Didn’t BMW stop the nonsense about having to subscribe to CarPlay?
Re:BMW Connected Apps Protocol
by ilikehurdles on Monday January 20, 2020 @11:38AM
(#22099995)
Yep. My car got an OTA that changed the subscription expiration date to sometime around 2040.
Just a guess - could it be 19 January 2038? (The end of 32-bit UNIX epoch)
Re:BMW Connected Apps Protocol
by ilikehurdles on Monday January 20, 2020 @03:25PM
(#22101840)
Good guess, you had me checking it, but no. I looked it up and it seems to be my purchase date (and consequently original Apple Carplay subscription date) with 20 years added to the year part of the date.
Seconded. It was always crappy, but I recently switched to a 2019 model and expected it to be better. It isn't.
I'm amazed that in 2019/2020 we still have problems with keeping track of two driver profiles (yes!) and their phones. It's not rocket science!
A phone can stop working for no reason and require un-paring/re-connecting. The UX is crappy, Spotify integration works or does not, depending on the phase of the moon.
My car also came with Apple CarPlay, which was somewhat better but after a couple of weeks both phones stopped working with the car. The dealership told me I never had a CarPlay subscription (!), which means it must have been a demo. From the point of view of the user: phones worked nicely, until suddenly they stopped working, completely. Wasted time on dealership visits and unparing/re-connecting phones again.
Oh, and the much-touted feature that lets you unlock the car with an NFC card or your phone? Only works with Samsung phones.
I'm not sure if manufacturers get the fact that for a certain segment of customers phone integration is one of the most important features in the car. After my lease expires I will be shopping with that in mind.