I have a new 2013 335xi sedan equipped with iDrive. I have most of the iDrive functions figured out. However, Connected Drive and BMW Apps are still somewhat of a mystery. The BMW NA web site is of no help; it's full of advertisements for Connected Drive features, but there is nothing that actually tells you how to make it work. I have downloaded the BMW Connected app to my iPhone 4S. This app is required to be able to use the BMW Apps feature of Connected Drive. After I connect my iPhone to the USB port in the center armrest and start the BMW Connected app on the iPhone, the BMW Apps appear in the Connected Drive menu. Some of the BMW apps work without any problems. Now for the problems. The first problem is with the Calendar app in the BMW Apps menu. The Calendar app is supposed to display the calendar events that are on the iPhone. This doesn't work for me. All days show "No appointments". When I follow the same procedure with the iPhone of the iDrive guru at my local dealer, his calendar events do show up. The second problem is with the Messages feature in the Connected Drive menu. (Note: this is not a "BMW App"; it's just one of the selections in the Connected Drive menu.) This feature is supposed to display messages that are on the iPhone. This also doesn't work for me. We didn't try this with the iDrive guru's iPhone, but he said it works fine for him in his BMW. So, if anyone has encountered problems with accessing iPhone calendar events and messages with Connected Drive and figured out how to make these features work, please let me know. Thanks.
Well for your first issue the calendar should work if you have the proper options. I will have to look into it more to see if there is a setting for sharing the calendar. As for the messages currently this feature does not work with the iphone. I have attached a link with what your phone is capable of in your vehicle. http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Owner/BluetoothTechnology/bluetoothframedin.aspx
Based on your response, I was able to fix the problem with calendar events not showing up. There is a setting on my iPhone under Settings: Privacy: Calendars. It lists all applications that have requested access to the calendar. The Connected app was listed, but access was turned off. After I turned on access, my iPhone calendar events now show up in Connected Drive under the Calendar app. Also, the Connected app shows up in several other iPhone Privacy settings - namely, Location Services and Contacts. I tuned on access there as well. Since I posted my question, I was also able to get the BMW Assist MyInfo feature to work. I can now send locations (i.e., street addresses) from Google Maps on my Mac laptop to my BMW. These locations show up either under Office: Messages or under Connected Drive: Messages. For the latter to work, the iPhone must be connected to the USB port in the car, and the Connected app on the iPhone must be activated. Besides messages not working, the only other feature I haven't been able to figure out is the ECO PRO Analyser. Yes, that spelling is correct. It's "Analyser", not "Analyzer". Strange. I haven't looked at your link yet.
I'm glad that you got your calendar working. I must have miss understood by what you wanted the messages to do sorry about that, I meant text messages and email. What exactly is going on with ECO PRO?
Messages I should clarify the issue about messages. The iDrive expert at my dealership told me that it is possible to display in the car the text messages on my iPhone. I’m not sure whether this means all messages or just new messages. The way to display messages is to connect the iPhone to the car, launch the Connected app on the iPhone, and then select Messages from the Connected Drive menu. When I do this, I don’t see any messages, either old messages or new messages that I have not yet opened on the iPhone. The dealership person says it works for him. Incidentally, there is a something else about messages (unrelated to the above issue) that I discovered recently. If you go to Google Maps on your home computer (in my case a Apple MacBook Pro) and search for an address, you can then send the address to your car. You have follow these steps: • Click on the “more” menu in Google Maps and select “Send” • Click on “Send to Car” • For “Make”, select BMW • For “BMW Assist account name”, enter your email address on record with BMW • Click “Send” Assuming all this works, and it does for me, the address appears in your car if you select Messages from the Connected Drive menu. ECO Pro Anslyser There are several apps within the Connected app on the iPhone, such as Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, News, Wiki Local, etc. To see these apps, you select the BMW Apps tab within the Connected app. When you connect the iPhone to the car, launch the Connected app on the iPhone, and go to the Connected Drive Menu, you will see these most of these apps in the BMW Apps section. This makes sense. The problem is that the ECO PRO Anslyser (which is supposed to analyze your driving style) is one of the apps that does not show up in the BMW Apps section of Connected Drive. There are probably settings in the car or on the iPhone will make the ECO PRO Anslyser show up. I just haven’t figured out what they are. I probably would never use this feature, but it bothers me that I can’t get it to work.
The messages as far as I know on the Iphone's will not work. They were suppose to work with apples IOS update to 6.0 but it never worked. Now there saying the IOS 7 should fix all these issues. What it is suppose to do is display new messages and respond to them this is by bluetooth. It currently works with blackberry's. As far as the google maps sent to your car that is a great feature and will work as long as you have an active assist account. For the ECO pro issue have you turned on activate saving. With that turned on plug your phone into the vehicle and drive in eco pro mode the phone will save your trip in eco pro mode and tell you how efficient you were and how to do better. Be honest your car has the same feature in it so it's kinda useless I think.
Thanks for this. That was exactly my problem. I would have gone nuts resetting the car but for this quick little heads up. iPhones seem to reset themselves from time to time.
