What's the point of the incar WIFi and the pro media package?

[JAZZERT501]

Am I missing something, everything worked great for the first 3 months,now it seems to be a random collection of half-assed apps that don't work.
What's the point of the hard drive ?
Do I need to subscribe to Spotify to use it,do I need to pay BMW to use the WIFI?
Does anyone understand it?

Alexa used to work,now I can't get it to setup.
Some apps are missing and I am getting to think sod it,life's too short to deal with BMW vagaries!

[JAZZERT501]

[pvr]

WiFi is a pre-req for Apple Car Play. Without it you can’t have that

[Z4monster]

You need a spotify account to log into. I don't think it needs to be a paid account. The free one plays music but with some adverts. I guess it should work in the BMW as it just logs into the account on request.

I think the Wi-Fi needs you to sign up to a data provider to get a mobile data signal. I haven't found a use for it yet.

[dertiriya]

Some apps are missing and I am getting to think sod it,life's too short to deal with BMW vagaries!

[Griffo46]

Life sounds hard as a G29 owner, haha. I hope you find a solution soon.

I only have one radio station programmed on my E85, no screen, no Satnav and no Bluetooth.

[Pondrew]

I only have one radio station programmed on my E85

Come on then, which one? Radio 2, talksport, or 5 live?

[pvr]

Classic FM

[Pondrew]

Classic FM

Only for the gentry and wannabe immigrants IMHO

[sars]

One thing I do dislike is that there’s no hardwire option for CarPlay

[Nanu]

I may be missing something but if you don't have wi fi, can you just set up Alexa on your phone and tell her what to do or play?

[pvr]

You can, I use Siri though - but mostly to give commands like opening my gates

[baljemmett]

You need a spotify account to log into. I don't think it needs to be a paid account.

The Spotify option in the car's media menu refuses to work with my free Spotify account - it shows a QR code to visit to log in, but after logging in I get kicked out and told to pay for Spotify Premium. Alas Spotify is not high on my list of streaming providers of choice so I haven't tried yet, but I assume if you use the Spotify app on your phone instead it'll play fine via CarPlay/Android Auto or just Bluetooth media streaming.

My 2-series had the option of using either Deezer or Napster for streaming; I went with the former and it worked well, plus once you have a streaming account connected iDrive adds an option to recognise the song playing on the radio and optionally add it to a playlist. I'm half tempted to subscribe to Spotify just to re-enable that, especially since there frequently isn't enough room to read the 'now playing' text in the radio menu!

[q96169we]

You need a spotify account to log into. I don't think it needs to be a paid account.

The Spotify option in the car's media menu refuses to work with my free Spotify account - it shows a QR code to visit to log in, but after logging in I get kicked out and told to pay for Spotify Premium. Alas Spotify is not high on my list of streaming providers of choice so I haven't tried yet, but I assume if you use the Spotify app on your phone instead it'll play fine via CarPlay/Android Auto or just Bluetooth media streaming.

My 2-series had the option of using either Deezer or Napster for streaming; I went with the former and it worked well, plus once you have a streaming account connected iDrive adds an option to recognise the song playing on the radio and optionally add it to a playlist. I'm half tempted to subscribe to Spotify just to re-enable that, especially since there frequently isn't enough room to read the 'now playing' text in the radio menu!

It has to be a paid account when using Spotify integration in the car.