[itsmabs]

I don't really want to wait for id7. I'm curious what android users do today? Screen mirror? Bimmertech mmi? other?

Thanks for any info.

[kzg1969]

i've tried screen mirroring, but since the phone cant be controlled via the car, then i cant see the point really.

then again, i am not overly bothered about accessing my phone while driving (although maps/satnav is certainly better)

[itsmabs]

thanks, was it pretty clear/responsive? I mostly use it for nav(waze). So as long as I can mirror that, I'm generally happy.

[M5 TT]

thinking on going back to apple

[Wills2]

Being in the car is a nice way of not having to look at or use the thing...

[mjrennie]

Originally Posted by M5 TT

thinking on going back to apple

I wouldn't go back to them for a free phone. That iTunes thing...the least intuitive tech' since an early PC before you'd ever seen a computer. 😳

[M5 TT]

Got my RIS today and ecu flash update . My BM app now has info. Info used to be blank, maybe things are changing?

[M5 TT]

Originally Posted by mjrennie

I wouldn't go back to them for a free phone. That iTunes thing...the least intuitive tech' since an early PC before you'd ever seen a computer. 😳

Yeah I am in the same place. Wife loves iPhone I hate it lol

[Zero71]

Originally Posted by M5 TT

Yeah I am in the same place. Wife loves iPhone I hate it lol

I'm the opposite, having spent a year with Android and went back to Apple. iTunes is a thing of the past though, unless you are still syncing music instead of using one of the streaming services. iPhone no longer needs to be connected to a desktop ever - just login with an Apple ID and it migrates all your settings from an iCloud backup, or set up as a new device. Even the software updates are all OTA now. I get that it used to be much clunkier for PC users Vs Mac users if you had an iPhone, but not any more. I've not connected the last 3 iPhones to a desktop ever.

[itsmabs]

So what I ended up doing. I'm a android guy, no urge to use a iphone day to day.

That said my allegiance between car play and android auto is less polarized. I roughly find them equivalent. The two biggest items for me is waze on the dash, and access to music.

I looked at the bimmertech android mmi option, I assume it'll work for the X3M, though it's not listed that it will(works for the x3). I really didn't see a ton of reviews, and wasn't keep on the price or installing it, didn't really want to mess with the head unit.

Looked at a bunch of phone mounts to keep my phone in eye view, but didn't really like how it looked, a bit out of place. Even the really good ones.

Final solution, I bought a inexpensive iphone 7. They have some from simple mobile on amazon. I bought it with no intention of ever activating it, and only using it to power carplay.

Well the problem there is car play uses wifi and bluetooth to connect, so I can't pair the iphone to my android hot spot for internet access. Also tried seeing if using onboard hotspot would work, nope.

My decent setup. I connect the iphone via wireless carplay. I then bluetooth tether the iphone to my android to share internet. It's dog slow(about a 1 megabit down) but waze and music streaming still function pretty well, take a second to load but then it's fine. I then pair my android as the secondary phone so I can still make calls through bluetooth via dash controls. Siri works just fine as well.

Overall it's a pretty ok experience. I am on the fence with getting a basic data plan for the iphone to improve the experience. Its about 25 a month. Still thinking that one over. It's not much money, but feels like I really don't need it.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone, took me a bit to workout my ideal setup.

[RoyB]

Originally Posted by itsmabs

So what I ended up doing. I'm a android guy, no urge to use a iphone day to day.

That said my allegiance between car play and android auto is less polarized. I roughly find them equivalent. The two biggest items for me is waze on the dash, and access to music.

I looked at the bimmertech android mmi option, I assume it'll work for the X3M, though it's not listed that it will(works for the x3). I really didn't see a ton of reviews, and wasn't keep on the price or installing it, didn't really want to mess with the head unit.

Looked at a bunch of phone mounts to keep my phone in eye view, but didn't really like how it looked, a bit out of place. Even the really good ones.

Final solution, I bought a inexpensive iphone 7. They have some from simple mobile on amazon. I bought it with no intention of ever activating it, and only using it to power carplay.

Well the problem there is car play uses wifi and bluetooth to connect, so I can't pair the iphone to my android hot spot for internet access. Also tried seeing if using onboard hotspot would work, nope.

My decent setup. I connect the iphone via wireless carplay. I then bluetooth tether the iphone to my android to share internet. It's dog slow(about a 1 megabit down) but waze and music streaming still function pretty well, take a second to load but then it's fine. I then pair my android as the secondary phone so I can still make calls through bluetooth via dash controls. Siri works just fine as well.

Overall it's a pretty ok experience. I am on the fence with getting a basic data plan for the iphone to improve the experience. Its about 25 a month. Still thinking that one over. It's not much money, but feels like I really don't need it.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone, took me a bit to workout my ideal setup.

I thought about doing the same thing. If someone calls your android, does it still ring through the car?

[itsmabs]

let me test and let you know. I'm pretty sure it does, as I can call out through the wheel. But it does take you away from the car play menu, I set car play as a key, so I can jump back quickly. Once in a call, you can switch back to car play and remain in the call.

[itsmabs]

So internet over Bluetooth sucks, which makes the experience not so good.

So maybe overkill but I went down a different route, I really don't want to pay a monthly mobile bill just for internet access for car play and I really don't want an iPhone is as my primary phone.

I bought two adapters. An iPhone ethernet adapter, and a wireless ethernet adapter. So I connect the wireless adapter to my Android phone's hotspot and plug it into the iPhone.

The iPhone is able to still use wifi to pair to carplay, but has wired internet access.

I bought both adapters for 90 all in, you could probably find better deals.

I do need to get a small box to house if all, just to be tidy, though it will live in my armrest.