Apple CarPlay/Android Auto Retrofit

[rob10k8]

Working on the install. Everything was pretty simple - the biggest pain was taking out the glove box as there is a nice area to put the CarPlay unit just to the right of the radio.

Powered up and everything works like normal, however, I can not get the Car Play unit to show up on the display.

For older units, you would connect to it by pressing the Aux connection, but that doesn't seem to work as this unit doesn't use Aux. I emailed Michael to see if he has instructions (nothing came with the unit).

I'll post as soon as I get it.

Rob


[UPDATE]

I was able to connect my iPhone to the unit, still can't get it to show up on the display. I'm sure i'm missing something simple... If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

Note. This is for an F32

[Yom]

Originally Posted by luckyse7en

You can set it so it uses OEM cameras and PDC when going into reverse. It is in the settings of the unit.

The side view camera is different, and it can be activated when you are in D not in R. side view youtube

And also the top view image should be shown for a while when you go to D from R. Is it possible, when I select the OEM cameras in the settings?

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Working on the install. Everything was pretty simple - the biggest pain was taking out the glove box as there is a nice area to put the CarPlay unit just to the right of the radio.

Powered up and everything works like normal, however, I can not get the Car Play unit to show up on the display.

For older units, you would connect to it by pressing the Aux connection, but that doesn't seem to work as this unit doesn't use Aux. I emailed Michael to see if he has instructions (nothing came with the unit).

I'll post as soon as I get it figured out.

Rob


[UPDATE]

I was able to connect my iPhone to the unit, still can't get it to show up on the display. I'm sure i'm missing something simple... If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

I thought I read somewhere that you had to hold down a specific button to bring up the carplay display, the last preset # (6 or 8) or one of the buttons on the iDrive controller.

[luckyse7en]

Originally Posted by Yom

The side view camera is different, and it can be activated when you are in D not in R. side view youtube

And also the top view image should be shown for a while when you go to D from R. Is it possible, when I select the OEM cameras in the settings?

I see. I'll let someone with a newer car with those features chime in.

But from what I understand of the carplay module. You can simply just switch the display back to idrive to access those features. Once you switch from R to D and drive off, you can switch back to carplay screen.

[rob10k8]

Originally Posted by brettcp

I thought I read somewhere that you had to hold down a specific button to bring up the carplay display, the last preset # (6 or 8) or one of the buttons on the iDrive controller.

I have tried that, but no luck. In one of the Kremsino videos, they set button 8 to be Aux input. I tried programming 8 to Aux, but it didn't do anything.

[MJBO]

The 8 button has nothing to do with the switching of the display, it’s just a convenient option to switch to AUX.

Hold down the menu button for three seconds to switch displays.

[rob10k8]

Originally Posted by MJBO

The 8 button has nothing to do with the switching of the display, it’s just a convenient option to switch to AUX.

Hold down the menu button for three seconds to switch displays.

Thank You! I must have missed that in the instructions (for those not familiar, there are no instructions).

Got everything working. My first impressions:

1. Instructions would help. It's not too hard to figure out the install, but there are a lot of settings (some are new, I think) so its a bit hard to figure out how to set up. I had my phone connected and then when playing with settings, I disconnected and had to spend about 10 min figuring out how to install again.

2. Sound. I have read others comments that the bass is somewhat lacking. I could tell no difference between this unit and BMW BT (for bass or anything else for that matter). I believe it is using the existing BT connection for sound (but I'm not 100% sure).

3. Back up camera - other have mentioned this and I noticed that when CarPlay is on, the Back up Camera and parking sensors worked like normal.

That's it for now. I'll play with it some more and share additional impressions. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Rob

[update]
Install is on an F32

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Thank You! I must have missed that in the instructions (for those not familiar, there are no instructions).

Got everything working. My first impressions:

1. Instructions would help. It's not too hard to figure out the install, but there are a lot of settings (some are new, I think) so its a bit hard to figure out how to set up. I had my phone connected and then when playing with settings, I disconnected and had to spend about 10 min figuring out how to install again.

2. Sound. I have read others comments that the bass is somewhat lacking. I could tell no difference between this unit and BMW BT (for bass or anything else for that matter). I believe it is using the existing BT connection for sound (but I'm not 100% sure).

