Permanent iPhone install?

[beatle]

With the lack of Android Auto, has anyone considered a "permanent" iPhone install vs. one of the Bimmertech MMI devices?

Upsides are not having to switch between the factory system and the Bimmertech addon, retaining touchscreen functionality, and (potentially?) better audio quality by not using the aux jack, though I'm not sure about the last one. Install would also be significantly less involved for the phone, and the upfront cost would also be much less. At $15/mo and a $200 phone, break even would be over 3 years for the MMI.

Downsides are long term cost (recurring monthly expense for an extra line + data), a phone that may be dead when getting into the car and needing to be powered back on, and cost of the phone itself, though the phone could be a pretty cheap used model. I'm guessing the phone may need to be replaced after a few years. The phone would not be my primary, but that doesn't really matter to me as I never take calls anyway.

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[AZ Zupra]

This sounds like just getting an Iphone with extra steps.

 

[beatle]

Yes, this is to avoid having to use an iPhone as a daily driver. I've tried using one for over a year for work and cannot stand it.

 

[BMWAF]

With the lack of Android Auto, has anyone considered a "permanent" iPhone install vs. one of the Bimmertech MMI devices?

Upsides are not having to switch between the factory system and the Bimmertech addon, retaining touchscreen functionality, and (potentially?) better audio quality by not using the aux jack, though I'm not sure about the last one. Install would also be significantly less involved for the phone, and the upfront cost would also be much less. At $15/mo and a $200 phone, break even would be over 3 years for the MMI.

Downsides are long term cost (recurring monthly expense for an extra line + data), a phone that may be dead when getting into the car and needing to be powered back on, and cost of the phone itself, though the phone could be a pretty cheap used model. I'm guessing the phone may need to be replaced after a few years. The phone would not be my primary, but that doesn't really matter to me as I never take calls anyway.

I used to keep an old iPhone in my glovebox (not a Supra) and used it as an ipod/find my car device. It was pretty much always charged as it would charge whenever the car was on (daily driver) and I had it on an old $1 per month mobile SIM so that I could track it if the car ever got stolen.

This system worked well but it didn't replace my phone.. just allowed me to keep an archive of music with me in the car. If you have to sync things regularly, it becomes a different animal which I don't think would be worth taming in the long run.

The answer you don't want to hear is a) get the BimmerTech solution.. or the actual answer b) Just buy and use an iPhone.

 

[beatle]

I think the only thing it would sync would be any Spotify songs which it could do when I reconnect to my home's wifi. If I buy a Supra, it would be a daily driver more or less, but I'd also drive my truck and Miata occasionally.

I started my research trying to find more info on the use of the MMI, but results were mixed as to whether there were any issues with lag, annoyances with lack of touchscreen input, unreliable connectivity, or new frustrations from having to switch back and forth between the factory infotainment and the MMI. Most of the threads are pretty old. I'm not put off by the cost so much as whether any of my concerns are valid.

 

[BMWAF]

I think the only thing it would sync would be any Spotify songs which it could do when I reconnect to my home's wifi. If I buy a Supra, it would be a daily driver more or less, but I'd also drive my truck and Miata occasionally.

I started my research trying to find more info on the use of the MMI, but results were mixed as to whether there were any issues with lag, annoyances with lack of touchscreen input, unreliable connectivity, or new frustrations from having to switch back and forth between the factory infotainment and the MMI. Most of the threads are pretty old. I'm not put off by the cost so much as whether any of my concerns are valid.

This might hurt but I actually have the MMI installed but do not actually use the interface or the Android Auto functionality at all - I just have it installed to integrate a front parking camera.

You couldn't pay me to use an Android phone.

Also, iPhone's tend to last forever.. the aforementioned iPhone I had in my car was an iPhone 4! It still works to this day but replacement batteries are hard to come by, so I retired it from my daily mid last year.

 

[beatle]

Wow, talk about different strokes.

A front parking camera sounds like a bonus feature for the MMI that I had not weighed though.

 

[BMWAF]

A front parking camera sounds like a bonus feature for the MMI that I had not weighed though.

