BMW switching Apple CarPlay to a subscription based service. $80/year.

[Crimson92]

Screw you bmw.

I had apple car play on my rental 430. Hated it. Wife hated it.

Can I just have a head unit with just Bluetooth

I don't even use built in nav anymore.

Porsche is pricey. But at least you don't lose basic functionality behind paywall.

[Killed by Death]

Originally Posted by antaholics

For everyone complaining about carplay.. What's so bad about it? When I got it on my loaner 2 and 4 series I thought it was the greatest thing ever. I miss not having it on my F10...

It's all listed in the Navigation section in multiple threads.

I can't find the main thread containing my rant

[gds52]

Never used Apple car play, but I assumed it's just connecting your Apple phone to the car...what is the subscription for?

[JRobUSC]

I wouldn’t pay for CarPlay, and I wouldn’t even use it if it were free. Turn by turn navigation and radio/phonebook info don’t show up in the HUD when using CarPlay, which negates the best feature in the car, and frankly iDrive is faster and easier to use anyway. So I don’t care about CarPlay. With that said, BMW should just integrate CarPlay and AndroidAuto functionality for free and call it a day. It was silly to charge $300 for one and not offer the other at all, and even if it’s cheaper to offer the subscription they’re tone deaf to current consumer climates trying to charge for something everyone else includes for free. Just include them and be done with it.

[Aevintiri]

I wonder if this will make it available to older model cars that don't come factory equity with the Apple car play. Right now you can get it retrofitted for around $1000. It would be nice to see them integrate Apple car play for older hardware.

[doccyber]

Originally Posted by allinon72

What is so damn hard about Android Auto integration? Other automakers have made it available at the snap of the fingers, BMW makes it sound like they have to recode the entire idrive system to do so.

Because BMW feels that Apple Car Play is superior.

[Encanto]

You, me and thousands of customers told BMW the same thing, therefore one year for free and then subscription service instead of a one-time payment.

CarPlay without Professional Navigation is decent. CarPlay with Professional Navigation is useless.

Originally Posted by 666MorDeath

BMWs integration with CatPlay is AWFUL. I wish it was a subscription service when I ordered. It would have saved me $300. Damn sure I wouldn't subscribe!!!

[P1]

I don't get what the $80 a year would even cover? Absolutely ludicrous.

[Ali Shiralian]

Any automaker who wants me to pay again for what I've already paid for has lost my business.

Cheers

[Maverik259]

CarPlay is next to useless in its current form. If it had FULL capability then maybe. But until that happens who cares. I wouldn't have spent $300 anyway. I use Waze which isn't supported. Heck even Ford is allowing integration of Waze into an update on their current Sync 3. Now that's something I'd pay for.

Is android auto any better? Never had one and never plan to so I'm curious.

Technically I think this would save most people money. At least those that lease. As first year free and then $80 x 2 is $160. So you save on a 3 even 4 year lease. And then BMW gets money out of it when they sell that program to the next guy down the line. So maybe not all bad.

[jersey john]

What about those people who buy the car CPO or after the lease is turned in? As a person who's purchased lease returned cars, I find this option lousy. If I buy a car with a subscription, I'll end up paying many times over during my ownership.

NOT GOOD

[secretanchitman]

I really fucking hate this. Absolutely a cash grab and it's clear they only care about money and people who lease, rather than people who would own the car for a lot longer.

I may have to consider another car brand in the future, because no other manufacturer does this except for BMW. Forget charging extra for it, but as a subscription? CarPlay is literally done on the phone - no subscription needed! Complete nonsense.

[RobbyMack]

Had a rental a few weeks ago with CarPlay. Thought it was ok, nothing mind blowing. Makes more sense on a car with a touch screen interface IMHO. Did not like that I was forced to use Apple maps, well, because Apple maps is retarded. I'm also not sure why I'd want/need to respond to text or email while driving. I'm probably old school that way but crank the tunes and let the windows down is how it should be.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by allinon72

What is so damn hard about Android Auto integration? Other automakers have made it available at the snap of the fingers, BMW makes it sound like they have to recode the entire idrive system to do so.

