnecting but the problem persists.

I was running 12.1.1 but I am updating to the 12.1.2 iOS beta now to see if there is a bug fix contained in the update.

Anyone else experience similar issues recently?

[LuisBoston]

iOS update did not solve my problem. Nor did removing other devices which may have been interfering.

Anyone else experience this issue?

[bmrguy03]

Do you have your retrofitted or was it from factory?

[sbinshihon]

Originally Posted by bmrguy03

Do you have your retrofitted or was it from factory?

I have an aftermarket Apple Car Play and it has the same problem... please keep us updated if you find a solution.

[bmrguy03]

If you have the aftermarket CarPlay, did you guys add the WiFi antenna in the back?

If not, you can get an aftermarket one off of eBay for like $15 or purchase the OEM one from your BMW dealership for about $50. Either way, that should fix your problem if you don't have it.

[bimmer456]

My experience is that car play sucks. The screen only takes up 2/3rds of the screen. Can't use the phone while using car play. Bluetooth works better.

[jaydaman93]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

My experience is that car play sucks. The screen only takes up 2/3rds of the screen. Can't use the phone while using car play. Bluetooth works better.

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1566334

has anyone tried this?

[InstigatorX]

Originally Posted by jaydaman93

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1566334

has anyone tried this?

Not this one specifically, but did get it enabled from this person...

https://cartechnology.co.uk/member.p...&uid=44503

[montr]

Do you have a strong WiFi signal in the car?
If you have an Android tablet or Android phone, try "WiFi Analyzer". If I remember correctly, you should see an Access Point (AP) named BMWxxxxxx. xxxxxxx are the last 7 digits of your VIN.

I mention this because on my E90, after servicing by the dealer for a recall, my phone Bluetooth connection was poor. The Bluetooth antenna, located below the steering wheel near the brake pedal was disconnected.

[LuisBoston]

Originally Posted by bmrguy03

Do you have your retrofitted or was it from factory?

Factory.

[LuisBoston]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

My experience is that car play sucks. The screen only takes up 2/3rds of the screen. Can't use the phone while using car play. Bluetooth works better.

I agree re: 2/3rd of the screen. But BMW nav can't compete with Waze and its ability to tell me where the cops and traffic jams are in near real time. That's the only reason I use CarPlay.

[upsidedownfunnel]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

My experience is that car play sucks. The screen only takes up 2/3rds of the screen. Can't use the phone while using car play. Bluetooth works better.

My experience is that car play sucks

Initially on one of my other cars with NBT Evo I did have lots of issues with CarPlay. But I've noticed that maybe because of new phones or new iOS versions, it's much more stable. I initially hated it but think it works very well now and will begrudgingly pay for it in my next car. The fact that it's free on so many low end cars does make it frustrating.

The screen only takes up 2/3rds of the screen

Does taking up 2/3 of the screen matter all that much? I don't find myself missing that extra space, though I admit it'd be nice. It's pretty low on my issues with BMW Carplay. Also it seems like newer versions have this fixed.

Can't use the phone while using car play.

You really shouldn't be using your phone anyway, right? But I can use my phone with wireless NBT Evo Carplay. What version do you have that you can't?

Bluetooth works better

Audio quality is worse on Bluetooth. CarPlay is far superior when it works. And it seems to be much more stable for me now.

Overall, BMW's Carplay now works much better than it did the first couple years. The main problem for me now is the pricing scheme. The subscription model is just highway robbery.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

Initially on one of my other cars with NBT Evo I did have lots of issues with CarPlay. But I've noticed that maybe because of new phones or new iOS versions, it's much more stable. I initially hated it but think it works very well now and will begrudgingly pay for it in my next car. The fact that it's free on so many low end cars does make it frustrating.

Does taking up 2/3 of the screen matter all that much? I don't find myself missing that extra space, though I admit it'd be nice. It's pretty low on my issues with BMW Carplay. Also it seems like newer versions have this fixed.

You really shouldn't be using your phone anyway, right? But I can use my phone with wireless NBT Evo Carplay. What version do you have that you can't?

Audio quality is worse on Bluetooth. CarPlay is far superior when it works. And it seems to be much more stable for me now.

Overall, BMW's Carplay now works much better than it did the first couple years. The main problem for me now is the pricing scheme. The subscription model is just highway robbery.

