Spotify and iDrive 6

[bodhi]

Recently picked up a 2018 118i with the small screen iDrive. It's a great little thing with one major annoyance - getting Spotify to behave with the iDrive.

It will occasionally display the name of the track playing when it first connect, but more frequently just displays "Unknown Artist/Unknown Track" - however more annoying is the fact it won't let me play/pause the music or skip tracks.

I've seen a lot of people with the same issue online but struggling see any good solutions - I tried starting the music before it connects, resetting the phone and iDrive etc, and no joy.

Anyone found a solution for this?

Phone is a Sony Xperia 1 Mk6 if that helps.

[craigjm]

Does your cat have direct bluetooth audio? I would use that as it avoids issues with the idrive software and with your phone setup and you still get album art and titles etc. It probably happens though when your phone goes to sleep so you could try going in and adding spotify to your exceptions list if you havent already

[bodhi]

craigjm said:

Does your cat have direct bluetooth audio? I would use that as it avoids issues with the idrive software and with your phone setup and you still get album art and titles etc. It probably happens though when your phone goes to sleep so you could try going in and adding spotify to your exceptions list if you havent already

Aye that's how it's connected, afaik BMW have stopped supporting the Spotify app directly on the iDrive.

The app is open on my phone so not going to sleep - I've tried the built in music player as well, same issue.

Bloody annoying to say the least.

Is it possible to upgrade the iDrive software on these?

[Gassmi]

It’s a common BMW Bluetooth glitch with Android. Try turning off “Media Audio” in Bluetooth settings, then turn it back on. Or use a wired USB connection for Spotify. If that fails, force stop Spotify on your phone before driving off. No perfect fix sadly.

[bodhi]

Gassmi said:

It s a common BMW Bluetooth glitch with Android. Try turning off Media Audio in Bluetooth settings, then turn it back on. Or use a wired USB connection for Spotify. If that fails, force stop Spotify on your phone before driving off. No perfect fix sadly.

I had a horrible feeling that might be the case - whilst down the rabbit hole online, I've seen a few complaints about BMW and Android before 2020....

I shall have a further play this evening and see what I can get working.

[Uncle boshy]

annoyingly it works perfectly with iPhone, but is rubbish with any android phone.

one answer is to get an after market car play / android auto box that plugs into the screen then all works well