New Android Phone with Bluetooth 5.4, can't pair to the car / CIC

[evoiii90]

Posted this on another forum, but no answers, trying over here...


I have an 2011 E92 M3 with CIC and enhanced premium sound. Until now I was using my now old 2021 Samsung A52, but I just upgraded it to a new Google Pixel 10 with Android 16 vs Android 14 on the Samsung.

All my attempts to pair the Pixel 10 with the car has been unsuccessful, I always get the "pairing failed. Incorrect passkey" after inputting 0000 or 1234 through the iDrive screen when prompted.

I had a long "conversation" with Google's Gemini, in which it recommended various things including lowering some of the Bluetooth config settings on the Pixel 10 through Android's Developer Mode, upgrading the CIC firmware, which it was already on the latest already, and all sorts of additional suggestions including some through coding, for which I used BimmerGeeks Protool, although many of the coding parameters Gemini suggested were non existent inside the ComBox.

Without listing ALL the things I tried based on Gemini's suggestions, which I can since I captured all the interactions with Gemini on a document, my questions are:

- Has anyone connected ANY newer phone with the latest Bluetooth 5.4 available on the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phones ?. If yes, what specifically did you do ?

To answer my own question, I connected my son's 2025 Motorola Moto G, also with Android 16, and it connected without issues. I even checked the Moto's BlueTooth settings and they match mine, so not sure why the Motorola connects and not the Pixel 10.

- If there is no way to connect these two, I'm assuming the only alternative is to get / install something like the Mr12Volt or equivalent, or go back to an older phone as I was.


As additional background info, The 2011 Combox uses Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The Pixel 10 uses Bluetooth 5.4+, and according to Gemini, the problem is related to:
"The "Incorrect Passkey" error on a CIC iDrive system—despite you entering the same numbers on both devices—is a specific diagnostic symptom. It means the Diffie-Hellman key exchange (the cryptographic handshake) is timing out or being rejected because the Pixel 10 is using a mandatory security level that the 2011 Combox cannot negotiate."

I know Gemini is just spitting out info it was trained on, and gather from multiple sources including these forums, which is why there's no definitive answer, but it was worth a try...

Any suggestions would we welcomed.

[RocketyMan]

Originally Posted by evoiii90

Posted this on another forum, but no answers, trying over here...


I have an 2011 E92 M3 with CIC and enhanced premium sound. Until now I was using my now old 2021 Samsung A52, but I just upgraded it to a new Google Pixel 10 with Android 16 vs Android 14 on the Samsung.

All my attempts to pair the Pixel 10 with the car has been unsuccessful, I always get the "pairing failed. Incorrect passkey" after inputting 0000 or 1234 through the iDrive screen when prompted.

I had a long "conversation" with Google's Gemini, in which it recommended various things including lowering some of the Bluetooth config settings on the Pixel 10 through Android's Developer Mode, upgrading the CIC firmware, which it was already on the latest already, and all sorts of additional suggestions including some through coding, for which I used BimmerGeeks Protool, although many of the coding parameters Gemini suggested were non existent inside the ComBox.

Without listing ALL the things I tried based on Gemini's suggestions, which I can since I captured all the interactions with Gemini on a document, my questions are:

- Has anyone connected ANY newer phone with the latest Bluetooth 5.4 available on the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phones ?. If yes, what specifically did you do ?

To answer my own question, I connected my son's 2025 Motorola Moto G, also with Android 16, and it connected without issues. I even checked the Moto's BlueTooth settings and they match mine, so not sure why the Motorola connects and not the Pixel 10.

- If there is no way to connect these two, I'm assuming the only alternative is to get / install something like the Mr12Volt or equivalent, or go back to an older phone as I was.


As additional background info, The 2011 Combox uses Bluetooth 2.1+EDR. The Pixel 10 uses Bluetooth 5.4+, and according to Gemini, the problem is related to:
"The "Incorrect Passkey" error on a CIC iDrive system—despite you entering the same numbers on both devices—is a specific diagnostic symptom. It means the Diffie-Hellman key exchange (the cryptographic handshake) is timing out or being rejected because the Pixel 10 is using a mandatory security level that the 2011 Combox cannot negotiate."

I know Gemini is just spitting out info it was trained on, and gather from multiple sources including these forums, which is why there's no definitive answer, but it was worth a try...

Any suggestions would we welcomed.

What version SW on your COMBOX are you running?
Also, you may need to delete previous paired devices before another one can pair. I have no problem connecting late model BT devices to my COMBOX. FWIW, passkey has to be something other than "0000" I think in my experience. Try a different one perhaps more unique.

Might be worth perusing this thread here.
https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1987267

[03m_plus]

Bluetooth on Android 16 was terrible for me. After this update Bluetooth devices didn’t know if it could take calls or should be audio output only. I think this was more of a problem for older devices, in my case the e92’s phone call and tune2air.

Went back to an iPhone and all was good…

Also, Google’s support is probably the worst I’ve experienced..