I like listening to music when parked and still being able to use other apps on my phone. The sound quality is as good as XM or HD radio. Car play doesn't sound better to me. I think the audio is compressed anyway. When I was using the amazon music app on CarPlay the album art was out of focus and the playback controls were on top of it, I could just use the Bluetooth interface or the steering wheel controls. It could be that the implementation on F30 isn't optimized as the platform wasn't designed with car play and touchscreen functionality originally. It should be better on G20 as the display is in a better position closer to the driver and designed for this type of interface. I did see that it was possible to use the I drive knob with CarPlay but could be better implemented and things like turning off audio directions in google maps wasn't obvious if it's even possible, maybe you have to turn it off on the phone?

[upsidedownfunnel]

Originally Posted by bimmer456

I like listening to music when parked and still being able to use other apps on my phone. The sound quality is as good as XM or HD radio. Car play doesn't sound better to me. I think the audio is compressed anyway. When I was using the amazon music app on CarPlay the album art was out of focus and the playback controls were on top of it, I could just use the Bluetooth interface or the steering wheel controls. It could be that the implementation on F30 isn't optimized as the platform wasn't designed with car play and touchscreen functionality originally. It should be better on G20 as the display is in a better position closer to the driver and designed for this type of interface. I did see that it was possible to use the I drive knob with CarPlay but could be better implemented and things like turning off audio directions in google maps wasn't obvious if it's even possible, maybe you have to turn it off on the phone?

The sound quality is as good as XM or HD radio. Car play doesn't sound better to me. I think the audio is compressed anyway.

CarPlay is not compressed more than the source material already is. In almost all cases, there will be no transcoding and should support lossless high resolution audio. It either uses USB or WiFi which have far more bandwidth than BT. Bluetooth must use Bluetooth audio codecs which are ALL transcoded (double compressed) (even AptX) unless both endpoints support BT-AAC. It's still obviously a lossy music source, but not any more than the source material is.

I like listening to music when parked and still being able to use other apps on my phone.

You can listen to music and use other apps on the phone. I do it all the time when I'm not driving and need to put in directions for the driver.

Also, a huge benefit of CarPlay over BT is that the navigation and audio volume can be set separately just like the iDrive navigation and media. So Google Maps can operate at volume 15 while Spotify operates at volume 25. You'd never get that with BT.

BMW's iDrive knob is actually a pretty good way to control CarPlay. I have a newer system that uses both touch and the knob and I highly prefer the knob. Of course, you can also use the touch screen like any other car, so I'm not sure how adding another option for control could possibly be a bad thing.

[InstigatorX]

Originally Posted by LuisBoston

I agree re: 2/3rd of the screen. But BMW nav can't compete with Waze and its ability to tell me where the cops and traffic jams are in near real time. That's the only reason I use CarPlay.

Same exact reason I use it...Waze. If iDrive had Waze integration, bye-bye Carplay.

[bimmer456]

Originally Posted by upsidedownfunnel

CarPlay is not compressed more than the source material already is. In almost all cases, there will be no transcoding and should support lossless high resolution audio. It either uses USB or WiFi which have far more bandwidth than BT. Bluetooth must use Bluetooth audio codecs which are ALL transcoded (double compressed) (even AptX) unless both endpoints support BT-AAC. It's still obviously a lossy music source, but not any more than the source material is.


You can listen to music and use other apps on the phone. I do it all the time when I'm not driving and need to put in directions for the driver.

Also, a huge benefit of CarPlay over BT is that the navigation and audio volume can be set separately just like the iDrive navigation and media. So Google Maps can operate at volume 15 while Spotify operates at volume 25. You'd never get that with BT.

BMW's iDrive knob is actually a pretty good way to control CarPlay. I have a newer system that uses both touch and the knob and I highly prefer the knob. Of course, you can also use the touch screen like any other car, so I'm not sure how adding another option for control could possibly be a bad thing.

I did notice when I lowered the volume for google maps, it would still lower the music volume quite a bit when the audio directions would come through, I just couldn't hear the audio directions. I like the option to disable audio directions completely and having the music play at regular volume all the time as I can see the directions on the screen in google maps and can see the directions on i drive maps when I use split screen view though this results in a smaller map, but about the same size as apple car play unless you have the full screen apple car play.

[Erik87]

Originally Posted by LuisBoston

I agree re: 2/3rd of the screen. But BMW nav can't compete with Waze and its ability to tell me where the cops and traffic jams are in near real time. That's the only reason I use CarPlay.

As far as I know Apple CarPlay can now be coded to take up the full screen. I've read somewhere here on the forum.

[Erik87]

Originally Posted by LuisBoston

I agree re: 2/3rd of the screen. But BMW nav can't compete with Waze and its ability to tell me where the cops and traffic jams are in near real time. That's the only reason I use CarPlay.

Oh, yeah, I remembered, but your software must be updated in March 2018 and later to be compatible with it.