I just purchased a 2008 M6 earlier this week and paired my iPhone 3GS successfully. All Contacts entries present and accounted for. Items since added to the iPhone Contacts list do not, however, appear in the car's Phonebook upon startup and reloading. I've tried unpairing, then re-pairing the iPhone, and I've tried all manner of combinations of first, last, or company names, including numbers--no changes are available in the car phonebook. Can't think of anything else to do. Would appreciate any suggestions. Best, Ted P.S. Fantastic automobile. Didn't know a car could be that amazing.
Did you attempt to "delete" the phone from the car? That's different than simply unpairing and re-pairing. See the manual on how to delete your phone, then re-add as a new phone. See if that works...
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, tried that, too, and no joy. Got BMW Assist activated yesterday and will call Customer Service today to straighten it out and, if successful, report back. Thanks again. Best, Ted Updated later today-- Well, the experience with BMW Customer Support was not exactly inspiring, sorry to say, but they're certainly a polite gorup of folks. Bottom line: It turns out the latest iPhone 3GS operating system software version supported by BMW is 3.1.3, which means BMW is over a year late with an update to their Navigation software to keep it operating as advertised. I do sympathize with how daunting it must be to have to update your own software every time the manufacturer of any compatible phone updates its operating system, but iPhones have become so ubiquitous that I was naively expecting a little better, I guess. To recap, here are the 2 issues, 1. Navigation not updating the car phone book for new entries on the phone Contacts list; and 2. How to activate, or gain access to, the additional Navigation Voice Recognition commands that come with BMW Assist Convenience Plan, as described in the owner's manual. And here's how the customer service experience went: BMW Assist--Customer Relations indicated that both issues were not their responsibility and transferred me to BMW Customer Support at 800-831-1117. Those folks indicated both issues were not their responsibility, either, and I should have kept talking to BMW Assist--Customer Relations. The service agents at both places could not grasp either of the issues but apologized very nicely for being unable to help. Eventually Customer Support conferenced me in with another BMW Assist agent, and she was able at least to understand the nature of both issues. With respect to failure to recognize new Contacts, she simply suggested I take the car to my nearest Service Center for diagnostics. More on that in a sec. As for the additional Voice Recognition commands that come with the upgraded BMW Assist, the primary reason I purchased the Convenience upgrade, she started to read from owner's manual. As I had just finished telling her I had already tried those specific steps, I was a little surprised she thought reading them to me would help. So I thanked her for her time, and hopefully we parted friends. This afternoon I stopped in at my local Service Center to pick up an accessory that had arrived (very quick service on that, thank you, BMW) and described the 2 issues to a service representative who immediately understood and had experience with, both. He indicated that both problems are rooted in the improvements from the old iPhone OS system versions to the current version, which just came out a day or two ago. And the conclusion was gremlins are going to be gremlins, and for the present there is no fix. But when I have the car in for state inspection in another week or two, they will take a look at the programming for any possible updates. Although the outcome is a little disappointing, I hope this note does not come across as BMW bashing, as written postings sometimes can. After all, BMW is a car company, not a software company, and the cars are fantastic. While BMW Bluetooth and Voice Recognition may not work as well as some other manufacturers', it's the car that really counts. And I certainly haven't had this much fun in a car in decades. Best, Ted
I, too, have had some issues with the electronic gremlin monsters, with pretty much the same results as you. http://www.bmwcca.org/forum/index.php?threads/my-bmw-remote-iphone-app.8602/#post-53508 Fortunately, I now have mine resolved, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you how... IMO, we are in a transitional time ( as if that isn't always the case). Dealers/service depts. have traditionally been mechanically oriented, and currently the electronic issues are a "no man's land". We may eventually get to the place where dealers have resident IS/IT personnel on-staff, but I don't see that happening soon. In talking with my usually service advisor at my dealership, I can easily see his frustrations. Customers buy a new car on the top side of 50 large, and they expect these electronic options to function. It's a tough row for him to hoe. Its not just BMW, either... This symptom is broad based, affecting all makes. At some point, it's got to change. Right now, when it comes to the electronic functions in my cars, I feel like I do when I go into stores like Best Buy. I seem to know more about the product than the clerk who's attempting to sell it to me.
