If you own a newer MINI (2024+, U25/F65/F66/F67/J05) or BMW (U11, possibly others), I need your help.
I've been fighting with MINI for 6 months over CarPlay disconnecting at every border crossing on my JCW Countryman ALL4 (U25). Sometimes it disconnects randomly or doesn't connect at all. Disconnections last ~2 min, sometimes no reconnect at all. Tested with 5 iPhones, Apple found no issue, dealer confirmed same behavior on two other vehicles. MINI gave three contradictory explanations*, answered none of my questions, and closed the case with:
"There are no new findings for us. Further investigations are no longer possible, which is why we must leave it at the statements made so far. We ask for your understanding that we now consider the correspondence on the present case to be closed."
I'm collecting cases from other owners. Do you experience any of these?
- CarPlay dropping at border crossings
- CarPlay disconnecting randomly
- Car deleting all saved Bluetooth/CarPlay connections
- CarPlay not connecting after start (needs soft reset on car)
- Display brightness resetting to 100% on its own (nothing to do with CarPlay, still annoying)
If yes, please comment (for visibility) or DM me. The more documented cases, the harder it is for MINI/BMW to ignore this.
*1) Toll station radio frequencies interfere with CarPlay (not applicable in my case) 2) CarPlay is a "backend-driven service" that can't handle border crossings (worked fine on F56, other cars) 3) Cellular network switch is unavoidable and Apple is responsible (tested and works without cellular network on phone and car)
I could write tons more if needed, but I tried to keep it short and a high level overview