My take.

 

[STV3]

I think the only thing it would sync would be any Spotify songs which it could do when I reconnect to my home's wifi. If I buy a Supra, it would be a daily driver more or less, but I'd also drive my truck and Miata occasionally.

I started my research trying to find more info on the use of the MMI, but results were mixed as to whether there were any issues with lag, annoyances with lack of touchscreen input, unreliable connectivity, or new frustrations from having to switch back and forth between the factory infotainment and the MMI. Most of the threads are pretty old. I'm not put off by the cost so much as whether any of my concerns are valid.

I have the MMI in my car and I'm pretty happy with it. The sound quality did seem a little off to me when I first got it, but after messing with the built in equalizer in the MMI setting it sounds fine. As far as using the touch screen, I tend to not use it in the first place because I don't like having fingerprints on my screen. I'm kind of just used to navigating everything with the idrive knob. I did have some lag issues with it at first too. It wasn't consistent but it would happen here and there. There are two solutions to that, one is just use it wired. Or two (what I did) was get the Motorola wireless AA adapter and plug it into the USB cable that comes out of the MMI unit, so the MMI is functioning as a wired connection and the wireless connection is handled by the Motorola unit, if that makes any sense. It know its an extra step and expense but I have had zero lag with it that way.

I've been living with it for a couple of years now so feel free to ask me any other questions you may have.

 

[Tealou]

This is what I ended up doing

Picked up a fuse tap and what's in the photo from amazon.
Had an old iPhone that was collecting dust and decided to give it a new lease on life.
Activated a new line with my carrier specifically for the iPhone in the car.
The setup is such that the iPhone charges only when the ignition is on, so it’s always juiced up.
Implemented call forwarding from my main number to this car line.
Now, when someone calls me, my personal phone rings first, when I decline the call gets forwarded to the car.

 

[Scoopra]

Get a pixel 8. You'll hate it so much that you'll switch to an iPhone just have a phone that works

 

[STV3]

Get a pixel 8. You'll hate it so much that you'll switch to an iPhone just have a phone that works

I love my P8P

 

[Bassoonytoon]

I had a setup kind of like you are thinking about. I had an iPhone X that I was no longer using after moving over to Android. I used a SIM card for a tablet plan so I could still use it for data (apps for CarPlay, iMessage, etc.) and I used a low profile 90 degree USB cable which kept the charging cable virtually invisible (I hate seeing any cables in my cars).

I mounted it behind the shifter onto the charging tray using a magnetic mount and had it display oil/coolant temps, boost, etc.

(See the thread I made here for more info on that: Easy Way to Display Temperature, Boost, etc. | SupraMKV - 2020+ Toyota Supra Forum (A90 MKV Generation))

I eventually just started taking the phone out and charging it in the house. It got too annoying if the phone wasn't charged when I started the car and I figured this is a real good way to kill the battery (and possibly have it explode if the interior gets too hot in the summer). With the magnetic mount, it takes literally 2 seconds to put it into place and take it out when I go back inside. I have since moved back to an iPhone as my primary phone and still use this system (albeit with a proper cell phone plan, and I have upgraded to a MagSafe mount in the same location).

 

[nosavingthrow]

I *think* there are 3rd party adapter devices out there that can bridge / proxy Android phones to CarPlay. I can not vouch for how well any of these work - some of the ones referenced below have pretty shitty ratings on Amazon and the descriptions are hard to understand, but it appears they might exist.

This page claims their devices do this... I think?

https://www.ottocast.com/blogs/carp...apple-a-complete-guide-for-carplay-conversion

This thread seems to talk about it, although they keep saying it doesn't work on BMW since wired CarPlay isn't enabled - however, I could have sworn I've used wired CarPlay on the Supra so might be an option still:

Reddit thread

Anyways, you'd probably need to do some digging to figure out if this is really an option, but might be worth checking into given you are already considering a janky solution.

 

[Scoopra]

I love my P8P

I was using a galaxy S10 and it was still better in every way than this junky phone

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