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Airfly Pro

Specific discussion about the E89 2009 Z4 (sDrive35is, sDrive35i, sDrive30i, sDrive23i)
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Timmyboybunter
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Post by Timmyboybunter » Sun May 24, 2020 2:15 pm

Pbondar wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 1:10 pm
Yes
Ta.
Pooltee wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 1:57 pm I am probably asking a bit much here, but I am guessing you have no control over your phone from the head unit / steering wheel controls with these devises?

All track skips etc would need to be done via the phone?
Correct - though there are other products which pretend to be a plugged in iPhone via the USB port, which do use steering wheel buttons (assuming your car supports it - not sure if that was an option).

The later bluetooth had an option to support music streaming - which mine doesn't have unfortunately.
2012 VW Passat 1.4 Tsi Estate
2005 Mercedes CLK 55 AMG
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2010 E89 BMW Z4 sDrive30i (sold)
2003 E85 BMW Z4 3.0 (sold)

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Post by Deepseaskateboard » Sun May 24, 2020 2:36 pm

Pooltee wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 1:57 pm I am probably asking a bit much here, but I am guessing you have no control over your phone from the head unit / steering wheel controls with these devises?

All track skips etc would need to be done via the phone?
I can’t see how it would work, but also have not tried it.
I will give it a go, and post here if it does.

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Post by Silverstar » Sun May 24, 2020 3:20 pm

Pooltee wrote: Sun May 24, 2020 1:57 pm I am probably asking a bit much here, but I am guessing you have no control over your phone from the head unit / steering wheel controls with these devises?

All track skips etc would need to be done via the phone?
I am using something similar to what Deepseaskateboard is using, you can see it here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mpow-Bluetooth ... mp;sr=8-15

The sound quality is great and I leave it plugged in to the USB so I don't have to worry about charging it. You do however have to press a button to activate it when you want to use but the plus side is I can also use it on things like headphones etc.

You can't control it from the steering wheel or radio button but I use either my Apple watch and Siri to select tracks etc. It works very well.
2009 sdrive30i auto Sapphire Black / Coral Red

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Post by R.E92 » Mon May 25, 2020 9:02 pm

Deepseaskateboard wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 10:52 am You can keep the airfly plugged into the usb if you want.
Battery is good for a weekend though.
Does it automatically power up and pair with the phone when you get in the car or do you need to press a button to get it to play?

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Post by Deepseaskateboard » Mon May 25, 2020 10:39 pm

R.E92 wrote: Mon May 25, 2020 9:02 pm
Deepseaskateboard wrote: Sat May 23, 2020 10:52 am You can keep the airfly plugged into the usb if you want.
Battery is good for a weekend though.
Does it automatically power up and pair with the phone when you get in the car or do you need to press a button to get it to play?
It has a big button on the front, you need to press that to turn it on.

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Post by Beeacon » Thu May 28, 2020 10:03 am

If you want to use the steering wheel controls then you need to use something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airdual-Blueto ... =1-1-fkmr0

But they're around £90, and I think you need to have an option of some form on your car (can't remember which, can search using your VIN number to find what options are listed on your car) to allow the car to cycle stuff from your phone. Can just leave this plugged in, set and forget.

Edit: Mine is a Tune2air wma3000b Bluetooth adaptor (non-combox).
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Post by Deepseaskateboard » Thu May 28, 2020 2:41 pm

Beeacon wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 10:03 am If you want to use the steering wheel controls then you need to use something like this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airdual-Blueto ... =1-1-fkmr0

But they're around £90, and I think you need to have an option of some form on your car (can't remember which, can search using your VIN number to find what options are listed on your car) to allow the car to cycle stuff from your phone. Can just leave this plugged in, set and forget.

Edit: Mine is a Tune2air wma3000b Bluetooth adaptor (non-combox).
I wish I knew about this prior to getting the airfly!!

This looks like the best solution by far.

Does it work with spotify? It says something about needing apple music?

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Post by Beeacon » Thu May 28, 2020 4:46 pm

Deepseaskateboard wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 2:41 pm
I wish I knew about this prior to getting the airfly!!

This looks like the best solution by far.

Does it work with spotify? It says something about needing apple music?
I only play music through spotify so yes it works with that. Treat it like a blutooth headset, if you can play it to a headset then it will work, so google maps works well with it too (though it gets annoying so just set google maps to 'alerts only' and not counting down the yards to the next right turn).

The buttons on the steering wheel are useful for 'next track' and 'previous track' but that's about it. I recommend making a few mega playlists so its easier to scroll through stuff.

Edit: I also think that this only works with Apple products. Android phones still won't allow you to control via the steering wheel.
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Post by Deepseaskateboard » Thu May 28, 2020 7:03 pm

Beeacon wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 4:46 pm
Deepseaskateboard wrote: Thu May 28, 2020 2:41 pm
I wish I knew about this prior to getting the airfly!!

This looks like the best solution by far.

Does it work with spotify? It says something about needing apple music?
I only play music through spotify so yes it works with that. Treat it like a blutooth headset, if you can play it to a headset then it will work, so google maps works well with it too (though it gets annoying so just set google maps to 'alerts only' and not counting down the yards to the next right turn).

The buttons on the steering wheel are useful for 'next track' and 'previous track' but that's about it. I recommend making a few mega playlists so its easier to scroll through stuff.

Edit: I also think that this only works with Apple products. Android phones still won't allow you to control via the steering wheel.
Class, I will put this on the ‘things I need for the car’ list

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Post by Jasonn » Thu May 28, 2020 8:31 pm

I have a 2016 and as I had a Combox fitted (so I had Bluetooth phone calls but not music streaming) I found out that it could be coded (I wasted money on an OBD thingy and carista/bimmercode).

I found a coder, paid him £70, ten minutes later I can stream music via Bluetooth from my phone, steering wheel controls for volume and skipping (including Spotify and amazon prime) - I get in turf n on the car and it all pairs up, no buttons to press.

Some of the coders ask for your VIN no when you phone them, then tell you if it can be done - I'm not a coder, I just hit things until they work, but it might be worth giving one of them a bell

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Post by Jasonn » Thu May 28, 2020 8:33 pm

BTW the combox was a factory fit after a certain year (forgot when - but there is probably someone here who knows) but BMW didn't enable it, preferring to change it as an extra

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Post by Beeacon » Thu May 28, 2020 11:34 pm

You can type your VIN number in online to find out what options your car has. There is a specific one for when you have a COMBOX (I think it is option 6VC and was installed on all cars late 2010 but I’m not entirely sure) that I’m sure a quick forum search will find. Then you just need to see if you have the combox or not.

If you do, then coding is the way forward if it doesn’t already work / a bit more digging to see what other options are present.

If you don’t, then the Tune2air will give steering controls to your iPhone music streaming.
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