[Flummox]

I’m moving from an Audi to BMW. In the Audi, I’ve had a few usability complaints with CarPlay:

1. Most of the time when beginning a journey, the system will switch inputs to CarPlay, regardless of what input I was using when I ended the previous journey.
2. When it makes this automatic input switch, more often than not the display will spin showing “Unknown track” without resuming the last-playing track. I have to go into the app (Spotify in this case) and press play to get going again.

How reliable is the idrive implementation of CarPlay? Is it plagued by these or similar issues?

[LDT]

Originally Posted by Flummox

I’m moving from an Audi to BMW. In the Audi, I’ve had a few usability complaints with CarPlay:


Most of the time when beginning a journey, the system will switch inputs to CarPlay, regardless of what input I was using when I ended the previous journey.
When it makes this automatic input switch, more often than not the display will spin showing “Unknown track” without resuming the last-playing track. I have to go into the app (Spotify in this case) and press play to get going again.


How reliable is the idrive implementation of CarPlay? Is it plagued by these or similar issues?

You’ll find many threads related to CarPlay issues here on Bimmerpost. As the months go by I see fewer CarPlay complaints. Personally I’ve had my M60i since August 2023 and have had very few issues. I’ve received two OTA software updates and CarPlay works flawlessly in my X5. FWIW I had a 2021 A6 and a ‘20 Cayenne and BMW's technology is light years ahead of Audi and Porsche.

[Flummox]

Thanks, LDT, I'll dig through the forum for details. Glad to hear I'm moving to a more stable/functional technology base.

[LivinginNC]

Originally Posted by Flummox

I’m moving from an Audi to BMW. In the Audi, I’ve had a few usability complaints with CarPlay:


Most of the time when beginning a journey, the system will switch inputs to CarPlay, regardless of what input I was using when I ended the previous journey.
When it makes this automatic input switch, more often than not the display will spin showing “Unknown track” without resuming the last-playing track. I have to go into the app (Spotify in this case) and press play to get going again.


How reliable is the idrive implementation of CarPlay? Is it plagued by these or similar issues?

I think it depends on the car. We have had no issues with CarPlay in our 2023 M5 or 2020 X5 but with our 2024 X1M35, which has idrive9, calls are constantly dropped, the phone disconnects and then reconnects, Waze often has us going in the wrong direction, music cuts out several times per song, and the screen was pixelating. It’s very buggy. There are other issues going on with the X1 as well. The X1 forum has several different threads going regarding the various issues. Buyer beware with this new idrive9. I’m going to call the service department again. Have already had the car in once for the CarPlay issues (no fix for it) and a drivetrain error (others have had the drivetrain error too). We bought the car December 8, 2023.

[Flummox]

Thanks for the info.

[Torque_lover]

I’m pretty happy with CarPlay implementation in BMW. Showing navigational directions (from Apple Maps) in HUD is particularly useful. I don’t think many other brands have this.
I just wish I could zoom in and out using the rotary knob.

[Ckochese]

24 X5. CarPlay hasn’t worked correctly since day one. I’m running the most current update of idrive and I’m still having issues. The volume is always too low to hear calls and listen to music. I’ve just stopped using CarPlay entirely. Huge fail on part of BMW.

[pgrtag]

Only issue I'm having with CarPlay is when I used Apple Maps in the instrument cluster the map flickers. I don't have any volume issues for calls, music or Siri.