BMW Connected / MINI Connected works with SPOTIFY!!!!

[bk9996666]

Ok you guys snuck something big into this update!!! I just connected the spotify app to MINI connected in my car!

How come a big deal wasn't made about this? Did I miss the announcement? Is this beta?

[mtolesen]

Hello Hahn, I agree with Poupousse that it works on your BMW, and not on our relativly new BMW's.

When you say it works, what excately do you mean?

Can you change song from the dashboard on your BMW?

Will you, when you change song from the dashboard, get the new songtitle and artist in the display and also, will you get the new cover art from the song on the sadboard display, each time you change song?

Is it possible to give us the BMW MMI software revision, and what revision of Spotify are you using?

What phone do you use?

[Hahn]

Yeah, strange it is! ; )

It is an F20 from 2012 and it has ht emobile option with blutooth.

Where do you check for updates from BMW?

[Hahn]

Hi mtolesen, 

the only thing I have to look up later is the software version in the car. 

• I see the song title and artist name. Cover is only visible when I connect via USB. But when I change the song, the meta data changes in all displays (info display and the big one)
• I use Spotify on an iPhone 6 (iOS8.1) and it is V 2.0.0.1643

[mtolesen]

Hi Hahn

OK, thank you very much.

Yes, it would be great if you could check your BMW software version, when I get that, I will contact BMW to try to get a solution.

[Hahn]

Okay, here we go: 

Version MX-003.004.031

[tomgooding]

Spotify iPhone app integration with BMW bluetooth music is not 100% - it doesn't send album / track artwork correctly (other than for the first track played).

These issues are quite well reported here:

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=758138

Is there plans to fix this?

Thanks

Tom 

[Hahn]

Same here. Car is a new BMW 5 (F11). I see the first track (name, artist and album cover) but while the music changes over and over, these infos stay in the display.

[mrkool44]

Hi,

I've been using spotify with Andriod HTC One with no problems in my 2014 BMW 328i.

Few days ago, I got the iphone 6 (updated to latest updates 9/27/14).  Using the iphone 6, the song details/album art

no longer update to my bmw idrive.

So, I never know what song is actually playing...although, I am able to use the steering wheel control to select next song or previous song.

The iDrive display only shows the track info for the first song I start in spotify, after that, it never updates.

Any way to fix this so it updates the song details to iDrive ?

[mbarber]

This has been happening for a while when playing Spotify on an iPhone over bluetooth -- music plays fine and playback controls work, but song info/artwork gets stuck on whatever the first song you start playing is.  Have a 2014 328d (NBT iDrive), and this happens with both my old iPhone 5 as well as a new 6.  Wish it worked! Blutetooh song info and album art works fine with iPhone's built-in Music app.

[mrkool44]

Ok, glad I'm not the only one whose able to duplicate this problem.

So this a spotify app problem - any way to tell the spotify developers to fix this ?

[Vardan]

Same happens with Pandora.

I had a conversation with BMW so called "product specialist" from our local dealership.

She told me they are aware if the problem, but wasn't sure if this will be ever fixed.

Recommended to escalate the issue to BMW, if there will be "enough" complains maybe they'll fix it.

[Hahn]

Let's escalate! 

Same here with a new BMW 5 (F11). 

Would be nice to know if its the fault of Apple, BMW or Spotify.

[meahtenoha]

Hi everyone, thanks for coming to the Spotify Community with your questions. 

We have been in touch with BMW regarding your questions and will continue to pass on your feedback. As far as using Bluetooth with the Spotify app, it is intended that drivers use a USB cable for safety reasons. We will post more information about using Spotify with BMW on our Help page shortly--we will share that link with you here when it goes live. 

Please continue to pass your feedback on here and we'll report it back to the appropriate teams. Thanks everyone!

[RichardP7]

Could you explain how it can be safer to have to connect your phone by USB rather than leave it in your pocket and have everything done without accessing the phone?

[Hahn]

"Safety reasons"?!

It works in older models (see my post above) and it works in other cars. Please fix this. Connecting via USB and using the new BMW App is nice but has its own problems + why should I take my phone out of my pocket? I will forget it in the car and someone breaks the car to steal it != safety.

[Poupousse]

@Meredith:

Are you serious ??

1. I don't see where this is safer to have to look at the phone screen each time I want to see what is the actual music currently playing because it is not correctly refreshed on the BMW iDrive screen;

2. When using an USB cable as you mentionned, when a BMW user has NOT the BMW Connected App option in his car, he can still play music but song name/artist/album art is not refreshed as well (so using an USB cable in this situation will not be safer than using BT or whatever);

3. I think many BMW drivers having BMW connected app do not use this feature all the time because it is (in the current form), not as straight as BT streaming :

    - you have to plug your phone UNLOCKED and Spotify app in foreground

    - connect your usb cable (or use BMW snap-in adapter, which I also have for my iPhone 5S)

    - wait for the Spotify app icon to appear in Multimedia section on iDrive screen (can take several seconds)

    - Click on it with idrive controller

    -> You do not want you beloved Spotify users to do that everytime they get in their car, right ??

When using BT streaming, we just do nothing : start the car and keep the phone in the pocket for instance : music will resume in its latest state. as you can imagine, for short trip, I will not use BMW connected App, because it is annoying to connect the phone.

4. Bluetooth streaming is working correctly with Deezer App, and with the Apple integrated Music App as well. Also, using BT streaming in a BMW car requires to PAY for a specific option : extedned connectivity (BMW App is another option on top of it). If BMW consider bluetooth streaming for music as a non-safe usage, why would they sell it as an option in the first place??

5. If you are in contact with BMW engineers, just ask them how to make your Spotify app working correctly with bluetooth streaming, particularly for users not having BMW Connected App option, just like it works with Deezer and Apple music app !!

[Hahn]

@Meredith: Please, is there a ticket/issue for someone in your company to fix this or is your feedback "use USB"?

Again: In my old BMW1 from 2012 it works and in my new BMW5 from 2014 it does not. Problem is, every other music app works in my new car (Infos change when I change the track) works, except yours! So, maybe it has to be a problem with Spotify on iOS?

[MasterYous]

I occasionally get the same error as in adrianlat 's screenshot. Also, anytime I use spotify with connecteddrive, the controls on idrive for spotify lock up after a short time. Nothing works. Music keeps streaming and the album art updates, but I can't control the app at all from the idrive wheel. It's a good first effort but I hope they work hard on those bugs.

[Shameemos]

The update prior to 2.2.0 made the cover art available during playback via USB. However, since I updated to 2.2.0, the cover art is not showing any longer. Can anyone confirm with me that the issue is with the latest update? Thank you. Oh, and I'm using MINI Connected.

[Poupousse]

Does the cover show sometimes or never ? I'm also using v2.2.0 app in my BMW with BMW connected app and the covers still works.