[AP]

Why use Apple car play?

Thought I’d raise this thread about discussing Apple Carplay (and Android Auto)

Both of these products seem to be very popular , not just for us driving BMW but other manufacturers as well.

So why is this?

I think for some cars, using either of these 2 is “better” than the built in infotainment
The manufacturer may have made a conscious decision to not invest much in their own and save the R&D costs.
Offering Apple car play or Android auto gets round that.
Or they may simply just not be very good at implementing one!
Although I’m not aware of any, there may well be manufacoters already providing cars without satnav at all and simply just allow carplay or Android auto to hook up and provide that functionality. That could be a trend in the motor industry to save costs potentially…


I have idrive 7 in my car and I tried wireless Apple car play but came away unimpressed as I didn’t feel it offered anything over and above the BMW system
I happen to think the BMW is very good actually.

So these are the reasons I stayed with the BMW satnav and decided against using Apple Carplay.

Pros of BMW Satnav
Interface is consistent with the rest of the BMW displays.
Can send destinations to car via bmw app on phone. Easy to find addresses of places.
RTTI, real time updates of traffic which have save many hours.(OK have to pay subscription after 3 years for this)
Map updates every quarter. (Ok you have to pay for this as well after 3 years)
Speed camera alerts . This is just fixed cameras . (Again have to pay a small amount for this from the start)
Directions displayed in HUD. Includes a map at junctions to help aid you around.
Recommends which lane to be in – also shown in HUD

Cons of using Apple car play
Big drain on phone battery if not being charged. If a cable, a bit messy or you cold potentially use induction charging if your phone fits.
Interface looks , well childish to me. Primary colours and simplified. Doesn’t match rest of displays in car.
Brighter in general as backgrounds tend to be white.


The one item I miss out on is from using Waze, with notification of mobile speed cameras.
That is obviously reliant on people reporting this in so certainly not fool proof. Using apple I don’t think Waze integrates with the HUD, but running on Android , think I’m right in saying it does?

If you are engrained in the apple system, then I guess access to other features such as music could be of benefit.
Whilst I have an apple phone, I don’t have any data within their ecosystem such as music so that has a bearing on my decision.
I play music from a USB drive only.
Quality of BMW maps in certain countries may also skew results potentially. I’m in the UK and happen to think they are good and have been certainly since F10 days

Those are just my views, but aware that many here use the Carplay or Android auto and are more than happy with it.

No right answer and down to preferences, but I’ve created a poll, just to see out of curiosity , what proportion of people use which.

Discuss.

[adhrp]

I use none of the above. I just slap my phone onto the dash and open Google Maps. Primary reason for this is my 2012 328i had a great nav but 0 updates so it was outdated within a couple of years and started taking me along weird routes. Google Maps just works so well that I don't want to experiment when taking a trip. The BMW satnav features you mentioned are great, but I need up to date maps. I think my 2020 does get OTA map updates.. Perhaps I should give the built in satnav a chance but would like to see what others' experiences are in this thread.

Edit: I clicked on Android Auto by mistake (using my phone). It should be 'Other'.

[Gautam]

I use Waze over carplay. Voted for carplay.

Waze has real-time crowd sourced alerts for cops, potholes, accidents and other things which gives me peace of mind I can’t get with anything else. I wish I could see it in the hud. I can search for where I want to go when I’m at home and press “go.” When I sit in the car, it automatically starts navigating. It’s a much more seamless experience than sending an address to the car. Searching for addresses in the bmw system seems very challenging, while doing so on a phone is natural. Siri’s voice recognition is also better than BMW’s, not that it’s very good either. Did the slapping the phone on the dash thing for my last 2 BMW’s, feels clunky now.

[LogicalApex]

I use and prefer BMW maps in iDrive 7.

