Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
it's not only BMW.. AUDI is showing same symptoms. 2 mins on call and connection drops.
Guess for now.. usb is only solution till bluetooth connectivity is fixed.. whew
and all this time i was wondering it was me alone..
 
Or how about Apple stops f*****g breaking BT every few months? Not everyone has usb within reach. BT is not new tech, there's no reason other than sloppy lazy f******g development for this kind of bull****.
Welcome to Apples wireless future. You were warned.
 
LMAO. The comments here are hilarious. Everyone playing the blame game, it's BMW's fault. No! It's Apple's fault!

We'll see what happens, but unless BMW is somehow supplying head units to other car manufacturers, it's more likely that Apple/iOS 10 is doing something with BT to cause problems for many across various manufacturers.
 
Last edited:
LMAO. The comments here are hilarious. Everyone playing the blame game, it's BMW's fault. No! It's Apple's fault!

We'll see what happens, but unless BMW is somehow supplying head units to other car manufacturers, it's more likely that Apple/iOS 10 is doing something with BT to cause problems for many across many manufacturers.

As poor as some of the auto mfr's implementations may be, the reality is that the cars haven't changed in the last few weeks. Clearly Apple's fault - par for the course with them over the last few years.
 
Add Lexus CT200h to the list using latest beta. When answering incoming calls audio is not transferred to the car. Outgoing calls work OK. Had the same issue when iOS 9 came out. Took a while to settle down. :(
 
///M4 owner here, and no BT issues so far ... but I rarely stream music! Too busy listening to the glorious exhaust note!!

yum!
 
My dad kept bugging me about this yesterday. His new iPhone 7 couldn't detect his 2013 BMW X5. So I drove to their house and tried to pair it with my Lexus GS350 and it couldn't detect it either. So I told him connect it to the aux in his car for a meantime. Then he gave me that WTF are you talking about look, I realized that there's no 3.5mm jack. :D:D
 
  • Like
Reactions: gregoryalee
My dad kept bugging me about this yesterday. His new iPhone 7 couldn't detect his 2013 BMW X5. So I drove to their house and tried to pair it with my Lexus GS350 and it couldn't detect it either. So I told him connect it to the aux in his car for a meantime. Then he gave me that WTF are you talking about look, I realized that there's no 3.5mm jack. :D:D

Why would you chose the Aux input anyway? USB is going to provide better quality audio, and charge at the same time with one cable.

Regardless, why would he give you that look anyway -- the iPhone 7 came with a 3.5mm adapter free in the box, so it is a perfectly valid option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Beck Show
Why would you chose the Aux input anyway? USB is going to provide better quality audio, and charge at the same time with one cable.

Regardless, why would he give you that look anyway -- the iPhone 7 came with a 3.5mm adapter free in the box, so it is a perfectly valid option.
Agreed with the ability to charge, but there is no difference in audio quality between the USB and 3.5mm jack unless there is a cable problem or an issue with the head unit.
 
Why would you chose the Aux input anyway? USB is going to provide better quality audio, and charge at the same time with one cable.

Regardless, why would he give you that look anyway -- the iPhone 7 came with a 3.5mm adapter free in the box, so it is a perfectly valid option.

You're assuming that a vehicle has USB. Aux is standard, USB is often an option depending on stereo system you have optioned.
 
You're assuming that a vehicle has USB. Aux is standard, USB is often an option depending on stereo system you have optioned.
No what is happening is that the #wireless future is banging straight up against the crappy BT wireless standard. Just like many of us detractors had been "whining" about.
 
Agreed with the ability to charge, but there is no difference in audio quality between the USB and 3.5mm jack unless there is a cable problem or an issue with the head unit.