I haven't looked in a while, but last I read, Google requires that vehicles implementing Android Auto grant it access to a lot of things on CAN and OBD, which you wouldn't think would be necessary for infotainment, but apparently they had larger (and probably scarier) visions for their car integration platform. Apple does not require that level of access to the car's systems, so I can see how implementing Android Auto could require significant architectural changes depending on the current design of the car's infotainment.

And frankly, I'm not sure I'd want my always-connected phone to have that level of access to my car. I respect the upsides of Android's free and open architecture and completely understand the appeal, but that same design philosophy is partly why Android has had more (and on average, more severe) security vulnerabilities than iOS, so the idea of my phone being a beachhead into my car doesn't sit well with me. I just hope the industry figures out proper car security before autonomous cars become the norm, because right now the security picture is terrifying.

[cozye]

There is a lot of misconceptions about CarPlay on here. I have a 2016 without it, and a 2017 with it. I'll admit that at first I was a bit disappointed and went back to the standard Idrive interface. However I decided to go back and forth for a while. There were something's that I liked better (such as reading texts, and great voice to text capability). And other things I didn't like (initially navigating around the CarPlay interface was confusing).

After a while I decided to stick with CarPlay, and as I became more familiar how to navigate (like the not so obvious "home" button on the bottom left). I got a lot better at using it.

For someone who's on the road a lot, and on conference calls a lot in the car, the phone interface of CarPlay is way better. Not even close. Needing quick access to mute button, easy call switching, dial pad, etc while working in the car is just flat out essential. CarPlay is the best interface for this I've had in any car. Period. I never touch my phone and the Idrive controller works fabulously for this.

Maps. Contrary to many post about this, you aren't forced to use Apple nav, the low resolution maps, or google maps. You can if you want, but you can still use the beautiful BMW high res traffic aware navigation. I do it every day. Hit the idrive Nav button first to take you back to native idrive.

You can still use every other bit of your Idrive system, except phone, contacts and bmws music interface for Bluetooth streaming only. What's the downside here?

Apple CarPlay is $300 on the old pricing. Thats $5 a month on your 5 year loan. So they change that to a subscription and drop the up front charge. Big deal. If your upset about $80 a year, you shouldn't spend $50k on a car.

And the beauty of a subscription is choice. You don't want it cause BMW is evil and Apple sucks? Great. Don't subscribe, and it won't be forced on you because the car you found half way across the country has the $300 option already.

You like it or want to try it? Great, all cars are now capable and you don't have to buy a new BMW because you opted out of the $300 option or the car you found doesn't have it.

A lot of griping going on here by some who obviously haven't spent enough time really sorting it out, as evident by the false comments. I get it, your used to Idrive, So was I. You don't want it, no problem, don't subscribe.

Eventually CarPlay will get better or open up to more apps. You'll have the option of trying it again. Maybe even android too since BMW is going to the subscription model.

All of this is being driven by IoT technology. It's a good thing. If your mad at BMW, go buy that Ford. It's got CarPlay. And they bumped up the MSRP by $300 so you could have it for free.

[jphughan]

What exactly does BMW think they're providing on an ongoing basis that justifies a subscription model? BMW Assist is one thing, but CarPlay is just hardware in the car and a small bit of interfacing firmware/software that probably has to be updated seldom if ever. And probably a royalty to Apple per car.

They're not even trying to spin this as, "This will help us keep improving the feature over time even for cars that are already on the road," though I'm not sure what such improvements would look like. They're just still trying to convince everyone that leasing is the cheapest way to drive a car, and even doing THAT requires them to spin these numbers. In their leasing scenario, the customer isn't really out the $300 option cost at the end of the lease; they're only out the depreciation on that $300. But BMW knows that, except that would require them to admit that this new model is actually more expensive.

I bet this is all to replace the revenue they expect to lose as fewer people are willing to pay for map updates on their nav systems.

[///My5UV]

If BMW ever improved anything on existing vehicles I would almost understand their argument, but the smartphone integration I bought on my E90 has been almost a complete waste... I only use bluetooth now since all the other features are so flaky.
So after playing with it and learning some of its limitations, I'm passing on CarPlay and I'm glad I did since I tend to keep cars several years and don't want to pay a subscription to keep using them.

