I found an iPhone cable in the glove box in my new car. Thing is it is for the 4 and 4S... what's that about. Is that a Canadian thing...we don't get traffic on the Nav, we don't get adaptive cruise, switch to deactivate the Auto-off feature or a sign reading camera for the HUD.....or a proper iPhone cable!

 

We don't get traffic on the Nav???


EDIT: Oh, just reread this and realized you're talking about Canada.

 

I was told by my ma that you can buy a cable for the iPhone 5 for $7 at Bestbuys....really? Mini charge $75 for that cable.

 

Since folks (including myself) have reported success on the iphone 5 with just a Lightning cable it's probably true. You don't need the extra audio cable for Aux unless maybe you have the standard radio.

Iphone 5 (well, Lightning) doesn't support the iPod Out interface anyway.

Try it with the standard Lightning cable first.

 

Correct, the lightning cable works just fine. No need for another cable.

 

Iphone 4 works without that cable too. Dealer told me those cables are no longer needed with the f56....

 

There is a proper lightening port cable coming from MINI in the near future according to my MA. MINI has already previewed this cable in some of it's press and marketing photos.

 

My understanding based on what I've tried doing with our Countryman is that if you just want to charge the iphone, a standard apple lightning cable will work fine (though I dont believe the $7 price, unless you buy some off-brand that your phone may not even support... they are $20 straight from Apple) but if you want to control the iphone from the deck, such as doing next song, previous song, etc. you need the fancy adapter from Mini. Since my understanding is they dont have a version for lightning yet, it's just not something that can be done yet... not sure if it would work with the 30-pin adapter, as the 30-pin adapter doesn't fit with my case...

 

The F56 has an all new connected system, I'm under the impression that song contorl will work now as well.

 

I have the Connected XL and I can control music on my iPhone 5 over Bluetooth or USB with just a Lightning cable and audio is going over USB. It works /sort of/ for other apps. I have to start play on the phone. It also gets confused depending on what you were using on the phone last. Sometimes it thinks Safari is playing.

Where there's been enormous confusion is that devices with the Lightning connector doesn't support iPod Out and that's what the former BMW/MINI systems exploited for integration. That's what gave you video while stationary for one thing.

If you're worried, take your device and the appropriate USB cable and try it out at the dealer.

 

I too have found that audio over Bluetooth still requires far too much interaction on the phone's interface (for me it is Galaxy Note II). the only thing I can control through the connected interface for bluetooth audio is skipping tracks.

I have a 4th gen ipod connected via a standard ipod cable and am able to control all of my music library through the connected interface. I think have run into the confusion you mentioned, occasionally when I change albums the track listing from the previous album will still show up in the connected interface. I have found though a simple way to rectify this is to choose "clear search" before selecting a new album; since I have done this the issue has stopped.

 

I'm still new at Connected (and have R56) but I can find my Android (HTC One) on it, and when I open Music on the phone then the artists and songs appear on the car screen. I prefer my old iPod 5G for music. I just wish that stupid Y cable would let me lay the iPod down flat in the little space in front. The thing is so short and thick it's crammed in there sideways.

 

I'm really interested in finding out more. I picked up my new MCS last week, but was told by my salesperson that the new iPhone y-cable hasn't come out yet, but that she would let me know when it did. I've been using my normal white iPhone 4s cable in the usb port, and have access to everything in the MINI Connected app. Except that there is no sign of the Plugin feature anywhere, in any menu. If there is a new y-cable, would that take care of this? Or, if it's no longer necessary to use the y-cable, has MINI done away with this feature? Or relegated it to the armrest cradle? I'd really like to hear what others have to say.

 

I have an F56 without nav, just the basic system. Connecting my iPhone 5S through the white Apple cable seems to work perfectly! I had been using the Y cable for months with an apple lightening adapter, but the Apple cables works far better.

Switching in between songs, playlists or apps (pandora to music library, etc) is now instant and seamless!

Accessing music can easily be done from the mini also if the phone is not within reach, and even better, if 2 people are controlling music (for example, you are controlling via steering wheel controls and your passenger is scrolling through your iPhone's music library) music transition continues without problem.

Why my MINI dealer did not know about any of this is beyond me.... I had been searching for news for a new iphone lightening cable for months, until I got fed up and just tried the apple cable, lol! Anyway, good luck!

 

Have you been able to access Plugin?

 

Possibly N.A. is the largest market in the world and it seems we always get the lesser goodies or always after the others...

 

The whole car is Americanized, softer and bigger.
My feeling from MINI-forums is that the F56 is much more liked and welcomed in the US than in Europe.

 

I have a 2014 MC with the base stereo and am using the iPhone 5 cable that came with the phone with no problems.

Phone charges, audio plays back and I can control the track, podcast, volume, and dialing phone calls with no problems. All works as expected.

Fun feature, the advance track button when pressed once quickly will advance a podcast 15 seconds.

Only drawback I have found is the volume through the USB is very low. I have to turn up the stereo volume to about 2/3 to 3/4 of max to hear the audio. If I forget to turn back down before listening to the radio, I get a rude awakening!

 

This should be able to be adjusted in the settings menu. I cannot think off the top of my head, but it would be external device volume or USB/AUX volume, something like that.