Today’s cars are more advanced than ever. The problems have also became more advanced and complex. Many of you may have heard the new 2019 vehicles are coming with a new I drive system called, ID7.
With the new system many issues have arose with connected drive/ infotainment system. I recently worked on a new X7, and the owner had issues with Apple CarPlay connecting and disconnecting; or not reconnecting to the vehicle automatically. This only occurred with the spouse’s phone. BMW does have new software out to fix many issues with Apple CarPlay. I programmed the vehicle with latest software and tested it with my iPhone and CarPlay, and it operated properly.
I asked the customer to use their phone and it still wouldn’t connect properly. When given approval to search through the contact list, I found some of the contacts had emojis next to the letter names. This is important because, BMW head units can not interpret those emojis. Once we removed the emojis from the contacts the phone connected and worked perfectly.
I have encountered this on older models with bluetooth connection issues, but this was a first with CarPlay. Be aware there are plenty of kinks with new technology in BMW. More to come!
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