Hello All,

I have a 2012 S Cooper, R56. I do have calls and some phone apps like maps over bluetooth (Apple default, Google maps and Waze). But, for all other apps say, Netflix or Youtube, I have to rely on wire connectivity. My dealership gave me a 2018 or 2019 loaner which has an all sound over bluetooth feature.
It must be possible to upgrade my car to play all sound over bluetooth. Is it a hardware change or just a firmware change will suffice?

Thank you!

 

Sounds like it may require a Head Unit upgrade.

I am unaware of a Firmware update, most likely it is a hardware limitation.

Any audiophiles out there have this information?

Best of luck.

Motor On!

 

Lots of threads on this. As I recall, to stream music over BT you need to get a BT adapter that plugs into the aux port.

 

Yes, the new MINIs do not have an Aux. outlet, only the USB port for charging and perhaps metadata reading or maybe, even the latter is over Bluetooth too. I was wondering how to use the phone/map audio channel for normal audio/video apps without having to aux over a separate Bluetooth channel.
Thank you!

 

I did a bunch of reading on this the past week for my 2013. I didn't see any alternative like that available. I bought the BOVEE bluetooth adapter that plugs into the Aux and USB connectors. I plugged it in and tried it yesterday and it seemed to work fine.

 

 

Thank you for all the info, I will look up for more. I presume that Bovee has a USB outlet to charge the phone too.

Regards!

 

No, the BOVEE is simply a bluetooth communication adapter. It has a usb plug and aux plug. Those two plug into the corresponding usb and aux plug receivers in front of the cup holders (if your car is equipped with this option). Then you connect your phone to the BOVEE adapter via bluetooth.

If you want to plug your phone in for charging then you need to plug a charging adapter into the power/cigarette lighter (also located in front of the cup holders) and run a charging cable from this to your phone.

I combined the above two items with a GoBadges phone holder that mounts to the tachometer. This holds the phone just above the 3 o'clock position on the steering wheel.

With all of the above, I can see my phone while driving, make and accept calls via bluetooth and also listen to music via bluetooth. My steering wheel controls also work for volume, track changes on music and telephone calls.

ETA: In case it wasn't clear, my phone is connected to the car bluetooth for phone functions and connected to the BOVEE adapter for audio functions. Both reconnect with my phone automatically when I get in the car. One thing I've noticed is that if I'm playing audio from my phone when I get out of the car and shut it down, when I get back in the car the head unit starts up in radio mode. It doesn't come back on in IPOD mode like it was when shut down.

 

I've also found success using the BOVEE adapter with the phone mounted on the tach. Only issue I've experienced lately is when car Bluetooth is connected to the phone, music can sometimes cut out for a brief second. Only workaround is to unpair my phone when in low signal areas. Isn't a big deal but BOVEE firmware updates can't seem to fix it.

 

I settled for a simple Lightning extension cable for now (from cellularize) and it seems to work quite well. I don't want to use both the car usb and cig lighter for just the phone. I will see if I can find a better solution in future. Thank you, all!