[v3n0m]

Never buying another bmw on principle.

[V-Viper]

Originally Posted by cozye

There is a lot of misconceptions about CarPlay on here. I have a 2016 without it, and a 2017 with it. I'll admit that at first I was a bit disappointed and went back to the standard Idrive interface. However I decided to go back and forth for a while. There were something's that I liked better (such as reading texts, and great voice to text capability). And other things I didn't like (initially navigating around the CarPlay interface was confusing).

After a while I decided to stick with CarPlay, and as I became more familiar how to navigate (like the not so obvious "home" button on the bottom left). I got a lot better at using it.

For someone who's on the road a lot, and on conference calls a lot in the car, the phone interface of CarPlay is way better. Not even close. Needing quick access to mute button, easy call switching, dial pad, etc while working in the car is just flat out essential. CarPlay is the best interface for this I've had in any car. Period. I never touch my phone and the Idrive controller works fabulously for this.

Maps. Contrary to many post about this, you aren't forced to use Apple nav, the low resolution maps, or google maps. You can if you want, but you can still use the beautiful BMW high res traffic aware navigation. I do it every day. Hit the idrive Nav button first to take you back to native idrive.

You can still use every other bit of your Idrive system, except phone, contacts and bmws music interface for Bluetooth streaming only. What's the downside here?

Apple CarPlay is $300 on the old pricing. Thats $5 a month on your 5 year loan. So they change that to a subscription and drop the up front charge. Big deal. If your upset about $80 a year, you shouldn't spend $50k on a car.

And the beauty of a subscription is choice. You don't want it cause BMW is evil and Apple sucks? Great. Don't subscribe, and it won't be forced on you because the car you found half way across the country has the $300 option already.

You like it or want to try it? Great, all cars are now capable and you don't have to buy a new BMW because you opted out of the $300 option or the car you found doesn't have it.

A lot of griping going on here by some who obviously haven't spent enough time really sorting it out, as evident by the false comments. I get it, your used to Idrive, So was I. You don't want it, no problem, don't subscribe.

Eventually CarPlay will get better or open up to more apps. You'll have the option of trying it again. Maybe even android too since BMW is going to the subscription model.

All of this is being driven by IoT technology. It's a good thing. If your mad at BMW, go buy that Ford. It's got CarPlay. And they bumped up the MSRP by $300 so you could have it for free.

I hope this is not how people view BMW owners. First we don't use our blinkers and now telling people to buy a Ford if they're upset about an extra $80/yr to connect their phones to their car.

Regardless of the value-add/non-value , this is terrible optics as well. Car websites and FB groups are already writing about this. BMW charging people $5/month for to connect their phones to their car.

[sspade]

Honest, dumb question:

Other than the hands free capability, does Apple Car Play offer any other benefit than just using your actual phone for the function you are requiring? Ive never really had the urge to have this free or not... possibly because I dont know enough about it. Or... it really is a gimmick.

[hoyasaxa]

Originally Posted by allinon72

What is so damn hard about Android Auto integration? Other automakers have made it available at the snap of the fingers, BMW makes it sound like they have to recode the entire idrive system to do so.

Google wants vehicle telematics but that raises customer privacy and BMW trade secrets issues. I'm glad they don't offer it.

[jphughan]

Originally Posted by sspade

Honest, dumb question:

Other than the hands free capability, does Apple Car Play offer any other benefit than just using your actual phone for the function you are requiring? Ive never really had the urge to have this free or not... possibly because I dont know enough about it. Or... it really is a gimmick.

Using your actual phone typically means taking your eyes farther away from the windshield. If you have a car mount for your phone, then that difference is less significant, but the phone's display will still be smaller and therefore the icons and text will be harder to read, and the smaller the content you have to read, the more time and mental bandwidth you have to take away from the road to read it.

And that's before even considering the benefit of curbing behavior that people know is bad but still do anyway. CarPlay only allows access to certain apps through the infotainment interface and only displays certain notifications, whereas your phone allows access to everything and notifies you about everything. The new "Do Not Disturb While Driving" feature changes that, but that completely locks you out of using your phone through its built-in display while driving unless you tap "I'm Not Driving", at which point you're back to being overly distracted.