Software Update Cripples iPhone Integration?
Update: After updating my iPhone to the newly released 1.11 software released today, it suddenly works perfectly with MINI’s bluetooth. Despite having tested it previously with two different iPhone software versions and it not working, could it have been Apple’s fault all along? I’ll be checking a couple other iPhones this weekend.
Recently we’ve heard reports of iPhone integration becoming rather messy after MINI’s most recent software update. Unfortunately I now have some first-hand proof of just that.
Since my 2007 MINI’s software was updated a few weeks ago, my iPhone’s synced phone book as gone from a normal phone book with names and numbers to a short list of impossibly long numbers with no names attached. So instead of seeing categories like A, B, C etc.. the phone book only has 4, 5, 6. And each of those categories house dozens of meaningless numbers (each starting with 4, 5, or 6) that are around 20 digits long. This has obviously made the phone book unusable for actually making calls. Dialing still works as well as actually receiving numbers but dialing using the Nav’s joystick while driving isn’t recommended.
After initially thinking Apple’s latest iPhone software update may have been at fault (I had just updated to 1.02 when I got my car back with the updated software), I tested another iPhone that had been working flawlessly in the car with the original 1.0 software. The result was the same, a completely useless phone-book. Since that time, this issue has been verified by a couple MF readers as well.
MINI has stated clearly that they will have official iPhone integration coming in the ’08 model year. And it remains to be seen if that software will be retrofittable to ’07 cars. However I do think it’s rather unacceptable for the feature to be there (even unofficially) and then completely removed. One has to wonder if it’s related to MINI bringing the official solution to market and wanting to make a clear distinction between ’07 and ’08 cars? If so that would be as bad as a software company going out of their way to cripple older software. I for one hope that’s not the case.
So let’s hear from those out there with the same iPhone integration issue. We need to make sure MINI is aware of the issue and is willing to deal with it. And it shouldn’t be too difficult as it had worked flawlessly for months.
And for the folks from MINI who are reading this right now. Hit that forward button on your corporate email program and get this information to the people who need to know about it. Your help above all would be greatly appreciated!
For those wondering, these issues do not impact the iPhone’s ability to interface with the optional iPod connection.
This happened to me as well. Got the software flashed for the JCW engine kit and the contacts list and incoming call #s now look like a collection of hex codes.
Yes! Thank you for posting this! I had my nav updated this past Monday only to find out that my address book (which was working perfectly) no longer worked. I emailed Mini support and they basically told me that the iPhone will be supported for cars built from October 07 onwards, and that I was out of luck and sorry for the inconvenience. I now have a call in to my Mini service department to see if I can revert back to the older software. It becomes a trade off between voice command and the address book. For me the address book wins. Gabe – please take up this fight. You connections give you a lot more pull than the average Mini owner.
There’s all kinds of rumble going about this over on the Apple forums here:
<a href="https://www.motoringfile.com/2007/09/28/software-update-cripples-bluetooth-wiphone/" rel="ugc">https://www.motoringfile.com/2007/09/28/software-update-cripples-bluetooth-wiphone/</a>
And on the North Amarican Motoring (NAM) Forums here:
<a href="http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111137" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111137</a>
It’s all pretty lame if you ask me. It seems that BMW/MINI are only interested in selling new cars and don’t give a hoot about those that have already bought them.
MINI really should have made it easier to update the firmware in the Bluetooth option (and the iPod Adapter, nav system, etc.). Trying to get the dealers to do it for you is like pulling teeth and generally they want to charge you for it! Nothing like paying to fix software bugs, or even worse, having to buy a whole new car to get them fixed. Oy!
Oops! Looks like I messed up the Apple forum link. Here’s the proper one:
<a href="http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1023624&tstart=0" rel="nofollow ugc">http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1023624&tstart=0</a>
BTW, I’m also VERY glad to see Gabe and MotoringFile pick this story up. Maybe now MINI will actually do something about it.
Way to go Gabe!!!
Before I ordered my car on 7/23/07 I tested my iPhone on demo car with the exact specs as mine regarding electronics (Nav, iPod integration, etc). It worked flawlessly. On my car (mid-Aug build, delivered 9/26/07) my address book behaves as described above.