You mean specifically with the BMW head units? Because quality of audio could be improved if the head unit has a better DAC, and most certainly better amp, than the iPhone. In fact, the iPhone puts out a compromised analogue signal that is not optimized for Line level inputs (nor is it optimized for headphones). So the USB connection is always going to be better, unless the head unit has both an inferior DAC and amp, which is unlikely. Add to that the analogue signal can be affected by the vehicle electronic noise. My Aux jack is incredible noisy on my head unit, and I never use it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Beck Show
You mean specifically with the BMW head units? Because quality of audio could be improved if the head unit has a better DAC, and most certainly better amp, than the iPhone. In fact, the iPhone puts out a compromised analogue signal that is not optimized for Line level inputs (nor is it optimized for headphones). So the USB connection is always going to be better, unless the head unit has both an inferior DAC and amp, which is unlikely. Add to that the analogue signal can be affected by the vehicle electronic noise. My Aux jack is incredible noisy on my head unit, and I never use it.

I concur. I have an 2004 330ci (e46) with OEM navigation. Much better sound when it's connected through the factory iPod hookup from '04 than the aux input. The DAC in the Harman/Kardon system is 12 years old, so I'd imagine that the difference would be far more noticeable in, say, a 2016 7-series with the Bowers/Wilkins system. As an aside, my iPhone connects just fine to the circa 2006 BMW bluetooth system in the car- Bluetooth 1.1 IIRC. Perhaps it's just a bug in Apple's implementation of Bluetooth 2.1, used in the 08-13 cars?
 
Knock on wood no issues as of yet with my 2016 X1. How quickly things can change with every iOS update, though.
 
This is not a good tag-team. If anyone can write buggier software than Apple, it's BMW. My system crashes unless I follow some specific order of connection/app launches that seems to change randomly with the cycle of the moon.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ravedog
You mean specifically with the BMW head units? Because quality of audio could be improved if the head unit has a better DAC, and most certainly better amp, than the iPhone. In fact, the iPhone puts out a compromised analogue signal that is not optimized for Line level inputs (nor is it optimized for headphones). So the USB connection is always going to be better, unless the head unit has both an inferior DAC and amp, which is unlikely. Add to that the analogue signal can be affected by the vehicle electronic noise. My Aux jack is incredible noisy on my head unit, and I never use it.

Compromised analog signal? How so? Have you ever heard of gain staging? Works wonders! What data do you have to support this? Numbers please, not subjective opinion as you always seem to provide. Many Many people over at head-fi.org, a community of audiophiles, certainly don't agree with you, and feel that the DAC in the iphone is excellent. I would agree, even with owning a 2300.00 DAC/Amp at home.
In addition, most car manufacturers offer pretty crappy OEM stereo solutions putting very little money into audio. Since you appear to think you are an audio expert, which OEM entertainment systems have better DACs than the iphone?
 
You mean specifically with the BMW head units? Because quality of audio could be improved if the head unit has a better DAC, and most certainly better amp, than the iPhone. In fact, the iPhone puts out a compromised analogue signal that is not optimized for Line level inputs (nor is it optimized for headphones). So the USB connection is always going to be better, unless the head unit has both an inferior DAC and amp, which is unlikely. Add to that the analogue signal can be affected by the vehicle electronic noise. My Aux jack is incredible noisy on my head unit, and I never use it.

I wouldn't say that the iPhone DAC/amp compromises the output, it's in fact really good for what it is if you head over to audiophile forums. I think the problem has to do more with the setup in the car than anything. For example, on MINI's, there is a filter/roll off through AUX so the sound is going to be compromised because of that and not because the iPhone is compromising the output via headphone jack. So a USB connection may be better but not because the iPhone outputs a better signal via USB but because BMW intentionally tweaked what the AUX can take from other external sources for whatever reason.
 
I concur. I have an 2004 330ci (e46) with OEM navigation. Much better sound when it's connected through the factory iPod hookup from '04 than the aux input. The DAC in the Harman/Kardon system is 12 years old, so I'd imagine that the difference would be far more noticeable in, say, a 2016 7-series with the Bowers/Wilkins system. As an aside, my iPhone connects just fine to the circa 2006 BMW bluetooth system in the car- Bluetooth 1.1 IIRC. Perhaps it's just a bug in Apple's implementation of Bluetooth 2.1, used in the 08-13 cars?
Yeah I could see the BMW sound system USB connectivity being much better than say a Ford.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.