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Please consider Apple Car Play

  • <i class="fa--xf fal fa-check "><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-hidden="true" ><use href="/data/local/icons/light.svg?v=1758297946#check"></use></svg></i> Discussion starter Discussion starter BMWBob
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To be honest, apart from the facility to book a service via the app, which is useless and I left a note with the developer, I use the app mainly for my navigation and so far it has been ok. I downloaded the maps for the area I am likely to cruise which covers 50% of the UK and that was a breeze. I like the fact that the data transfer is done to my phone and I can then check the fuel left, range, tyre pressure and even a recording of the journey I did.
Connectivity otherwise I use Bluetooth for my music and that connects every time without an issue. I can do all sorts of things with playlists, etc. I use the speakers system and they are awesome, even at motorway speeds.
 
I swear I read an article that CarPlay was coming to the new F series bikes? MotoPlay perhaps? I liked it on my GW, though it was a bit cumbersome. Any more, I just use my iPhone and a Quad Lock … universally simple.
 
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BMWBob said:
Please consider adding Apple Car Play to the TFT on the Transcontinental screen and menu. Frankly the Motorad Navigation App is awful and god forbid you make a stop, the app does not reconnect without great effort. In my BMW X5, it is seamless!

Thanks,
Bob in NH!
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Good comment. I love my R18 TC, great touring bike. Nice line up after the 1200C, the 1200CL, and now the R18 in my history. Note to BMW. Please be aware that you made a great bike with the TC. (I can even fit two full face helmets in the trunk with a bit of precise positioning). But, please note, your app and especially your navigation is terrible to the point of dangerous. The sheer instability of the connection and the utterly, unbelievably, incomprehensibly poor navigation is both inexcusable and WILL lead to accidents for anybody actually foolish enough to use it. Apple Play: Great idea
 
Well, my buddy bough a sat nav for his GS, not a Tomtom or any like that, it is some sort of nav he found in Amazon with touch screen and the lot. He is sending it back because is shite. On the other hand, I bought an iPhone 15 pro and we both went to the Bike Show in London. He ended up following me because his nav gadget kept crashing and my navigation via the app worked flawlessly. There has been one or two instances where I lost connection ( network coverage) and the app jumped from 3D maps to basic arrows, streets names and recommended lines, and after the signal came back so did the maps. Not disputing what other users are encountering but I believe is not the app but the phone network what lets it down sometimes if the coverage is poor.
 
Anibal said:
Well, my buddy bough a sat nav for his GS, not a Tomtom or any like that, it is some sort of nav he found in Amazon with touch screen and the lot. He is sending it back because is shite. On the other hand, I bought an iPhone 15 pro and we both went to the Bike Show in London. He ended up following me because his nav gadget kept crashing and my navigation via the app worked flawlessly. There has been one or two instances where I lost connection ( network coverage) and the app jumped from 3D maps to basic arrows, streets names and recommended lines, and after the signal came back so did the maps. Not disputing what other users are encountering but I believe is not the app but the phone network what lets it down sometimes if the coverage is poor.
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I use my iPhone 14 pro on quadlock with their vibration dampener attachment too. I have powered it through USB cable using Din socket. The set-up works very well. Only reason I am even thinking of GPS /carplay unit is the fear of screwing up my phone due to vibration. I read few complaints and Apples & Samsungs have acknowledged too that the vibration can ruin the camera mechanism. I know plenty of riders use phones on mounts and haven't faced any issues.
 
Rider4life said:
I use my iPhone 14 pro on quadlock with their vibration dampener attachment too. I have powered it through USB cable using Din socket. The set-up works very well. Only reason I am even thinking of GPS /carplay unit is the fear of screwing up my phone due to vibration. I read few complaints and Apples & Samsungs have acknowledged too that the vibration can ruin the camera mechanism. I know plenty of riders use phones on mounts and haven't faced any issues.
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I hear you and I share the sentiment regarding the vibrations. TBH, I keep my phone in my pocket for the same reason. Battery life is good enough for a full day riding and streaming music via the Marshals.
If I think I will need more juice because I will be a few days without power, I simply take my portable battery bank that will easily charge my phone 3 times. It is small enough (smaller than the phone) to slide it in my pockets but in my case I just leave it inside the panniers.
There are horses for courses 🤣🤣
 
I've got mine in a quadlock anti vibe mount. We'll see how it goes!

What annoys me about the software is that ALL motorrads using it across all of the models have the same gripes...and why oh why can't I use my brand new top of the range Google phone (running android) to use simple things like playlists. I can connect it and play music and skip tracks but that is it, so on the move I cannot even select a different album. If the software engineers can make Apple devices work, why not Android?
 
你们是幸运的，至少可以用导航，在中国你甚至不能下载 bmw的app ，即使用非常规手段下载了 ，也无法使用地图功能，应为中国屏蔽了谷歌地图，TC和B的大屏幕成为了摆设。
 
Felix said:
You are lucky, at least you can use navigation. In China, you can't even download the BMW app. Even if you download it using unconventional means, you can't use the map function because China has blocked Google Maps. The big screens of TC and B have become decorations.
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Welcome to the site, sorry that you you can't use the app. Honestly you are not missing much! I wish BMW would include a simple USB connector for MP3 like on the K52 series of R12's.
 
I won’t translate to Chinese in case Apple does not do it accurately but do you have an alternative sat nav in China that can be mounted to the handlebar?
 
I think BMW should abandon Connected on their motorcycles and just adopt CarPlay / Android Auto. As a company, they've been resistant to smartphone mirroring even going as far as to put it behind a $200 subscription on their cars until it started to hurt sales when every other auto maker was giving it away for free.

BMW Connected has a lot of behind the scenes reasons for BMW to stay with it mostly related to the data collected from our phones that gets sent to BMW for analytics and research (where we go, how fast, how hard and when) and CarPlay will basically silo off that data from BMW seeing it since CarPlay is just a screen mirroring tech so the data stays with Apple instead of being shared with BMW so things we do on CarPlay aren't shared with BMW so obviously they want to own that full stack and all of our data

BUT

BMW has convinced me that they are just doing a crap job at this overall on every TFT bike I've ever ridden. So if you're going to present an alternative to Android/CarPlay you had better make it work and give me enough value that I don't feel buyers remorse. But I do. Every time I use a TFT bike, I just wish it was dumber, better or a CarPlay screen. Give me a tach and speed and if you want to go high-tech just give me a dumb-terminal to cast my phone to so I can just use Apple Maps.
 
I 100% agree. With all of the feedback from various users across all models using the TFT, the only common thread is that whilst the display is great, the software is utter garbage. There are very few saying that the app is ok or even good. BMW - listen to the many not the few!
 
The BMW Connected app on the phone, and the UI on the R18 - both garbage. This is what I do for a living, it's not that hard to keep things simple and usable. They try to be too clever. Why does it take like 28 actions to turn on heated seats?

Also - yeah, they don't want to support CarPlay because they want the data - just like GM. They want to get all the data all the time, and not only use it for themselves but sell it to others - it's a money maker for them if they get enough. They sell it to data brokers and advertising companies, and it also can go to insurance companies.
 
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