I called MINIUSA yesterday about this and they forwarded me to “Bluetooth Pairing Support.” I was actually asked if my car was built in Oct ’07. I replied, “How could it have been? October ’07 hasn’t happened yet.”
The representative was not rude but was completely unapologetic about the situation and referred me to my dealer.
NOTE: I do have the JCW Stage 1 Kit and associated software but can’t imagine that should have anything to do with it.
My dealer told me that there should be a software fix for the iphone issue coming out in the next few months. Apparently the software gurus at Mini didn’t think it was a good idea to run ads saying the BMW system supporteed the iPhone from the get-go, but they went ahead and did it anyway.
At any rate, I have been assured it will be fixed, and soon. Gabe, thanks for taking this one up. Well played.
I wouldn’t call a few months soon??? And, I wouldn’t put faith in anything your dealer tells you as they’re generally not correct. Worst of all… I bet that most folks will have to actually pay their dealers to install the update (if it ever comes at all).
They’ll claim that the update to support the iPhone wasn’t promised with the original car and so you’ll have to pay the dealer service fees in order to perform the update. Mark my words!
Sorry to be so pessimistic on this one, but I’ve seen this kind of stuff happen before with BMW/MINI over the years.
Gabe – is it possible to get an online petition going on this? It seems there are a lot of us who are in the same situation but have had less than positive experiences when bringing this to Mini’s attention.
Hopped in a R56 w/JCW tuning kit and I had the same problems with bluetooth and the quality of the calls was diminished (not sure if that is the software or me). Also not sure if the JCW kit had anything to do with it, that was the most recent one I drove. Oh yeah, the JCW kit KICKS ARSE! Just make sure you hold the wheel real tight. 🙂 But I haven’t had any problems with other bluetooth MINIs.
UPDATE: I updated my iPhone to 1.1.1 last night and re-paired my phone just a few minutes ago and my address book now works. I’ll update again if anything changes but for now all is right in the MINI bluetooth/iPhone world.
Keep in mind that 1.1.1 update has taken a long time for some and a short time for others. My iPhone crashed and needed to be restored from scratch and it took about 3 hours.
UPDATE 2: My iPhone was not working after the 1.1.1 update, and then, after receiving a phone call from someone in my address work began working again. So at least for now, the iPhone does seem to work well with the Mini again – even voice dialing is working flawlessly, thanks Apple! (but Mini, what a disappointing experience)
So according to the last couple posts a software update on the iPhone fixes the iPhone.
How is this MINIs fault?
Well, MINI obviously made a change in their latest software update that broke the functionality with the phone (as confirmed by Gabe). It just so happens that Apple released a new firmware update for their iPhone that corrected the problem. Thus, I can still see that as being considered MINI’s fault. No matter though if it’s now fixed as that’s all that counts. 🙂
It would be nice to hear Gabe confirm the fix for us though.
I hope for all of you it gets fixed soon. I wish I had all this clout behind me when I waited 5 months to get my MFSW retrofitted to my car. I was not lucky enough to have MF’s owner with the same problem.
I also have my address book showing up now.
The downside is that everything is alphabetical by first name.
Also, having multiple directories just gives a list of everything in all of them, which can result in a very large list if you have a large address book. Everything must go!!
The real question is… did OTHER (previously working) phones get broken by the MINI update? No?
Then the problem was Apple, and that their Bluetooth implementation was less-than-compliant, and they are finally more compliant.
Perhaps the MINI update brought it IN to compliance.
If only one model of phone was affected by the update, that’s what it sounds like to me. 🙂
>The real question is… did OTHER (previously working) phones get broken by the MINI update? No?
Yes. That’s kinda the bizarre thing here. I verified two separate iPhones with 1.01 (which worked) didn’t work after my car was updated.
No, I meant other (previously working) MODELS of phone (i.e. something OTHER than an iPhone).