[ezaircon4jc]

I've always preferred the manufacturer provided nav. BMW's seem to work really well, so long as the maps are up-to-date. I only paid for the lifetime FSC for our F10 and get the map updates for free. I paid $25 for a lifetime FSC for our 2019 G30 and the mapsets are a whopping $25. I stupidly accepted the OTA map update a few months ago, which knocked me back an update. I had to reinstall my newer mapset. I also like the way the nav interfaces with the rest of the infotainment system, especially the HUD.

I don't like google, or any other 3rd party system tracking me. I have the option with the factory system.

[NGT2]

I use both.

BMW nav if I’m not receiving directions but want to keep an idea of where I am.

I used CarPlay when I’m receiving directions on a trip because I’m already in CarPlay for reading/writing texts, making calls, and listening to Spotify. So it just keeps it consistent. I don’t really care that it’s not on my HUD.

[Gautam]

I tried the bmw system (id6) for the second time (first time was the day I received the car). It's acceptable, but I maintain waze is better. Perhaps ID7 is a cut above. The overlay on the HUD is pretty impressive...better than I remembered it. The my bmw app’s map functionality is better than I expected with yelp and here! integrated.

I actually switched between the two a couple of times in the middle of the trip. Traffic is especially rough during this Thanksgiving weekend and we were heading to a busy downtown. The BMW's RTTI identified traffic slowdowns, but Waze was significantly more clever in avoiding them. Waze's UI for showing heavy traffic is also much clearer and more effective.

I wish I could have Waze on the head unit and BMW on the HUD, but it's too smart to allow that, and yet not smart enough to have waze on both.

[LogicalApex]

Originally Posted by Gautam

I tried the bmw system (id6) for the second time (first time was the day I received the car). It's acceptable, but I maintain waze is better. Perhaps ID7 is a cut above. The overlay on the HUD is pretty impressive...better than I remembered it. The my bmw app’s map functionality is better than I expected with yelp and here! integrated.

I actually switched between the two a couple of times in the middle of the trip. Traffic is especially rough during this Thanksgiving weekend and we were heading to a busy downtown. The BMW's RTTI identified traffic slowdowns, but Waze was significantly more clever in avoiding them. Waze's UI for showing heavy traffic is also much clearer and more effective.

I wish I could have Waze on the head unit and BMW on the HUD, but it's too smart to allow that, and yet not smart enough to have waze on both.

You can get both. Just start BMW navigation first. Then do Waze and you can get BMW in HUD and Waze in CarPlay.

[Chappers 71]

I just use the I drive sat nav, I think it’s fine, have used car play once

[Joe-BMW33]

I’m an Apple ecosystem guy and I use Apple CarPlay. 90% of the time it’s on my screen using Maps or listening to Music. It’s just so integrated with Calendar, Messages etc. It’s far from perfect in terms of BMW integration, but it eliminates the need for me to ever pickup my phone while driving.

I’ve always found the idrive interface for listening and navigating music frustrating to use. Seems I’m always spinning the idrive controller and hitting the back button. Just too many embedded menus. Siri solves finding just about anything I’m looking for. I also hate the cars navigation but admittedly that is most likely because I never use it and when I try I’m lost.

[Chappers 71]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I’m an Apple ecosystem guy and I use Apple CarPlay. 90% of the time it’s on my screen using Maps or listening to Music. It’s just so integrated with Calendar, Messages etc. It’s far from perfect in terms of BMW integration, but it eliminates the need for me to ever pickup my phone while driving.

I’ve always found the idrive interface for listening and navigating music frustrating to use. Seems I’m always spinning the idrive controller and hitting the back button. Just too many embedded menus. Siri solves finding just about anything I’m looking for. I also hate the cars navigation but admittedly that is most likely because I never use it and when I try I’m lost.