3. Back up camera - other have mentioned this and I noticed that when CarPlay is on, the Back up Camera and parking sensors worked like normal.

That's it for now. I'll play with it some more and share additional impressions. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Rob

So is your phone still paired to BMW's factory bluetooth system still, or do you pair it to the carplay unit specifically? ...or is it paired to both BMW's connection and the carplay unit simultaneously?

[cyman83]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Thank You! I must have missed that in the instructions (for those not familiar, there are no instructions).

Got everything working. My first impressions:

1. Instructions would help. It's not too hard to figure out the install, but there are a lot of settings (some are new, I think) so its a bit hard to figure out how to set up. I had my phone connected and then when playing with settings, I disconnected and had to spend about 10 min figuring out how to install again.

2. Sound. I have read others comments that the bass is somewhat lacking. I could tell no difference between this unit and BMW BT (for bass or anything else for that matter). I believe it is using the existing BT connection for sound (but I'm not 100% sure).

3. Back up camera - other have mentioned this and I noticed that when CarPlay is on, the Back up Camera and parking sensors worked like normal.

That's it for now. I'll play with it some more and share additional impressions. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Rob

Does this work with oem mic?

[derbo]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Thank You! I must have missed that in the instructions (for those not familiar, there are no instructions).

Got everything working. My first impressions:

1. Instructions would help. It's not too hard to figure out the install, but there are a lot of settings (some are new, I think) so its a bit hard to figure out how to set up. I had my phone connected and then when playing with settings, I disconnected and had to spend about 10 min figuring out how to install again.

2. Sound. I have read others comments that the bass is somewhat lacking. I could tell no difference between this unit and BMW BT (for bass or anything else for that matter). I believe it is using the existing BT connection for sound (but I'm not 100% sure).

3. Back up camera - other have mentioned this and I noticed that when CarPlay is on, the Back up Camera and parking sensors worked like normal.

That's it for now. I'll play with it some more and share additional impressions. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Rob

1. Yes it kinda silly.

2. Wireless carplay uses Bluetooth to negotiate settings with the unit. It then negotiates an ad-hoc wifi with the iPhone to the module for actual data transfer. It's pretty neat.

3. Does the music continue to play when you go into reverse?

[MJBO]

I've been so time poor of late, I completely missed this further update to the Kremersino box. Glad I haven't done anything about the swap yet!

Will get back in touch with Michael in the new year about trading in my shitty audio version

[rob10k8]

I got a little more time to play with the new unit and here are some additional findings and answer some questions above:

1. I was getting really poor 'reception' thru CarPlay. Like the song was stuttering or skipping a lot. The best way to describe it is like when you have a blue tooth connection and get out of range. I'm not sure what the issue was as I have not been able to replicated it, this morning, everything worked great. I'm wondering if my phone was trying to connect to some other device (I was in my driveway, so it might have been trying to connect to my home wifi?). I'll keep an eye on it and do a better job of identifying all the setting, etc. if it happens again.

2. Does this work with oem mic? Yes. Call quality was great. Siri translation was great.

UPDATE: I noticed the CIC unit has a mike with it. I have NBT unit, so everything might be different for CIC.


3. Does the music continue to play when you go into reverse?. This works seamlessly. I had CarPlay (showing on the screen) and put the car in reverse. The screen went to my backup camera / parking sensor and the music continued to play. The parking sensors still made the beeping tones as normal. When I put the car in drive, the backup camera showed for a few seconds (like normal) and then the screen went back to the Car Play screen.

4. Michael emailed me the installation instructions. If you would like to see them, let me know and I will post them.

5. Music continues to stream when switching to BMW screen. I had CarPlay playing music thru Spotify, I held the Menu button down for 3 seconds and it switched tothe BMW Connected Drives menu screen, and music continued to play. Switched back to CarPlay and it went back to the same screen.

Rob

[update]
Install is on an F32

[Yom]

If you don't stream a music through carplay, can you use the normal AUX as before?
Does you car have a surround camera?

My car has a CIC+combox, I hope it will work in the same way, because the AUX input is connected to combox not to the head unit.

[rob10k8]

Originally Posted by Yom

If you don't stream a music through carplay, can you use the normal AUX as before?
Does you car have a surround camera?