If you can’t duplicate the problem on anything other than an iPhone, and then Apple releases an update that fixes it… it suggests to me that Apple made a mistake (at first), not MINI. 🙂
Compatibility is a two-way street, and if the problem is unique to the iPhone, don’t blame the MINI – they may have found a bug and corrected it, which exposed the problem with the iPhone!
I would say Apple fixed it’s bugs with it’s update. Or do you really think Apple went out of it’s way to create a patch to make them work specifically with MINIs?
robble,
No, I never said that Apple created the patch specifically due to the problem with the MINI.
However, by the sounds of it, you agree with me on the overall principle… that the main problem causing the issue was Apple’s responsibility, not MINI’s… unless we hear of other models (i.e. brands) of phone having the same type of error.
What happens to people with pre-07 MINI’s who have just bought iphones?
I have heard that the newest update for the IPhone from Apple has fixed the problem with the phone book on the MINI’s with Navigation. Have only tried it on MINI’s with Nav, and it worked. I need someone without Nav to try it and please let me know if it works!
Larry T.
Downtown MINI
407-835-2727
And we are not having any problems with other phones….
>However, by the sounds of it, you agree with me on the overall principle… that the main problem causing the issue was Apple’s responsibility, not MINI’s… unless we hear of other models (i.e. brands) of phone having the same type of error.
This was always only an iPhone problem. However due to the recent MINI software upgrade, it seemingly was a MINI problem. Here’s the scenario:
1 – iPhone works flawlessly
2 – MINI software gets updated
3 – iPhone doesn’t work flawlessly
4 – iPhones software gets updated
5 – iPhone again works flawlessly
You can see why initially it would seem to be a MINI problem. Maybe it actually was, maybe it was some odd coincidence.
>What happens to people with pre-07 MINI’s who have just bought iphones?
You can use them with the official iPod connector but there is no ful address book bluetooth integration.
edge: I’m in complete agreement with you. My comment was more for people blaming the MINI.
Actually, having worked for Apple in a past life, and several other software companies, the few who are chiming in with “how is this MINI’s fault” are quite likely 100% correct. Software companies publish their interface and software parameters for outside developers, who then use this info to make their 3rd party stuff (such as bluetooth in cars) interface and work properly. Between the publishing of this and the actual software release, programers do all kinds of things that for whatever reason, wander away from those “published” parameters. BMW/MINI likely worked with the published standards, which did not quite jell with what Apple really released on their iPhone. Apple found the bug in testing, and fixed it with a new release, likely without paying much mind to MINI owners discovering the bug too, it was just a bug that needed fixing – so problem solved.
So whose fault is it that the iPod will only see 50 of the playlists I made instead of the 255 promised in the manual?
(See, I have to use playlists to manage since my 80GB iPod has 1,000 artists on it, thanks to compliations/soundtracks/etc.)
However, the SatNav w/iPod interface only shows between 30-60 playlists out of the 90 or so I made specifically to address the limitations of the iPod interface hardware, knowing I wouldn’t be able to access all the artists on the iPod.
The Mini is the only audio hardware I have that gives me any problem getting to the playlists. Where does blame lie for that?
And, more importantly, does anyone know of a fix for the issue? The number of playlists changes from time to time, and in some cases the playlist only shows 20 (!!!) of the tracks in it, instead of 255.
Very strange. Also started a thread on the issue on NAM to see if I’m the only one, or this is a more widespread issue. I’m guessing there’s not a ton of R56 w/SatNav w/iPod interface w/30+GB iPods out there! 🙂
Hi Jeff:
Typical with the software industry. Apple, and others, set up the framework for the software specs way before they actually design and program the software, and that is what goes to outside developers that want ot “mesh” with that software/hardware. Never happens that the final product released matches those early developer specs they sent out. So everybody gets to play “catch-up”. There is alway some “hook” that was”supposed” to be in the software, or some port assigment, or some translation .dll, that got changed by the programers, and not caught by release. The fault always lies with the originator of the hardware/software, as they are giving everyone else the “specs” to work from, and if the “specs” are wrong, then everything cascades off that. As well, there are industry “standards” that are supposed to be followed, for example for Blue tooth. If Apple deviates from those standards to fit their product just a smidge – may never be noticed, or may cause all kinds of strange things, like address book displays that are all numbers, or truncated play lists. Not saying MINI programers might have made mistakes as well, but as someone who has spent almost 10 yrs at Apple, trust me, Apple seldome follows the rules, which causes huge headaches for third-party developers releasing product trying to “mesh” with Apple’s stuff.