I mainly listen to the wireless or the cd’s that have downloaded onto the hard drive, I have no music on my phone, don’t wanna be reading messages or making calls when I’m driving & rarely use the nav as I mostly know where I’m going…yeah I know that I’m a dinosaur

[tsbrown]

I have iDrive 6 and HUD, which only projects built in nav so that’s what I use more often. However I do use Waze, Apple Maps or Google Maps as well if I expect to have traffic issues because I think they are better than RTTI on BMW navigation. Our X3 has iD7 so use CarPlay maps more in that car.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Chappers 71

I mainly listen to the wireless or the cd’s that have downloaded onto the hard drive, I have no music on my phone, don’t wanna be reading messages or making calls when I’m driving & rarely use the nav as I mostly know where I’m going…yeah I know that I’m a dinosaur

I have all my lossless music files loaded on the HDD (about 13,000). I have about 30 ripped DVD's or YouTube rips on a thumb drive in the glove box. Although the 13,000 lossless files sound better than streaming (which can't do lossless), I find myself listening to my Apple Music playlists the most. The HDD and iDrive interface annoys me. I only put on video (in motion) when I am showing off. I also have just started to use Sirius a bit more as I think the sound quality has finally improved.

[530iDriver]

I use both. My car is in iDrive 6 world, but still believe all these years later, iD6 is pretty solid/decent and less buggy than iD7 is/was (Experienced several random CarPlay drops on a rental 2022 530i last year with iD7).

The BMW NAV is pretty good.
Since I added CarPlay to my 2017, I also use Apple Maps. Apple Maps are pretty darned good too.

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I have all my lossless music files loaded on the HDD (about 13,000). I have about 30 ripped DVD's or YouTube rips on a thumb drive in the glove box. Although the 13,000 lossless files sound better than streaming (which can't do lossless), I find myself listening to my Apple Music playlists the most. The HDD and iDrive interface annoys me. I only put on video (in motion) when I am showing off. I also have just started to use Sirius a bit more as I think the sound quality has finally improved.

Does Apple Music sound better than Spotify?

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by NGT2

Does Apple Music sound better than Spotify?

By a country mile. It sucks because I really like Spotify, but song for song, Apple Music streaming is just stronger and louder. I tried to convert, but then I’d use Apple Music and it clearly sounded better. Not even close. I swear Apple does this by design. I also have Tidal, Pandora, Amazon Music and it’s the same thing, Apple Music sounds better.

[NGT2]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

By a country mile. It sucks because I really like Spotify, but song for song, Apple Music streaming is just stronger and louder. I tried to convert, but then I’d use Apple Music and it clearly sounded better. Not even close. I swear Apple does this by design. I also have Tidal, Pandora, Amazon Music and it’s the same thing, Apple Music sounds better.

Yeah they probably do it on purpose. Make sense.

[silverydragon72]

I use android auto to have a consistent experience across me and my wife's vehicles as they are different makes. Also to be honest I like using the voice functions in android auto and how it integrates with my music application deezer.

[Gautam]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

By a country mile. It sucks because I really like Spotify, but song for song, Apple Music streaming is just stronger and louder. I tried to convert, but then I’d use Apple Music and it clearly sounded better. Not even close. I swear Apple does this by design. I also have Tidal, Pandora, Amazon Music and it’s the same thing, Apple Music sounds better.

I don’t think apple is crippling Spotify or other services but I’m curious enough to want to try Spotify over android sometime this week. The difference in quality is well documented and extends beyond integration with car audio.

https://medium.com/@iamtimbaker/spot...%20of%20a%20CD.

Spotify, to its credit, is a lot more robust in weak cell signal scenarios. I’ve had Apple Music completely cut out in cases where I dropped below 2 bars. But it is uncompromising in quality. I think that’s basically what it is, most listeners are going to appreciate robustness over quality even if they can notice the difference, which in itself requires a system good enough to distinguish.

There’s too much left to be desired in the app for me to want to switch completely. Despite the difference in quality I spend a lot more time in Spotify. I also think it’s quality has improved in the past year, though it’s still distinctly worse.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Gautam

I don’t think apple is crippling Spotify or other services but I’m curious enough to want to try Spotify over android sometime this week. The difference in quality is well documented and extends beyond integration with car audio.

https://medium.com/@iamtimbaker/spot...20of%20a%20CD.