My car has a CIC+combox, I hope it will work in the same way, because the AUX input is connected to combox not to the head unit.

I'm not 100% sure how the unit used to work since I only have the new unit. My NBT unit does not have an Aux input, however I think the CIC unit does.

The pics at the bottom of the AliExpress store seem to show an Aux cable on the CIC version.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...719e9daevIsqwc

[cyman83]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

I'm not 100% sure how the unit used to work since I only have the new unit. My NBT unit does not have an Aux input, however I think the CIC unit does.

The pics at the bottom of the AliExpress store seem to show an Aux cable on the CIC version.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...719e9daevIsqwc

You have NBT on your M3?

[rob10k8]

Originally Posted by cyman83

You have NBT on your M3?

Not anymore. This is in a 435xi.

[brettcp]

Got my CIC unit today - zero form of any instructions in the box.. I used some common sense to hook it up and test it out.. I really like how this brings the dated CIC unit up a much more modern system. Everything is very fast to navigate/respond/etc.

Only two unknowns:

- By default it comes wired with a cable that wires the carplay unit directly to the AUX in pins on the quadlock harness (pins 2, 7, and 8 on block C), but I don't get any audio this way.. it also comes with a different cable that wires the carplay unit to a 3.5mm male connector (if I plug this into my AUX in via the armrest, I do get audio). You can only use one cable or the other. Perhaps there is a way to use the default cable that hard-wires it straight into the quadlock (which I'd prefer), but I don't know for now as I still don't have the manual for it. BTW, definitely no lack of bass with this unit.

- I'd like to use the carplay unit's reverse camera system instead of using the 3rd party reverse camera emulator I'd been using.. but I don't know how to wire the reverse detection or 12v out from the carplay unit to power the camera.. I used the google translate camera to try to figure out the writing on the labels on the wires but its pretty vague.

Seems I'll be waiting for Michael to send over the instruction manual. Car is currently torn apart as I want for Michael to wake up (still early in China and he hasn't responded yet).

OEM mic isn't working yet either.. guess I need those instructions to keep going..

[tdott]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Not anymore. This is in a 435xi.

This is mainly a e9x m3 section. So you really should state that when sharing your experience because otherwise it's confusing.

[derbo]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Got my CIC unit today - zero form of any instructions in the box.. I used some common sense to hook it up and test it out.. I really like how this brings the dated CIC unit up a much more modern system. Everything is very fast to navigate/respond/etc.

Only two unknowns:

- By default it comes wired with a cable that wires the carplay unit directly to the AUX in pins on the quadlock harness (pins 2, 7, and 8 on block C), but I don't get any audio this way.. it also comes with a different cable that wires the carplay unit to a 3.5mm male connector (if I plug this into my AUX in via the armrest, I do get audio). You can only use one cable or the other. Perhaps there is a way to use the default cable that hard-wires it straight into the quadlock (which I'd prefer), but I don't know for now as I still don't have the manual for it. BTW, definitely no lack of bass with this unit.

- I'd like to use the carplay unit's reverse camera system instead of using the 3rd party reverse camera emulator I'd been using.. but I don't know how to wire the reverse detection or 12v out from the carplay unit to power the camera.. I used the google translate camera to try to figure out the writing on the labels on the wires but its pretty vague.

Seems I'll be waiting for Michael to send over the instruction manual. Car is currently torn apart as I want for Michael to wake up (still early in China and he hasn't responded yet).

OEM mic isn't working yet either.. guess I need those instructions to keep going..

Hopefully, he helps described what is happening. The whole point of this option is to utilize the CIC quadlock not the AUX in 3.5mm in the center armrest.

[brettcp]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Got my CIC unit today - zero form of any instructions in the box.. I used some common sense to hook it up and test it out.. I really like how this brings the dated CIC unit up a much more modern system. Everything is very fast to navigate/respond/etc.

Only two unknowns:

- By default it comes wired with a cable that wires the carplay unit directly to the AUX in pins on the quadlock harness (pins 2, 7, and 8 on block C), but I don't get any audio this way.. it also comes with a different cable that wires the carplay unit to a 3.5mm male connector (if I plug this into my AUX in via the armrest, I do get audio). You can only use one cable or the other. Perhaps there is a way to use the default cable that hard-wires it straight into the quadlock (which I'd prefer), but I don't know for now as I still don't have the manual for it. BTW, definitely no lack of bass with this unit.

