Bluetooth Connectivity issue with Samsung Galaxy S26+

I have been trying to autoconnect the Galaxy S26+ to the head unit of my 2020 X3. The only way I found is to go to the phone's Bluetooth settings and click on the BMWxxxx entry. It then connects and works fine. Samsung thinks its incompatible and should talk with BMW. I spent time re-doing the same thing over and over (also told the same form BMW customer support):

1) unpair from phone
2) delete device from car
3) reboot the idrive
4)add a new device in the BMW menu
5)S26+ shows up
6)accept all the allow this and that, etc.

Device is connected, Android Auto works, etc.

1. Turn off car.
2. Lock Car.
3. Move away from car for about 2-3 minutes
4. Unlock Car
5. On console... (Trying)Connecting to S26+
then puts message "connect a new device", then "Connecting to s26+, etc

But it never reconnects, until I go into the phone's BT menu and click on the BMWxxxx entry.

I had a Samsung S22+ and same issue.

I have a new Samsung S25+, and it actually autoconnects.

Samsung said the BT version in S26+ is 6.0 and S25+ is 5.4 and
that could be the issue.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

BobN2Tech wrote

I have been trying to autoconnect the Galaxy S26+ to the head unit of my 2020 X3. The only way I found is to go to the phone's Bluetooth settings and click on the BMWxxxx entry. It then connects and works fine. Samsung thinks its incompatible and should talk with BMW. I spent time re-doing the same thing over and over (also told the same form BMW customer support):

1) unpair from phone
2) delete device from car
3) reboot the idrive
4)add a new device in the BMW menu
5)S26+ shows up
6)accept all the allow this and that, etc.

Device is connected, Android Auto works, etc.

1. Turn off car.
2. Lock Car.
3. Move away from car for about 2-3 minutes
4. Unlock Car
5. On console... (Trying)Connecting to S26+
then puts message "connect a new device", then "Connecting to s26+, etc

But it never reconnects, until I go into the phone's BT menu and click on the BMWxxxx entry.

I had a Samsung S22+ and same issue.

I have a new Samsung S25+, and it actually autoconnects.

Samsung said the BT version in S26+ is 6.0 and S25+ is 5.4 and
that could be the issue.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Curious if you found a fix to your issue? Wife just got a S26+ and its been causing mayhem with the Bluetooth connection.

Nope. It rarely would work. I tried everything. Since then I sold the 2020 x3 and got a new 2026 x3. The Samsung S26+ works perfectly. So it obviously was an old implementation of BT.