[balderash_12]

Originally Posted by graaja

Can you tell me if your neighbor's car is E90 or F30? There may be cheaper alternatives, but I will need details like exact model, picture of the iDrive, VIN etc.

And you say his is a 2012 car. It should definitely be out of warranty. So why worry about warranty? Or is there something I am missing?

I do not know the exact details of the package. He knows a person in BMW who helps him with these things. I am not sure of the arrangement. He is happy with it. His is the F30 320d.

Originally Posted by graaja

Thank you Hayek. My friend is a brave soul indeed

From your ownership review, I see that your car most probably has the NBT Evo ID5. It is very much possible to enable CarPlay at less than $150 with the option to revert to OE state. From my experience with BMW, I am sure getting this done officially is a very remote possibility. Though the coder has confirmed many times that once the iDrive is reverted to OE state it will not be detected by the BMW servers, there still is that small risk.

But you can always do this close to the end of warranty and give a small facelift to the car.

Definitely! But my neighbor does not intend to take the risk. He has decided to leave it for now till a less risky option has been found. I agree with him; if gone wrong, repairs will be eye-watering.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by balderash_12

Definitely! But my neighbor does not intend to take the risk. He has decided to leave it for now till a less risky option has been found. I agree with him; if gone wrong, repairs will be eye-watering.

Your neighbor's case is different from Hayek's case. Hayek has a NBT Evo ID5 in which enabling CarPlay is a small software tweak which is totally reversible. Your neighbor's car is a 2012 model with a CIC which needs complete hardware overhaul.

And your neighbor made a wise decision to leave it as it is

[zebanaff]

Hey man! Thanks for this thread. Just reading it was making my heart beat faster, since I've done a lot of hardware tinkering/jailbreaks on phones and laptops before, and it's always so scary that you're one bad move away from bricking the device. I'm planning to get this done from BMW on my 2017 320d Luxury Line (still find it absurd that it's not enabled from outset). I'll probably pay the extra cash in exchange for peace of mind.

One question I had was, does this also enable the screen mirroring option on the iDrive? Or is that a separate module?

[graaja]

Originally Posted by zebanaff

... I'm planning to get this done from BMW on my 2017 320d Luxury Line (still find it absurd that it's not enabled from outset).

One question I had was, does this also enable the screen mirroring option on the iDrive? Or is that a separate module?

Is the update by BMW officially done by BMW or is this some hack done by the dealer. When we did this for my friend’s car, we had first tried to get it done by BMW and after 4 months of wait, we could not get them to do this.

I am not aware if the screen mirroring function is part of Apple CarPlay installation done by BMW. It got enabled when we did this unlock.

[manishk123]

Great thread! Really well explained. Wish I had come across it before I upgraded my system using the shortcut bin file method. Although CarPlay works flawlessly in my G30 I will have to be really careful about future software updates, since I don't have the original FSC codes anymore. Thinking of putting a big sticker in my car across the screen saying "Do not update software" when I send it for the next service. :-)

[itwasntme]

Graaja, bumping up an old thread of yours. As you know, I've picked up a 330i Sport which comes with iD6 with the 8.8" touchscreen unit, no navigation and with Live Cockpit, i.e. with the analog dials.

After reading all this, I'm totally confused. Is CarPlay hardware already in my car, and simply needs activation by either BMW or by a small hack? Or is it totally missing?

Am an Android man so merely curious at this stage :-)

[graaja]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Graaja, bumping up an old thread of yours. As you know, I've picked up a 330i Sport which comes with iD6 with the 8.8" touchscreen unit, no navigation and with Live Cockpit, i.e. with the analog dials.

After reading all this, I'm totally confused. Is CarPlay hardware already in my car, and simply needs activation by either BMW or by a small hack? Or is it totally missing?

Am an Android man so merely curious at this stage :-)

Wow. Awesome! Though I was following your discussion on upgrading the 1.8TSi and the 330i being the top contender, I missed the post about your getting the 330i! Found it (7th-gen BMW 3-Series launch by mid-2019 EDIT : Now launched at Rs. 41.40 lakhs) now! The car looks fantastic! Congratulations and wishing you tens of thousands of miles and smiles! Have you written a review already?

Are you sure the car does not have Apple CarPlay already enabled? BMW has started enabling CarPlay by default these days.

BTW, even I was an Android man before the BMW. But when I found the iDrive is more suited to iPhone, I got myself the cheapest of the iPhones, the SE

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by graaja

!Congratulations and wishing you tens of thousands of miles and smiles! Have you written a review already?

Are you sure the car does not have Apple CarPlay already enabled? BMW has started enabling CarPlay by default these days.

Thanks . No reviews yet as I'm in essential industry so working flat out including office twice a week. But planning to.

Tried connecting both my OnePlus 7 Pro & wife's 8 Plus. It recognises the downloaded music files (i.e. those without DRM) and offers to play them. I am pretty sure BMW have not (in order to differentiate and cheapen this Sport variant) provided even the basic HW needed for either CarPlay or navigation.

Both I can live without but it's just irritating me at some silly level. I am hoping some official workarounds will come about later. Any thoughts on this?

Including pictures when the OP7P & 8+ was connected respectively. The last pic is my MFD version number if that means anything.

[roamer012]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

After reading all this, I'm totally confused. Is CarPlay hardware already in my car, and simply needs activation by either BMW or by a small hack? Or is it totally missing?