- I'd like to use the carplay unit's reverse camera system instead of using the 3rd party reverse camera emulator I'd been using.. but I don't know how to wire the reverse detection or 12v out from the carplay unit to power the camera.. I used the google translate camera to try to figure out the writing on the labels on the wires but its pretty vague.

Seems I'll be waiting for Michael to send over the instruction manual. Car is currently torn apart as I want for Michael to wake up (still early in China and he hasn't responded yet).

OEM mic isn't working yet either.. guess I need those instructions to keep going..

Update:

Got the wireless audio working (without using AUX), and got the OEM mic working. They're leveraging the factory BMW bluetooth telephone and bluetooth audio connection (I had disabled it, thinking that the carplay unit would handle these).. so you need to leave the factory BMW bluetooth telephone and bluetooth audio enabled to avoid having to use the AUX input. This now works well. Their system detects when you enter carplay mode and attempts to switch the factory BMW audio source over to the BMW bluetooth phone audio connection (instead of AUX). This works fairly well but if switching back and forth repeatedly, it will occasionally "miss" the switch and have to try again. I'd imagine they'll smooth this out with an update at some point, no big deal for now as I'll be in carplay land 99% of the time anyway.

The reverse camera still isn't working. Michael pulled in another tech and we sent photos back and forth, and I do have it wired up properly. It worked great with my previous emulator, but the goal is to eliminate the emulator and just use the carplay's built in reverse camera feed. It does detect I'm putting the car in reverse, and does switch +12v to the camera power wire on the carplay box, but we don't get any video. Their tech is going to see if they can find a car to test and said they will try to fix it in a firmware update. We'll see. I guess I could go back to the emulator - there is an option in the carplay box to use the "factory" camera which would work if I had to do so.

The next/previous buttons on the steering wheel and the dash both work, and the voice command button on the steering wheel brings up Siri.

The system menu looks different than what others have posted in this thread.. and there's no mention of "Limcet" at all.. This one comes up as "GPlink".

I've only been using it in testing this afternoon so far, but will be driving around over the next couple days to give it some more time.

[cyman83]

Originally Posted by rob10k8

Not anymore. This is in a 435xi.

Yea definitely very misleading. You're posting in a e9x m3 thread

[derbo]

Originally Posted by brettcp

Update:

Got the wireless audio working (without using AUX), and got the OEM mic working. They're leveraging the factory BMW bluetooth telephone and bluetooth audio connection (I had disabled it, thinking that the carplay unit would handle these).. so you need to leave the factory BMW bluetooth telephone and bluetooth audio enabled to avoid having to use the AUX input. This now works well. Their system detects when you enter carplay mode and attempts to switch the factory BMW audio source over to the BMW bluetooth phone audio connection (instead of AUX). This works fairly well but if switching back and forth repeatedly, it will occasionally "miss" the switch and have to try again. I'd imagine they'll smooth this out with an update at some point, no big deal for now as I'll be in carplay land 99% of the time anyway.

The reverse camera still isn't working. Michael pulled in another tech and we sent photos back and forth, and I do have it wired up properly. It worked great with my previous emulator, but the goal is to eliminate the emulator and just use the carplay's built in reverse camera feed. It does detect I'm putting the car in reverse, and does switch +12v to the camera power wire on the carplay box, but we don't get any video. Their tech is going to see if they can find a car to test and said they will try to fix it in a firmware update. We'll see. I guess I could go back to the emulator - there is an option in the carplay box to use the "factory" camera which would work if I had to do so.

The next/previous buttons on the steering wheel and the dash both work, and the voice command button on the steering wheel brings up Siri.

The system menu looks different than what others have posted in this thread.. and there's no mention of "Limcet" at all.. This one comes up as "GPlink".

I've only been using it in testing this afternoon so far, but will be driving around over the next couple days to give it some more time.

This doesn't make sense to me. Leveraging Bluetooth from BMW would mean you require combox to work properly as Bluetooth audio isn't available on the early TCU/ULF models. That sounds rather disappointing.