BMW Apple CarPlay Activation (with head unit retrofit)

Do you dream of using Apple Maps on your car screen or listening to Spotify through the BMW speakers? All this is possible with BMW CarPlay — an original Apple system that lets you use your iPhone’s navigation, messaging, music and other driver-focused apps on the iDrive display. 

With plenty of apps at your fingertips you can choose whether you want to access your favorite music tracks via YouTube Music or Spotify, chat with your peers through WhatsApp or Messages, or take advantage of Google Maps and Waze while navigating through the city. Just pair up your iPhone wirelessly and you’re good to go!

To conveniently control and switch between the apps you can use your iDrive’s built-in controls, including iDrive controller, steering wheel buttons, Siri voice commands or touchscreen if your BMW features one.

Apple CarPlay is fully wireless, so in your vehicle the activiation kit includes a WiFi compatible iDrive head unit and WiFi antenna. After installation, all you gotta do to unlock BMW Apple CarPlay is spare max. 30 min of your free time for a simple cable coding procedure. Everything’s done quickly from the comfort of your home. 

BimmerTech's BMW Apple CarPlay activation is compatible with F-Series and G-Series BMWs and MINIs with EntryNav EVO iDrive.

Access Phone Apps

The OEM BMW Apple CarPlay grants direct access to a host of your iPhone’s navigation, messaging and music apps straight from your dashboard display. Alongside those, you’ll find other driver-focused apps in the categories of parking, EV charging, or quick food-ordering. 

Apple CarPlay Navigation Apps

If you want your maps to be accurate at all times without the hassle of performing periodic updates and spending extra money, there isn’t a better choice than BMW Apple CarPlay navigation apps, such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze or TomTom. 

Being up-to-date is second nature to them, which makes them a very natural first-pick for the fastest and safest navigation wherever you are in the world. At all times, without any Internet connection whatsoever! 

Apple CarPlay Parking & EV Apps

But BMW CarPlay Apps are not only useful for navigating around the city – you can also find solutions, such as SpotHero or EasyPark, making it easier to park up in a convenient spot. Or use apps like PlugShare and ChargePoint for a quick charge up of your electric vehicle. 

Apple CarPlay Music Apps

If you can’t go anywhere without your favorite Spotify or YouTube music playlists, or being a true audiophile, respect nothing less than high-quality HiFi tracks from your Tidal app, BMW Apple CarPlay will allow you to carry over what used to be a phone-exclusive experience into your car. 

And should you find music apps not enough for your hourly trips to work, a bunch of great podcasts from Audible or Stitcher may help you pass the time quicker.

NOTE: If you have a SiriusXM subscription for your vehicle, it will no longer be possible to listen directly through the iDrive system. Instead, you can use the SiriusXM app on Apple CarPlay.

Apple CarPlay Communication Apps

Texting while driving is not the best idea as anyone can tell – especially when you’re at high speeds. Yet thanks to BMW Apple CarPlay’s built-in Siri voice assistant you can use your preferred messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Messenger or Line to send and receive messages without taking your eyes off the road and hands off the wheel. 

Staying in touch with your peers when driving couldn’t be safer than that.

To check the latest BMW Apple CarPlay apps lineup go to the official Apple CarPlay website.

Wireless Capability

Even though Apple CarPlay apps are displayed on your BMW screen, the apps themselves are still being run by your iPhone, which means CarPlay isn't a standalone system; it requires your iOS device to be connected to your vehicle at all times.

Fortunately, with this BMW Apple CarPlay upgrade you don’t need any cables; you wirelessly connect your iPhone to BMW CarPlay over WiFi. Just activate Bluetooth on your iPhone, and go to Settings > General > CarPlay on your iPhone to pair the two. Once you do, Carplay will connect automatically every time you start your engine. 

Phone Compatibility

BMW CarPlay upgrade supports devices running iOS 9.3 or higher with active data transmission. However, it is with the newest versions that you get to enjoy new categories of apps, improved Siri feature, updates to Apple Maps and any other upcoming enhancements.  

BMW Apple CarPlay Full Screen

Your BMW is compatible with Apple CarPlay full-screen mode, which will let you display your running app on the whole screen width and have as many as ten apps per page. The activation of Apple CarPlay full-screen mode will be included into the order for free by default. Note that in MINIs with a rounded screen, a small part of each corner of the CarPlay interface will be obscured when using full-screen mode.

Easy Control With iDrive

Navigating around the Apple CarPlay menu will come to you naturally, as it’s nothing different from using your OEM BMW iDrive system. You can simply use the iDrive controller to switch between the iDrive and CarPlay interfaces, and while in CarPlay mode, navigate the apps. If your BMW is fitted with a touchscreen you can tap the app you want to display just as you would on your iPhone. You can also use the steering wheel buttons when you feel like releasing the steering wheel isn’t the best idea. 

Voice control might also come in handy when you need to focus on the road. Just press the voice-control button on the steering wheel to summon Siri. The voice assistant will let you ask for directions, dictate messages, turn on a playlist and more.  

Enjoy Apple CarPlay In Any Location

The availability of factory activated BMW Apple CarPlay can be limited by your location, however BimmerTech can perform the CarPlay setup in any country! 

Installing and activating the CarPlay compatible head unit is fully plug & play and 100% reversible. Also, no permanent modifications to the interior/exterior of your car are needed, so the kit is lease friendly.

The process itself consists of 2 main steps:

• Fully plug & play installation
• Coding (after the installation is finished, it is necessary to schedule a remote coding session with a BimmerTech technician)

To install the kit you’ll have to disassemble the upper and lower trim together with the faceplate on your dash. You will also need to replace the factory head unit with the new one and connect the harness.

After installing the head unit, BMW CarPlay is activated through a remote cable coding session. It is a very simple process that takes no more than 30 minutes. After you complete your order, we send you a coding cable (if you don't have one and add it in the top Option section). Once you receive it, you will be able to schedule a coding session for the time that suits you best. During the session, just plug in the cable, follow the instructions from our technician and CarPlay will be unlocked.

To prepare for your coding session you will need a laptop running Microsoft Windows and a WiFi internet network that you can connect to in your car. A Mac computer running Windows should work too. The coding cable must be plugged into your laptop’s Ethernet port (if you don’t have one, you can use an adapter).

Watch the video to understand the cable activation process better.

The BimmerTech package includes everything necessary for unlocking CarPlay:

• WiFi-compatible EntryNav Evo iDrive head unit
• WiFi antenna (if you add it to your order in the top Option section)
• Remote activation service
• Coding interface (if you add it to your order in the top Option section)

Will my coding still work if I update my iDrive system?

If your dealer upgrades or resets your iDrive system, the above coding (and any other custom modifications) will most likely be deleted. Cable coding options can be recoded by us for a fee of $75, irrespective of the number of features.

A cable coding session can be conducted on all modern PCs and many Mac computers running Windows or MacOS. Find out the requirements for the cable coding session.