Am an Android man so merely curious at this stage :-)

Originally Posted by graaja

Are you sure the car does not have Apple CarPlay already enabled? BMW has started enabling CarPlay by default these days.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Tried connecting both my OnePlus 7 Pro & wife's 8 Plus. It recognises the downloaded music files (i.e. those without DRM) and offers to play them. I am pretty sure BMW have not (in order to differentiate and cheapen this Sport variant) provided even the basic HW needed for either CarPlay or navigation.

Classic case of apples and oranges . What you are looking for is Android Auto which i doubt is available on current gen BMWs as standard option. Apple Carplay however should be there (Try connecting iOS device to confirm). Just to be doubly clear, you will not get carplay using android devices.

Edit:

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Hi, am fully aware I cannot get CarPlay on Android. Nor does BMW support AA yet but will shortly, (maybe will filter through to IN cars by October 2020) through wireless mode only.

Intention was to capture that the ID6 HW/SW recognizes the USB connections for both Android & iOS, and will play the non-DRM music/audio files.

Quoting again from your earlier post

Originally Posted by itwasntme

After reading all this, I'm totally confused. Is CarPlay hardware already in my car, and simply needs activation by either BMW or by a small hack? Or is it totally missing?

Originally Posted by itwasntme

I am pretty sure BMW have not (in order to differentiate and cheapen this Sport variant) provided even the basic HW needed for either CarPlay or navigation.

Thus the confusion. Anyways, thanks for clearing up your query / intentions of the post. As you said, it is really the need of the hour to provide both Android Auto and Apple Carplay and rather wireless versions of the same on such high end vehicles because they do make life a lot easier.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by roamer012

Classic case of apples and oranges . What you are looking for is Android Auto which i doubt is available on current gen BMWs as standard option. Apple Carplay however should be there (Try connecting iOS device to confirm). Just to be doubly clear, you will not get carplay using android devices.

Hi, am fully aware I cannot get CarPlay on Android. Nor does BMW support AA yet but will shortly, (maybe will filter through to IN cars by October 2020) through wireless mode only. Most articles like the one below states that wireless AA will be activated in vehicles through an OTA update:

https://www.bmwblog.com/2020/05/27/android-auto-bmw/
https://paultan.org/2020/06/25/bmw-s...o-on-its-cars/

Intention was to capture that the ID6 HW/SW recognizes the USB connections for both Android & iOS, and will play the non-DRM music/audio files.

Wireless CarPlay is already activated for other ID6 variants since 2017 (I believe), so unusual for BMW IN to remove it from the G20 Sport. There is still a chance it can be activated by BMW but of course only if the HW is present inside.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

in order to differentiate and cheapen this Sport variant) provided even the basic HW needed for either CarPlay or navigation.

Originally Posted by roamer012

What you are looking for is Android Auto which i doubt is available on current gen BMWs as standard option. Apple Carplay however should be there (Try connecting iOS device to confirm)

CarPlay is not available as standard on Sports but you might be able to get it activated via your dealer. Post your VIN or DM and I will get you a confirmation.

Android Auto is coming soon via OTA update on all cars equipped with ID7. Sports-330 probably still uses ID6 so it won't get.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Wireless CarPlay is already activated for other ID6 variants since 2017 (I believe), so unusual for BMW IN to remove it from the G20 Sport. There is still a chance it can be activated by BMW but of course only if the HW is present inside.

I checked for your VIN, unfortunately, it can't be done in your case. Even though it gets ID6, there is not suitable hardware. Some of the requirements for BMW Dealers to retrofit are

July 2017 later production
Headunit - H2 or B2, NBT Evo/ Enav.
SA609/ SA6U9 - Navigation
SA6NR - App interface.

So you will need to go the aftermarket route, which I won't recommend at all at least under warranty. Frankly, I find navigation on the phone easier, so, it's not as if you are going to miss a lot of things.

[Sharat83]

Apologies for reinvigorating this old thread. I just bought a pre owned 3 GT Luxury Line (2017 model - VIN WBA8T3709HBA33435 - software version TB-003.010.003 and NBTevo H16303I). The questions I have are as follows -

1. I have BMW app in my car and that connects erratically to Amazon music - if this connection was seamless I may have avoided the CarPlay installation altogether as the Amazon Prime interface is pretty decent. Any particular reason the app connection takes time and sometimes just doesn’t connect.

I reached out to easybimmercoding website and they advised that I should install a Wi-Fi antenna and that they can send in files for -

a. ID6 upgrade &
b. CarPlay

I then have to install the same vide USB

(Email I received from them -

You require a Wifi Antenna.

You can purchase Aftermarket Bingfu WiFi antenna (works just as good as OEM, no issues).

Idrive 6 is compatible , you can unlock via usb method

Only regular 3/4 screen CarPlay is compatible)

Firstly the Bingfu antenna is not available in India but Amazon does have an alternative one for INR 499.

2. Should I go ahead with that one (INR 499 3AN Wi-Fi antenna on Amazon) and also the above options (a and b). Need expert opinion here - JFYI - I am ok with CarPlay on iDrive 5 as well as I am not particularly excited about iDrive 6 interface.

3. Also if the above option (b or a+b) is suitable for self - would you’ll care to refer me to a mechanic who can install the WiFi antenna in Mumbai (I live in SantaCruz W).

Thanks in advance.

[Turbanator]

^^
Try official BMW route. Show to the dealership and they will install wifi antenna as well do coding for apple play. Look at some of the old posts here, many members have done.

[Sharat83]

Thank you - I have written to BMW service team too and am awaiting their official quote (Few members had quoted ~35000+4000 (Antenna)).

Wanted to understand if I could take the unofficial route and possibly save some money (Mechanic Charges + Antenna (499) + Apple CarPlay vide easybimmer (4400)) or is that something that I shouldn’t even consider.