Hi All, no stranger to mini, the 2014 I've just ordered will be my 4th but this will be the first one that will have Mini Connected. I have a few questions about how it will work with my iPhone 5S.

Firstly, if there is a thread here that summarizes the workings of Mini Connected with an iPhone 5/5S then feel free to point me to it if it already answers my questions.

Okay, on with my questions:

1) With iPhone 4, there were 2 options for connecting it to the mini, either via the USB port with the Y cable, or via a snap-in adapter (not included with car purchase?) in the arm rest. However, Mini hasn't released a snap-in adapter for the iPhone 5 yet, nor have they released a Y cable with a lightning connector, so it seems like my only connection option is the iPhone 4 Y-cable with a 30-pin to lightning adapter. Is this correct?

2) With this setup, what parts of Mini Connected don't work?

3) Can I play audio from my iPhone through the car speakers with album art and song info on the car display? Can I get the car display to show me when I receive texts or emails?

3) Assuming an iPhone snap-in adapter appears at some point in the future, would it then be possible for me to connect 2 devices to my Mini? An iPod for audio via the Y-cable, and my iPhone in the snap-in adapter for other services. Or will the mini only interface with one device at a time?

Thanks everyone. I have read lots of fragmented information from various sources and I'm just trying to figure out exactly what the reality is.

 

1: you're correct. Adapter only, mini has no cable with lightning end.

2: there is a feature where the screen will mimic an iPod menu, I can't remember minis name for it. This feature does not work with iPhone 5

3: the artwork shows up on the screen, however texts don't , I'm not sure about emails.

3b: both devices show up on the screen and you can choose which one you want to use.

The snap in adapter will be availeable the first part of 2014 according to a supervisor at mini customer service.

 

Hopefully you have better luck but my 5s will not connect with the mini supplied Y cable and a apple lightning adapter. I for now just stream Bluetooth with out using a cable.

 

My 5 will connect just fine via the cable but I cannot stream music via Bluetooth.!!! .. Go figure

 

I highly recommend you use an aftermarket Y cable with a 30 pin to lightening adapter. The MINI Y cable only allowed me to connect up the audio, but the MINI connected stuff didn't work. When I swapped it out for the old Y cable set up I used in my previous car, MINI connected App hooked up and recognized just fine. I think the MINI connected apps are a bit gimmicky, and frankly just use the phone mounted next to the display anyway.

 

1. Yes, I bought the Y cable from my dealer and am using the 0.2m Lightning to 30 pin adapter (the long one). It works pretty well. Once every few days I have to restart the connected app on my phone because it loses the connection, but that doesn't affect the music from my phone or anything outside of the "Mini Connected" part of "Mini Connected". Heh.

I tried a longer 3rd party cable (trying to avoid paying $80 for Mini's official one) that didn't work, but others have had success with that.

2. The Lightning connector is not compatible with "Plugin". You can't play videos (car parked), or use the iPod out interface (it uses analog video from the 30 pin connector). No big loss as far as I can tell, since you can control it through "external devices".

3. Yes, go through "External Devices". It's pretty cool! You can access Apple Radio as playlists. And you can have it playing and control it through the steering wheel while you've got Mini Connected stuff on the screen (e.g. Driving Excitement) and hear coach and engine talking to you over your music.

Also works with Pandora, Audible, and some other apps. Launch then on the phone and they'll connect.

4. I dunno about that one.

You might need to update the car software. The latest update improves iphone 5 compatibility.

 

Im thinking you can but you have to allow it in the settings. Make sure your phones connected with Bluetooth then go into the settings and allow audio. then select the cd/ aux etc button and it should allow an option for Bluetooth audio streaming.

I tried that too, and still no go. My car wont recognize my phone regardless.

 

Mine's working great with my iPhone 5. I can't imagine the 5S wouldn't work. I use the Y cable from Mini (the one with four conductors in the audio plug, not the older one with three conductors) and the 0.2m Lightning to 30-pin connector from Apple. The only problem I ever have is that the car loses its connection to the phone app once in a while (every few days), and I have to relaunch the app on the phone.

At first, I did try an aftermarket Y cable to avoid paying Mini $80 for theirs, but it didn't work for me.

Bluetooth streaming audio works great too.

For those having trouble, maybe try updating the car's software. The last update was supposed to help with iPhone 5 (or iOS7). Aside from that, I will say it's hard to figure out how to do everything, and I haven't found any documentation that helps. Just trial and error.

For the OP,
2) the Lightning adapter doesn't support "iPod out", which was a way for the iPhone to create menus for control on external screens. It actually created an analog video signal that was shown on the car LCD, and it's the analog video signal that isn't supported. For that reason, you also can't view videos from your iPhone 5s (or 5 or 5c, while parked).

3) Yes, go through "External Devices" to see album covers and control iPhone audio via the steering wheel. You can even choose Apple Radio stations; they show up as playlists. I can receive texts on mine, but I think that's via bluetooth, not Mini Connected. It only shows new texts. If I've read them already on my phone, I can't see them on the car. I'm still trying to figure out more about that, and I don't see emails at all.

Pandora, Audible, and some other apps are aware of Mini Connected too. Launch them and it connects to the car, showing album covers (or book covers) and controls on the screen.

 

How do I find an update for ios7? The only one I found was for iOS5. My car is a 7/13 build date so I would have thought it would be the latest update.

 

Oh, you're right! I read this (from http://www.mini.com/connectivity/software_update/intro.html ):and must have seen "iPhone 5" in my brain instead of "iOS 5". Sorry for the misinformation. Hmm, now I understand why people are griping about it needing an update.

 

I posted a reply, but I guess it got lost. Anyway, I was wrong! The update was for iOS 5, like you say. In my brain I saw iPhone 5 in place of iOS 5. Sorry. Guess that means we haven't had an update in quite a while.

I wanted to mention that there are at least two different Mini Y cables. Do you know which one you tried? One visible difference is that the audio connector has four conductors instead of three. The fourth is for video, which doesn't work with the Lightning connector. But I still think you need that cable.

 

I got it to work properly! I disconnected the phone from the USB cable and the Bluetooth works perfectly. Artist, sing title and song countdown all show up on screen

Thanks for yiur help

 

No problem, it took me awhile to figure that out lol. I'm glad that it's an available function!