Your specialist subject@ The life and times of Apple CarPlay

[B21]

A few people I know have struggled with CarPlay and how to implement it on an E89...here's my first bash at explaining it..

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mbrg96hh ... owrr0&dl=0

CarPlay
Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are two very similar systems that allow a user’s smartphone to be used in a car as the primary method for delivering navigation and audio content. The smartphone is very powerful and its capabilities usually exceed the car’s own multimedia systems by some distance.
They do this by representing information from the smartphone onto a screen in the car in a consistent and simplified way, not in the way it appears on the smartphone.
Great emphasis is given to ensure that the driver limits his visual interaction with his smartphone to a minimum.
The user interface is simplified and uncluttered and is consistent and how it moves from one content area to another.
As the underlying operating systems develop, these systems continue to evolve with emphasis on usability ensuring that the driver primary focus is driving.
For this discussion will we refer to CarPlay but Android Auto offers a similar although less polished alternative.
In the BMW Z4 E89 there are a number of different ways that CarPlay can be implemented.
As CarPlay was never offered as an option on the E89 all solutions involve third party hardware.
For E89s that have the iDrive system a £200 to £400 pound additional box usually called MMI is wired in between the main CIC iDrive computer and the iDrive display.
A smartphone connected to either the MMI USB connection or via Bluetooth and Wireless will then display CarPlay as an additional application in an alternative environment to the normal iDrive functions.
By using the iDrive controller, the driver can both navigate around the car play screen and also toggle forwards and backwards between a CarPlay interface and the normal iDrive functions.
This is an either or situation, so either you look at a car plate interface or you look at the normal iDrive interface.
The benefits of this MMI box are that the normal steering wheel control buttons and the iDrive controller operate the CarPlay interface as well and the normal iDrive interface. In addition using Apple Siri voice control, it’s possible to control many applications within the CarPlay such as maps and music by simple voice commands.
These are relatively easily understood by the system in contrast to the normally very clunky original system where voice commands seemingly hardly ever work!
In addition the MMI box interfaces with the normal audio systems and in many cases can provide an audio interface to the same standard as the best cd and USB based systems.
There are two alternatives to using an iDrive system if one is not fitted .
The cheapest solution for £50 to £100 is a new screen that attaches to the dashboard in some format and contains sufficient processing power to run the CarPlay interface.
These systems usually come with a simple dc power plug and a 3.5 millimetre audio interface socket and in addition typically have an on-board speaker.
By plugging the audio output from the unit into the auxiliary input of the Z4 audio information from CarPlay can be fed into the normal audio system of the car.
The primary disadvantage of these systems is that the mounting systems are usually generalised and therefore a neat installation without cables being obviously present is more difficult.
In addition the cars audio system and steering wheel controls are not able to be used to navigate menus on the add on CarPlay unit.
There are literally hundreds of different car play units of this type and in some cases audio quality is more than satisfactory, in some cases it’s very poor. Without trying a specific unit one cannot advise on the suitability of such a unit.
Additionally quite often these systems have the ability to broadcast an FM signal that the car FM radio can be tuned in as an alternative way of passing audio across from the unit to the cars audio system and in some cases Bluetooth support is offered, however often the problem is that for E89 with limited multimedia support Bluetooth capability is not available at the requisite level in the car anyway.
The other more expensive alternative to an iDrive system is a fully fledged Android based car computer system that is designed to be mounted in the same location as the iDrive system would have been and uses the same fixing points to do so .
These Android units are exceptionally powerful with excellent computing and graphics capabilities and the ability often to store large amounts of information on them.
They normally use a sophisticated and complex cable adapter to allow the unit to be fully integrated into the car’s electrical system. and thereby all the other interfaces that would normally work with an iDrive system such as the steering wheel controls and iDrive controller will work with the Android head unit .
These Android head units usually come with a copy of an iDrive controller specifically for them and therefore mimic to a very large extent a normal iDrive system but with better screen resolution and because they are a fully-fledged Android computer system access to all the normal Android applications.
From a CarPlay perspective these Android head units are supplied with a software package that allows them to behave as a CarPlay unit.
This can get slightly confusing because again the Android head unit can operate in effectively two different ways, the first is as a standard CarPlay unit with a typical simplified user interface, and by toggling on the screen on the controller you can drop back to a normal Android screen interface.
There is a hybrid solution which allows An Android head unit to be used with a CIC computer and replace the normal iDrive screen with the Android head unit. This allows three way access with a CarPlay interface, normal Android apps interface and the ability to drop back into the IDrive system and use its features and apps
The Android head units’ display and audio qualities continue to improve over time and in many cases now the audio outputs either via 3.5 millimetre socket or via a USB interface provide excellent audio quality.
Again there are many suppliers of either the same or very similar products and it’s a fast changing market issues about support and service are traded against cost.
The higher end units typically cost in the region of £400 to £700 and the manufacturer provides support and service as part of that. Some units are available at prices in the range of £200 to £300 pounds but again issues about quality reliability and performance need to be assessed.
As can be seen there are a number of different options with a number of different benefits and limitations.
The primary benefits of CarPlay can be seen best when navigating. Because your phone remembers your searches, then for example, if you were looking at the Premier Inn in Newcastle just giving CarPlay the ‘P’ will probably get CarPlay to suggest immediately the correct choice. In comparison, with iDrive, a laborious scrolling of the controller through many letters is required and usually the iDrive map is badly out of date.

[Nanu]

I never managed to get Carplay onto my e89 despite numerous attempts. First try on my G29 and it works brilliantly.
An upgrade to a G29 is not the cheapest option but it works

[B21]

I never managed to get Carplay onto my e89 despite numerous attempts. First try on my G29 and it works brilliantly.
An upgrade to a G29 is not the cheapest option but it works

Some pagination would help..ran out of time before tea time..I’ll add some pics as well..

So for your info I’ve tried all 4 options I highlighted ..and they all worked