… and acutally, Gabe’s list is “text book” for the software biz, just lacking the industry insite:
1 – iPhone works flawlessly
(basic industry standard followed by Apple – does happen occasionally)
2 – MINI software gets updated
(MINI: Let’s to add some cool bells & whistles, some “advanced” Bluetooth functionallity – according to published industry standards)
3 – iPhone doesn’t work flawlessly
(Apple: Oops, some idiot is using those @#$% advanced BlueTooth features, those @#$% hooks we left out ’cause of our super-tight develoment deadline, that we thought no one would notice.)
4 – iPhones software gets updated
(Apple: Release a @#$% patch for those @#$% Bluetooth advandced feature hooks we left out.)
5 – iPhone again works flawlessly
Well, as best I can tell, the limits posted in the iPod Interface manual are a bit of a sham when it comes to playlists. There seems to be some sort of limit of a max of 5000-ish tracks that it will keep track of via playlists, and then after that nothing exists. I spent a fair chunk of my day yesterday trying to get it so I could access the most important playlists on my iPod, and finding that reducing the number of playlists accomplished nothing if the number of tracks inside those playlists remained consistent.
Just to be clear: The process I have done is: I have taken the playlists I want to use in the Mini and added an asterisk in front of the name, so they sort to the top of the list. After adding some tracks to a Mini playlist, I found when I plugged it into the car, one of the playlists that made it (didn’t get cut off) no longer made it. So I removed a playlist consisting of a single album. Went back to the Mini, still no go. As it turned out the number of songs I moved still wasn’t enough, and when I checked I noticed that the last playlist being displayed didn’t even contain all the tracks it was supposed to.
I could go on and on about this, and I won’t, but it seems Mini has some bugs with the iPod adapter. At the very least, it does not work as advertised, and those with large collections might be better suited to find an Aux-in-based solution. I am considering going back to one. While the amount of music I have on the iPod might be excessive to some, the reason I spent all the money on this interface was to be able to access it all while on the road. So far it does not live up to that promise (for those with a large collection).
I absolutely love the iPod adapter in our new MINI. I don’t have any of the problems you’ve mentioned, but then again I don’t store thousands of songs and hundreds of playlists on my iPods either (just for that reason).
With that much music on your iPod I can indeed imagine that you would run into problems as that’s a LOT of information for the system to have to deal with. I typically keep less than 500 songs on my iPod and then just resync it with iTunes whenever I need/want new music. 500 songs is more than enough to keep me going for more than a month.
Thus, I highly recommend the iPod adapter to anyone wanting to integrate their iPod into their MINI as long as they understand the limitations of the system (which for me there aren’t any as I don’t use my iPods in a way that even comes close to reaching those limits – just as I’m sure the average iPod owner probably wouldn’t either).
If you’re a power user, then you may indeed want to look elsewhere (although I doubt very seriously that there’s anything else available at this point since the 2nd gen MINIs haven’t been around all that long yet).
While the installed price of the iPod adapter is indeed ludicrous (BMW/MINI should be absolutely ASHAMED of themselves!), I would definitely buy it again. The sound quality is great, the integration with the MINI’s nav system is amazing, the music loads up very quickly (mere seconds for my 6th gen 80 GB iPod Classic), and the iPod gets charged and switched on/off with the car. Couldn’t ask for anything more except for maybe album artwork display on the nav screen.
Gabe,
Three questions:
– Do you have your iPhone plugged into the iPod adapter?
– Was the MINI software update on your car for the JCW Stage I kit?
– Does the JCW Stage I kit bring the burble back?
It sounds like you’ve got it working again, but I was just wondering if the iPod adapter was a contributing factor. I don’t use mine with my iPhone. When I tested it the phone displayed a message that the adapter was not compatible and it caused the phone to spontaneously shut down until I did a soft reboot.