$250 Wireless Apple CarPlay Retrofit [BMW F30] 

Thanks for watching, glad it helped!

Installed it a few days ago and can recommend it 100%. Everything works perfec as promised. I was surprised about the detailed audio settings, e.g. much better equalizer than the original business radio. If anyone wants to know more just drop your question here as a reply.

@Marcel Willert what car did you install it on? what year?

@@kingkage7km BMW F31 LCI 2016, Business Navi

What about connection, is it via wifi? Do you have to connect every time you get in the car? One more question. Is the car's original microphone compatible with this device? Can you do the phone calls normally?

@@mesutgueven connection is via both bluetooth and wifi. original microphone is used and phone calls work fine. the phone connects automatically in 90% of the cases. sometimes it doesnt connect automatically but then just go to bluetooth menu in phone and select the carplay, takes maybe 10 seconds. btw I still love this device after 1/2 year. I recommend using the short commands app from apple e.g. for music auto play when you connect to carplay. works great.

Where did u go to get it installed?

@@mattz7057 I got it installed at a Bimmertech certified audio shop close to me.

Wich car play did you get? Can you install a rear camera with this? I have a 2013 328i. I just need a car play and rear camera without breaking the bank. I will get a newer car in a year.

Thank you for watching!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed 🙂

Kinda... you can switch modes to radio for audio and have carplay display up. But if you have navigation the sound won’t work.

Thanks Oskar! CarPlay is on by default. I tend to go weeks at a time without seeing the idrive screen (other than the backup camera).

​@@philespo Great! Thanks for the reply! I just have a few more questions before I buy this kit. I appreciate your help. 1. I've seen in other MMI videos that the setup menu appears for a few seconds before Carplay pops up, is that the case for the RoadTop one? 2. Any issues with wireless Carplay (connectivity, lag, etc)? 3. I can't really tell from the vid, but do you have a heads-up display? Do you know if driving directions from Carplay are displayed there?

@@epsicron1 1. There is only a boot up screen when you hard reset the unit or when it boots for the very first time. Normally, you start the car and the screen goes directly to the menu for the CarPlay box for about a second before it connects to your device. 2. The only issue I’ve had with wireless is a very slight lag in the idrive controller. I try to show it on video, but rotating the dial is slightly off from what happens on screen. It’s a very consistent delay so I’ve gotten used to it, but it’s definitely there. Other than that there are no issues with any of the animations or audio coming from the unit. I’ve had a couple times (not often) that I’ve walked away from the car while it’s running and returned to see that my phone is no longer connected. I just have to tap the “CarPlay” in my iphones Bluetooth and it reconnects. 3. I do not have the heads up display but I know for a fact it will not show any data from CarPlay. The navigation info and music info Is very much locked to the CarPlay screen. The car only knows that there is an AUX source. My only tip is really watching as many install videos as you can. It’s not hard, but it can definitely be tricky depending on what options you have.

@@philespo Great, thanks a lot for all the info!

Thanks for watching, I’ll have to double check but if your phone is paired to both the car and CarPlay unit. The CarPlay unit will work as the primary device for calls/ft audio calls. They show up in the idrive display and you can answer, audio uses your speakers and the factory car microphone. My phone is no longer paired to the car itself to avoid confusion. But if someone else is in the car and their phone is paired to the BMWs Bluetooth. When they get a call, it shows up in the instrument cluster like normal and the audio/mic work just fine. However, during that call all audio from the CarPlay will be totally muted. I find it 100% better to just forget your cars Bluetooth and only use the Bluetooth on the CarPlay unit.

@@philespo ah, I see. Thank you :)

Yes

When you mirror your phone, anything that's on your phone will display on the screen (local video, netflix, youtube, etc). Using CarPlay, only carplay apps will show on the screen.

Thanks for watching! I did not consider any of the Android units because I wanted to keep everything as OEM as possible. My car was pretty well equipped from the factory, didn’t want to totally replace idrive. If I had the smaller display I’d probably consider one just to upgrade the screen size at the same time.

@@philespo agree. My concern of these Android HU is ending up with a half baked solution that provides a lot of unnecessary features and are, ultimately , clunky to use in a daily basis.I just want CarPlay and a big screen. Functionality wise, what you did is what I’m aiming, I don’t care much for the other features brought by the Android HU, but I want a screen bigger than 6.5....

No, it only shows on the center display. The car thinks there is an AUX input and that’s all.

Nope! The aux port (in your center console) stays open and available for use after install. Adding the unit essentially makes your car think there is a second aux input that’s connected at all times.

