BMW Connected Drive Android Issues

[Robbzter]

Hi!

I have the following:

BMW 330e /w connected drive (2018) and no pending SW updates

Samsung s8 (no pending SW updates)

With the following problems:

The onboard spotify app - Changing to next song gives random song

The spotify menu is working 50% of the time

The app disconnects every 20min(requires app and BT restart)

What i've tried:

- Mailed BMW (Told me to bring it to a dealer)

- Reset of the car at the dealership(No changes, told me they knew about the problem but it was just on Android so they didn't care since everyone in Norway has IOS)

- Hard reset of the phone(No changes)

- Numerous guides that really just reinstalls the app(No changes)

- Called BMW again (New person told me Spotify was the problem without knowing any details)

- Searched my phone for some files(Found something i don't understand /attachment)

Regards

Someone who is tired of doing an unpaid job

[Seamasters]

i tried all this. it worked for some time and stopped working. even while it was working i couldn't access my playlist so not sure whats the point of using spotify through connected drive. much easier doing it the Bluetooth way. but thanks. 

[Boblarota]

Many thanks for your help with this Wolf. So far as I can see, I have everything on your list, including the subscription to ConnectedDrive services, which I assume is what I need.

I see there's also something called Online Entertainment. Is this something completely different? The BMW site is one of the worst to use that I've recently come across!

[Boblarota]

All sorted now, don't know why it wouldn't work before, seems to take a while to get tamed. Now every time I get in the car, it carries on where it left off without having to even touch the phone!

Functionality is very limited though, as others have found who've manged to get it to work. Just next track/last track (see pic). A stupid ugly graphic in place of the album cover (which disappears with split screen fortunately). My conclusion is that BMW did a deal with Apple years ago signing over full integration so Android users just get the bare minimum.

[martinsixsmith]

That was exactly what I saw on my screen and the functionality was the same. You do not need the BMW Connected App for this level of functionality since it is simply via the Bluetooth connection. Frankly it’s next to useless if you want to change albums or playlists.

In other words the BMW Connected / Android combination simply does not work as BMW claim ( depends who you speak to though ! ). 

[benblowers]

I am only able to get spotify to play in my bmw 4 series with pro nav by using the basic bluetooth streaming. I would like to use connecteddrive to enable all the functionality such as browsing and playlists etc. I plug in my phone and open the bmw connected app and it says that is is connected in connected drive but spotify doesnt appear as an app in the car. Any ideas?

[martinsixsmith]

I'm afraid you have experienced the same issue as most of us on this forum, simply; BMW does not support the Android / Connected combination despite their claims to the contrary. Spotify informed me that the poblem rests with BMW and I believe them. BMW also supports Apple Car Play and not Android Auto. Until BMW decides to address the problem then the only soultions are to carry on via Bluetooth, which drastically limits functionality as you have already discovered, or to subscribe to BMW Online Entertainment where you can use a Spotify alternative ( De...er ) with full functionality. I have opted for the latter.

[benblowers]

Thanks for your reply.

I will look into this alternative. The danger for spotify is that they may lose some subscribers if the alternative works in BMWs. Surely spotify have the power and contacts to put pressure on BMW to make this work. More accessibility = more subscribers.

[nsayeed]

BMW APPS does not work with Android and old IDrive as shown in your image. You need IDrive 5 or 6 (as shown in the screenshot below).

Spotify does work with playlist support and Android in ID 6, however, it is extremely buggy.