iPhone iOS Apps for Bluetooth for BMW & MINI – Spotify, Glympse, Deezer, Rhapsody, GoPro & Amazon Music

BMW and MINI have added more iPhone iOS apps, recently, for music streaming, sharing locations, mapping, parking, weather, news and listening to books. iOS iPhone compatible apps include, Life 360, Spotify, Deezer, Rhapsody, Audible GoPro and more. BMW already supports Twitter and Facebook integration for iPhones.

The Apps for Automotive  interface allows BMW and MINI owners to use smartphone apps with integrated functions. The smartphone is connected through a snap-in adapter or USB cable. Some apps also allow phone calls via Bluetooth such as the Life 360 app.

Some of the most popular compatible iPhone apps available are:

• Spotify (Apple iOS) – streaming music service with more than 50 million users and over 12.5 million paying subscribers across 58 countries.
• Life360 (Certified Apple iOS) – the  Life360 app allows families and friends to communicate, share their location and make phone calls or chat online for member of circles. Life360 allows the BMW or MINI’s navigation system to guide the driver to a circle member’s current location directly through the app. Telephone conversations with group members can be made directly from the app through the car’s audio system via a Bluetooth connection between the iPhone and the car.
• Deezer (Apple iOS) – music service with more than 30 million music tracks
• Napster in Europe/Rhapsody in US (Apple iOS) – Napster music offers access to 25 million songs of every genre.
• Amazon Music ( Apple iOS) – Music service – Free for Amazon Primer Members,  Amazon Music allows access to 27 million music tracks, which can be downloaded onto a smartphone or streamed.
• TuneIn Radio Free/TuneIn Radio Pro (Apple iOS) – Internet radio. The app give access to 100,000 FM, AM, HD and internet radio stations and two million on-demand programs from every continent, both free version and the ad-free Pro option are supported.
• Audible (Apple iOS) – Audio books from world’s largest provider and producer of digital spoken content offers more than 130,000 audio programs.
• myKIDIO (Apple iOS; only BMW) – In-car entertainment for children. This app gives age-appropriate and organized content, such as TV series, films, audio books and audio plays, to make long journeys that much more entertaining for children traveling in the car. This app requires both an iPhone and an iPad, which displays the content in the rear of the car.
• Glympse (Apple iOS) – This GPS-based app allows you to inform other users of your location for a set period of time.
• M Laptimer (Apple iOS only BMW) – The M Laptimer app records data including acceleration, braking points, lap times and g-force, and also offers a comparison function which allows drivers to measure their stats against other motorists. Virtual laps can be played back in animated form for comparison purposes and shared via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.
• GoPro app (Apple iOS) –  GoPro remote control app for sport or leisure activities.
• BMW Connected app (Apple iOS / Google Android) – This free app allows access to Twitter, connects to radio stations around the world via web radio and leads you to your final destination after you’ve parked the car courtesy of its Last Mile function. Integrated functions include a calendar, Wiki Local and news via the latest RSS feeds. The app will also guide drivers back to their parking space.
• MINI Connected app (Apple iOS/Google Android) – This free app integrate web radio and RSS newsfeed services, use of Twitter and foursquare as well as an online search facility and functions exclusive to MINI, such as Driving Excitement, Mission Control, Dynamic Music and MINIMALISM.
• MINI Connected XL Journey Mate (Apple iOS/Google Android) – a travel guide that uses current traffic situation. Tasks such as telephone calls and other information for the journey can also be factored in. A smartphone connection allows the data to be transferred to the car. It also offers parking, gas stations, and weather forecasts.

If you are currently driving a BMW (2010 or later) make sure that your software is up-to-date. Updates are free. You save the software on USB drive to take into your car. You will need your vehicle VIN number.

You can also check to see if your MINI software is up-to-date. To perform a software update, you requires
‘Bluetooth Mobile Preparation with USB Audio Interface’ (option code 6NE) as well as the ‘Radio MINI Visual Boost’ (option code 6FP) or the ‘MINI Navigation System Business’ (option code 6UM). Your MINI can be updated as long as you have the ‘Software update’ option on your ‘Settings’ menu.