[JohnnyCanuck]

My M235i came with iDrive 4 and with the pending upgrade of online services in Canada to the same as the US and International thought it would be a good time to do the upgrade to iDrive 6. Wanted BMW Apps via Bluetooth in particular.

Ordered the iDrive 6 retrofit from CodeMyBimmer. steve@codemybimmer was awesome to deal with. Answered all my questions and provided great customer service. The unit arrived via UPS on Friday and I did the install yesterday.

I received a replacement head unit along with a WiFi antenna for CarPlay and/or Screen Mirroring. Steve also included a coding adapter in case he needed to step in and troubleshoot anything after the install:

View post on imgur.com

I won't walk through all the steps of the re and re as that's documented elsewhere as well as the video on CodeMyBimmer's website with a couple of notes. First, a trick I found in another post from BEM-S4. I find the hazard and door lock connectors to be really difficult to reconnect to the upper air vent panel, so rather than remove it I used his trick of masking taping it to the nav screen so it's out of the way:

View post on imgur.com

The swap itself took about 20 minutes. A few of the connectors were finicky to remove. The trick to some of them is there's a locking pin on the back of the connector ... slide it up and you're good. Some of the other ones just require pressure to release. The multiwire plugs just take patience. The good thing is all the connectors are colour coded so the reinstall is pretty easy. Took a lot longer getting it disconnected than reconnected.

So, once installed ... I have working iDrive 6 with full functionality including being able to browse Spotify with a bluetooth connection and cover art:

View post on imgur.com

I have not been able to get Mirrorlink working properly yet with my S8+. I can cast my screen but without functionality. Will play with this some more. I do not have Apple devices so I haven't played with Carplay.

The donor unit came from New York so I had to clear out radio presets and navigation destinations, but the nav is functioning fine. Regional maps have not updated or downloaded yet but Steve's indicated it will happen.

A couple of other quirks. My iDrive controller is remapped so the Telephone button is now mapped to Nav but it's just a matter of getting used to it. Also, the steering wheel controls have reversed themselves: scroll down is now next track and scroll up for previous.

All in all, exactly as advertised and given the great customer service I got, I would have no hesitation recommending CodeMyBimmer for any of their products or services.

[steve@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

My M235i came with iDrive 4 and with the pending upgrade of online services in Canada to the same as the US and International thought it would be a good time to do the upgrade to iDrive 6. Wanted BMW Apps via Bluetooth in particular.

Ordered the iDrive 6 retrofit from CodeMyBimmer. steve@codemybimmer was awesome to deal with. Answered all my questions and provided great customer service. The unit arrived via UPS on Friday and I did the install yesterday.

I received a replacement head unit along with a WiFi antenna for CarPlay and/or Screen Mirroring. Steve also included a coding adapter in case he needed to step in and troubleshoot anything after the install:

View post on imgur.com

I won't walk through all the steps of the re and re as that's documented elsewhere as well as the video on CodeMyBimmer's website with a couple of notes. First, a trick I found in another post from BEM-S4. I find the hazard and door lock connectors to be really difficult to reconnect to the upper air vent panel, so rather than remove it I used his trick of masking taping it to the nav screen so it's out of the way:

View post on imgur.com

The swap itself took about 20 minutes. A few of the connectors were finicky to remove. The trick to some of them is there's a locking pin on the back of the connector ... slide it up and you're good. Some of the other ones just require pressure to release. The multiwire plugs just take patience. The good thing is all the connectors are colour coded so the reinstall is pretty easy. Took a lot longer getting it disconnected than reconnected.

So, once installed ... I have working iDrive 6 with full functionality including being able to browse Spotify with a bluetooth connection and cover art:

View post on imgur.com

I have not been able to get Mirrorlink working properly yet with my S8+. I can cast my screen but without functionality. Will play with this some more. I do not have Apple devices so I haven't played with Carplay.

The donor unit came from New York so I had to clear out radio presets and navigation destinations, but the nav is functioning fine. Regional maps have not updated or downloaded yet but Steve's indicated it will happen.

A couple of other quirks. My iDrive controller is remapped so the Telephone button is now mapped to Nav but it's just a matter of getting used to it. Also, the steering wheel controls have reversed themselves: scroll down is now next track and scroll up for previous.

All in all, exactly as advertised and given the great customer service I got, I would have no hesitation recommending CodeMyBimmer for any of their products or services.

Thanks for the excellent writeup Mike!

Enjoy the upgrade!

[JohnnyCanuck]

Thanks Steve.

Just to update, the regional maps did update today to the correct region. All good.

[aceezy]

Anyone know if there is a retrofit in the works for the 2015 models?

[JohnnyCanuck]

I think it depends on production date. If you PM Steve he can probably tell you from your VIN number.

[aceezy]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCanuck

I think it depends on production date. If you PM Steve he can probably tell you from your VIN number.

I'll do that, hopefully it works!

[butermunch]

not experienced here, so the 2016 models come with idrive 4.0?

what does the swap add in terms of features?

[JohnnyCanuck]

Visually, it's a more modern UI but the features I've noticed:

1. If you're an Apple user - CarPlay (wireless)
2. BMW Apps via Bluetooth for both Android and iOS (but Android only works for Spotify, Pandora, and iHeart)
3. Live tiles
4. Vastly superior voice recognition
5. Better navigation UI

[FX TR8R]

I just need the WiFi antenna for my CarPlay retrofit. Where do you mount it?

[JohnnyCanuck]

I mounted it inside the trim panel just below the HVAC controls underneath the head unit.

[joe_bimmer]

Originally Posted by butermunch

not experienced here, so the 2016 models come with idrive 4.0?

what does the swap add in terms of features?

Sorry for digging up an old thread. But if you're still interested, here is an article I've found recently. It shows which models have CCC, CIC, NBT or NBT Evo and also the difference between them in functionality
https://www.bimmer-tech.net/blog/ite...cic-nbt-nbtevo

[Bmw.Fan]

Did you ever get the buttons sorted out or did you have to just deal with them not being in the correct locations?

[JohnnyCanuck]

Originally Posted by Bmw.Fan

Did you ever get the buttons sorted out or did you have to just deal with them not being in the correct locations?

I'm used to it so it's no big deal. You can swap out the controller if you want, just not worth the effort/$$ to me. Media is still media, Menu is still Home, Option and Back are still the same so it's really only the map and communications buttons that are any different.