First Mini! 2015 CountrymanS All4 with some JCW features. Loving the Sirius radio, but would love easy Spotify without having to load all music locally onto the phone. Looking for ease of use and visibility on the Nav screen.

Mini Connected App and Spotify talk to each other and displays beautifully on the Nav screen. Only problem - No sound!! I can see the play time, scroll to other music, but can't hear a thing. Ideas?

Also, as for the cradle that connects in the armrest, I have not found one for iphone6 and wondering what that will do for me anyway. I won't mind having the iphone6 tucked in the armrest as long as its charging and BT is working. If I can connect through a power outlet for charging and through USB or BT for 'connection' to phone stuff, what is that cradle all about? I read something about connecting with the small fin antenna, but need more info....please.

 

I think I may have figured it out. I connected the 'dongle' thing and used the Aux jack and cord and then got sound. I was only using a USB, so I suspect the cradle is just the same as a USB + AUX inputs, but in a fancy cradle thingie so you have no cords visible? Might explain the price, if you can find iPhone6 versions.

Duh, then I also realized this connected means streaming from Spotify works great with connected app, but...USING CELLULAR DATA to do so? THan I guess its back to Bluetooth from local files on phone because I will have music ALL THE TIME and DATA usage could go rooftop!

Looking for Confirmation that this thinking is accurate, please.....

 

You're on the right track. You NEED the Y-cable to connect an iDevice to 2nd gen MINIs. They do have a cradle for the iPhone 6, though they are usually backordered and run about $250-$300 depending on the dealer, but it is a universal cradle that will fit any Lightning plug equipped iDevice (iPhone 5 and newer).

When you use Spotify, it will always use cellular data to stream music, regardless if you are using Connected or not - that's what Spotify does (unless you've downloaded offline music). All MINI Connected does is let you control the app from the MINI's screen rather than your phone.

 

You need to be a premium member to download the music and not use your data...

 

Yep, so have premium and some music downloaded and device set to offline mode. When controlling from screen , you can't see the green downloaded arrow and I swear it was playing music I had not downloaded. I suspect if I put phone in airplane mode, that would be a sure bet. Boy, I do love the sound of those HK speakers....oh yea.

 

Negative. I have a 2012 with connected with Nav and I just use the stock apple lightning adapter and an aux cable. Somewhat mystifyingly the bluetooth is used for phone (?!?!) and the aux is used for Spotify. 10 bucks at the Wal-store of your choice (greens, mart) will probably get you going.

 

I discovered that works, too. The dongle that came with car just needed a lighting adapter. It all works great - I just am not sure what the transmission mode is at any given time. I assume, 'connected' means connected to the web via cellular, so I won't use that. nice to see car performance tricks, though, so I can do that from garage and maybe it will connect via Wifi if I turn off cellular...? like I said, never sure which mode is transmitting/receiving because phone does not display when plugged in to USB. And bluetooth for music? only works for Apple music, which I don't use on my phone. I am loving the Sirius radio, though - who knew?

 

Aux always works, but you can't control playback with just aux. Does your setup with two separate cables allow you to control the music and see what's playing? I'm not sure I've ever actually tried that lol

Bluetooth audio works with ANY app, but it will launch Apple Music by default. You just have to pick which app you want to play from on your phone.

 

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