Spotify, to its credit, is a lot more robust in weak cell signal scenarios. I’ve had Apple Music completely cut out in cases where I dropped below 2 bars. But it is uncompromising in quality. I think that’s basically what it is, most listeners are going to appreciate robustness over quality even if they can notice the difference, which in itself requires a system good enough to distinguish.

There’s too much left to be desired in the app for me to want to switch completely. Despite the difference in quality I spend a lot more time in Spotify. I also think it’s quality has improved in the past year, though it’s still distinctly worse.

I share all of your sentiments. Believe me, I tried to use Spotify solely because, as you noted, it is a superior app. I love the self made playlists created based on my listening preferences. I really like the clean interface. I don’t love the Apple Watch interface at the gym. It’s buggy. All that aside, I forced myself to make it my default steaming service for a long time but at the end of the day, I would play the same exact song on both over B&W and Apple Music was far superior in terms of audio quality. Now would the general listener notice or care? I don’t know, Spotify sounds really good. It’s not like cassette tape, but when you know something sounds better and punches harder, it’s hard not to want the best you can get when it comes to streaming. My 13,000 lossless files on the hard drive sound the best, but idrive is too clunky when compared to Apple CarPlay.

I often wonder whether I would prefer plug in Apple CarPlay which supports lossless vs wireless which doesn’t, but I’ve had and have plug in CarPlay in other cars and it’s is PIA. Wireless is the way to go.

[Gautam]

Originally Posted by Joe-BMW33

I share all of your sentiments. Believe me, I tried to use Spotify solely because, as you noted, it is a superior app. I love the self made playlists created based on my listening preferences. I really like the clean interface. I don’t love the Apple Watch interface at the gym. It’s buggy. All that aside, I forced myself to make it my default steaming service for a long time but at the end of the day, I would play the same exact song on both over B&W and Apple Music was far superior in terms of audio quality. Now would the general listener notice or care? I don’t know, Spotify sounds really good. It’s not like cassette tape, but when you know something sounds better and punches harder, it’s hard not to want the best you can get when it comes to streaming. My 13,000 lossless files on the hard drive sound the best, but idrive is too clunky when compared to Apple CarPlay.

I often wonder whether I would prefer plug in Apple CarPlay which supports lossless vs wireless which doesn’t, but I’ve had and have plug in CarPlay in other cars and it’s is PIA. Wireless is the way to go.

+100 to your post. Tried all of it, usb stick included. Spotify's audio quality is good at the end of the day, not perfect, but it offers the best user experience.

Sometimes we use my wife's phone over usb (behaves like an mp3 player) while mine is on carplay so she can control the music. I don't think I can tell the difference between wired and wireless, but I definitely can between Spotify and Apple Music. It kind of surprises me, frankly, but that's the truth.

I'll also say in a Mercedes rental I had with Burmester, the gap between Spotify and Apple Music was smaller. Both were worse than Spotify on B&W, and yet in a similar league. So these really are first world problems that very few people are likely to sweat over.

[Joe-BMW33]

Originally Posted by Gautam

+100 to your post. Tried all of it, usb stick included. Spotify's audio quality is good at the end of the day, not perfect, but it offers the best user experience.

Sometimes we use my wife's phone over usb (behaves like an mp3 player) while mine is on carplay so she can control the music. I don't think I can tell the difference between wired and wireless, but I definitely can between Spotify and Apple Music. It kind of surprises me, frankly, but that's the truth.

I'll also say in a Mercedes rental I had with Burmester, the gap between Spotify and Apple Music was smaller. Both were worse than Spotify on B&W, and yet in a similar league. So these really are first world problems that very few people are likely to sweat over.

Make sure your wife’s Apple Music settings is set to HD lossless. I’m pretty sure it’s not checked off by default.

On controlling the music, have you upgraded to iOS 17? CarPlay is updated and it allows other users in the car on iOS 17 to control the music from their own phone. Very cool. You will see a people icon on the top right on the CarPlay screen.