Australia now BMW Connected
German brand's internet-powered car connectivity software goes live Down UnderIt's been a long-time coming but Australian owners of BMWs such as the X5 and 3 Series can now enjoy a deeper level of car connectivity via BMW Connected.
Owners simply download the free iPhone app (Android is coming mid-2017) and once car and phone app are connected it's party time, with plenty of techy updates available for free, such as locking and unlocking the car or pre-conditioning the vehicle's cabin temperature remotely.
You can check your fuel gauge, engine oil levels, brake wear and fluid, and even the tyre pressures remotely with the new app.
And when the new 2017 BMW 5 Series arrives here in March it will even allow you to remotely monitor the car's around-view image, albeit only twice an hour.
However, to perform some of the more extravagant party tricks your car may need to have iDrive 5 software and Professional Navigation.
Using either an iPhone and/or Apple Watch, BMW Connected can also learn and predict your trips, provide real-time traffic snarl data and users can even remotely send information to the vehicle's sat-nav.
Simply put, the new BMW Connected app provides owners of existing BMW vehicles enhanced levels of functionality and replaces two current BMW apps, BMW Connected Classic and BMW Remote/BMW i Remote.
All data collected by the system is stored by BMW on a cloud somewhere and the company insists all data is stored securely. BMW also notes states that "any data used by BMW Connected is drawn from the user's smartphone SIM card".
The full list of BMW Connected features are as follows:
Journey Management:
- Store and manage destinations
- Learn and predict trips
- Search and send destinations to in-car navigation
- Time to leave notifications based on live traffic data
- Destination management, including expected trip duration
- Ability to share arrival time and destination via SMS
- Fuel station and car park locator
Remote Services:
- Remotely lock and unlock car doors from the smart device
- Flash headlights
- Find vehicle
- Engage the vehicle’s ventilation systems to pre-condition the cabin
BMW Connected drive is also compatible with third-party apps including:
- Spotify
- Pandora
- TuneIn Radio
- Audiobooks
- Deezer Music
- Glympse
- Stitcher Radio for Podcasts
- Life360
BMW Connected eligible models:
- BMW 1 and 2 Series (standard on M140i, 230i and M240i, optional on other variants)
- BMW 3 Series Sedan and Touring (standard on 330i, 330e and 340i, optional on others)
- BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo (standard on 330i, optional on 320d)
- BMW 4 Series (all)
- BMW 6 Series (all)
- BMW 7 Series (all, with touch-screen)
- BMW X3 and X4 (standard on xDrive28i and xDrive30d, optional on others)
- BMW X5 and X6 (all, with touch-screen)
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