Good morning from snowy Colorado! I am having some issues getting my new iPhone 11 Pro to actually talk to my 2019 Mini Cooper. They appear to connect (using the Mini Cooper menus to find my phone, then using the iPhone bluetooth to connect and confirm). However, the steering wheel hands-free and phone buttons have no actual impact on making the phone work (which worked just fine on the previous iPhone 7 Plus). I have tried the basic trouble shooting including deleting the phone from the Mini Cooper listing, forgetting the Mini Cooper from the iPhone listing, restarting the iPhone, turning off and on my iPhone bluetooth and, finally, lighting a small Novena candle to St. Gabriel. Sadly, nothing seems to work, even though both the iPhone and the Mini Cooper claim to be connected. Finally, finally..I made sure that my Do Not Disturb was not active thinking that this might prevent the hands-free from actually working. Am I missing some other exotic setting, or is this an issue that the Mini service will have to suss out? Thanks in advance for your sage words of wisdom!

 

You're not alone.

I've been watching a 25+ page post on Apple Support Forums for a few weeks. The original version of iOS 13 (13.0) worked flawlessly (for me, and most others). Since then, the iDrive selector has not worked--and I can say with the two 2019 MINIs we have in our family, on my MINI (basic 6.5" display, no sat/nav nor Connected), my iPhone 11 Pro is back to full functionality with the iDrive selector now that iOS 13.2 is out.

Siri always worked to select tracks/albums/playlists, the iDrive wheel did not. In our *other* MINI, a 60th Anniversary with CarPlay/8.8" touch screen, there have been nothing but audio cut-outs, stuttering and drop-outs whether using (wireless) CarPlay. Even Siri feedback would cut out with CarPlay.

When I brought in my own basic displayed '19 for an oil change, the loaner Clubman I had with CarPlay--same deal. Bluetooth/wireless CarPlay cut-outs, drop outs/etc. So I ruled out my car, our 60th Anniversary and possibly the BMW/MINI software.

It's either my (our) iPhone 11 Pro or iOS 13.x.x.

Leaning toward iOS 13.x.

So if you've got a MINI with wireless CarPlay and an iPhone 11 Pro, you may be out of luck for a while. If you've got that phone with a basic 6.5" display, you should be fine and selecting content with the iDrive wheel is working properly again.

Hoping Apple releases a fix in yet another upcoming update.

 

Thanks for your post, it's reassuring that I'm not alone with the iDrive functionality and the new iOS update not working like it used to. I've got the 6.5" non-Nav, with an iPhone XS and the scroll selector stopped working like it used to. I used it constantly before (and I mean like all the time). Hopefully it'll get back to where it was. I sympathize with Apple that It's complex stuff for sure, but I can certainly wait.

 

Bluetooth, iDrive, and my iPhone have never quite played well in my 2019 F57 (full Connected and large display). I was always able to change tracks with the steering wheel controls, but I was never able to use the steering wheels controls to display all the tracks, scroll through them, and select one (as the owner's manual alleges I should be able to do). The "scrolling" functionality of the steering wheel buttons works for the phone's call list like it's supposed to, but never for the music. Also, the instrument cluster doesn't always display the currently playing track; sometimes it displays the previous track instead. It's weird and annoyingly doesn't work as it's supposed to, but at least I can skip to the next track with the steering wheel controls.