@@philespo okay, so the headphone jack just leave it as unplugged.

@@philespo but still, the sound comes through aux, right? I’m not decided between this method and updating my software to ID5, just because I think that this kind of devices won’t provide the best sound quality since the source si analogue (aux).

Yup, exactly. Everything on the software side is based on your phone.

LCI has 🍎 CarPlay from factory

I never used the USB for audio, just Bluetooth. I have the HK sound system and everything sounds great with this unit.

Have you tried to remove the BMW from your phones Bluetooth settings? There is an option to forget the connection entirely. That’s what I did so my calls rely on the carplay unit instead of the bmws idrive system. It sounds like your calls are going to the BMWs Bluetooth and not the CarPlay Bluetooth.

This is the original screen. You can only use one audio source at a time. If you want to hear the radio and see google maps, you can switch input to radio but the carplay audio will not come through. You will have to download a radio app on your phone if you want radio specifically with carplay navigation audio.

Yes, I did not notice a difference.

@@philespo nice one

I do not have HUD optioned on my car. However, I'm fairly certain that carplay navigation (or music, podcast, etc) would not display there. Only on the idrive screen. BimmerTech might have more info on their site about compatibility with HUD.

@@philespo Thanks for your reply!

automatically on start

Yes! You just need to enable radio from the idrive screen. Then long press on the menu button to jump back to carplay for Waze.

Thank you so much for your answer! You did an awesome job with this video for us!

I have got mine from bmos.co.uk

Thanks, it’s holding up great. Only regret is not running the cord for wired carplay. The process to pair another phone is a little annoying.

@@philespo you said annoying…. Does it allow you to pair another device? Like could my pair my phone and my fiancé phone at the same time? That way if she is in the car she could play music from her phone.

You can do it yourself easily

Unfortunately BMW assistant. I usually long press on the center dial or use ‘hey Siri’.

Also does it ever glitch out and not connect or is it consistent

Yes, “hey siri” works. You can then talk to the car just like you would Siri using the build in microphone. You can also ping pretty down on the idrive dial to bring up Siri as well.

@@philespo Nice what about the bmw assist button on steering wheel? Pressing that activates Siri or bmw assist, while using carplay?

@@mrrobot9442 the voice assist and phone button both trigger the stock system. Not Siri or anything related to CarPlay.

@@philespo Thanks!

@@philespo it depends what module you buy! I saw many modules with siri on voice button on steering wheel!

This happened to me I had to take those two green wires out of the stock harness and put them into the new harness as it said in the manual

Update: I got it fixed y'all. In my case I had the fiber optic cable upside-down, this cable for the sound. I unplugged it, rotated it 180°, replugged into the new harness and into the module. Everything works now

All the software is controlled from your phone. So long as you’re phone is up to date, the CarPlay screen will be too.

Let me know. 😂

The presaved buttons will only work when you’re not in carplay mode. I have my scroll wheel set to CarPlay since I don’t have the heads up display. I’m assume if you have head ups display and want to control it using the scroll wheel you should turn off steering wheel scrolling in the units settings.

None of the carplay info will be displayed. It’ll act as if you are connected to an AUX device.

@@philespo yeah that makes perfect sense. Thanks! Can you answer and end calls through your steering wheel controls?

@@Khercules Yes, you just have to enable steering wheel controls in the device settings.

@@philespo thanks man! I'm definitely getting this thing. Do you know if the one by bimmertech is any different? They call it "mmi prime" which sounds like bs to justify a more expensive price tag

@@Khercules bro save you some money and other the one for our f30s from Amazon mines is on the way and it's cheaper

It should! You can check on the listing for more details.

Basicly yes, they buy asian stuff, test it, relable it, give you a warranry an do massive profits

@@florianwenger1420 bought the bimmertech module. Has been nothing but trouble for me. Asking multiple times for refund but so far no luck. Basically streets don't show when using Waze on Android auto or carplay if it's in "day mode" random black screens. Posted a two star review and it does not show on their page...

@@christheander371 Man almost blew $650 on bimmertech lol will buy this

@@Nat_Jio Especially when you get the worst costumer service imaginable.

@@christheander371 Sorry you didn't get a refund. Im thinking about just upgrading to ID-6. This stuff doesn't provide connection to Head Up Display and why not just drop a couple more hundred bucks for a legit one

Mine is the same have you figured this out?

@Blushys what’s the vid bro I’d appreciate it

Tag me in it too!

Yes you can add Bluetooth with bimmercode

Everybody has it it’s just bmw is greedy 🫢

No, it does not.

It should! You can confirm on the product page bit.ly/36tz5Xf