Photo: BMW
Back in December, BMW confirmed something that took many people by surprise: Android Auto was supposed to come to some of its models with a software update due in July 2020.
July is almost over and BMW is yet to roll out an announcement regarding the release of Android Auto in its cars, but as it turns out, the German carmaker has actually prepared the update and is offering it to customers silently as part of a new firmware installed by authorized dealers.
A report from AP reveals that this firmware update is labeled as “07/2020,” so it’s a new release that received the go-ahead at some point this month.
Oddly enough, checking for updates in a BMW model where Android Auto can be enabled with this new firmware doesn’t seem to indicate that a new version is available. So what you need to do is actually set up an appointment with a BMW dealer and ask them to perform the firmware update. Afterward, Android Auto should be enabled in your car too, as long your model runs iDrive 7.
This kind of limits the availability of Android Auto in BMW cars to only a handful of models, such as the 2020 5 Series and the 2019 X5 (you can find the full list of supported cars at the end of the article).
What you need to know is that BMW cars run Android Auto wirelessly, so you also need a phone that supports this type of connection. These include the Samsung Galaxy S20 and the Google Pixel 4, but you can find the full list of devices that support wireless AA on this page.
The bad news is that Android Auto doesn’t seem to use the entire screen estate on a wide display, but at least, everything seems to be running properly. There’s some sort of delay when interacting with apps, but this is mostly the result of the wireless connection, and hopefully, the experience overall would get more refinements in the coming updates.
Android Auto-compatible BMW models:
A report from AP reveals that this firmware update is labeled as “07/2020,” so it’s a new release that received the go-ahead at some point this month.
Oddly enough, checking for updates in a BMW model where Android Auto can be enabled with this new firmware doesn’t seem to indicate that a new version is available. So what you need to do is actually set up an appointment with a BMW dealer and ask them to perform the firmware update. Afterward, Android Auto should be enabled in your car too, as long your model runs iDrive 7.
This kind of limits the availability of Android Auto in BMW cars to only a handful of models, such as the 2020 5 Series and the 2019 X5 (you can find the full list of supported cars at the end of the article).
What you need to know is that BMW cars run Android Auto wirelessly, so you also need a phone that supports this type of connection. These include the Samsung Galaxy S20 and the Google Pixel 4, but you can find the full list of devices that support wireless AA on this page.
The bad news is that Android Auto doesn’t seem to use the entire screen estate on a wide display, but at least, everything seems to be running properly. There’s some sort of delay when interacting with apps, but this is mostly the result of the wireless connection, and hopefully, the experience overall would get more refinements in the coming updates.
Android Auto-compatible BMW models:
- 2019+ 3 Series with Live Cockpit Professional
- 2020+ 5 Series
- 2020+ 7 Series
- 2019+ 8 Series
- 2020+ X3 with Live Cockpit Professional
- 2020+ X4 with Live Cockpit Professional
- 2019+ X5
- 2020+ X6
- 2019+ X7
- 2019+ Z4
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