[jonathanthehornet]

One day old i8 owner here... all the Bluetooth connectivity is working perfectly but I prefer sound quality via USB usually, so this morning I plugged my iPhone 6s Plus into the front USB slot using the USB>Lightning cable that came with my iPhone and got this error message.

"USB (aux device is not connected or transfer of track information is not supported by the AUX device"

I called up BMW and they said I can't use the USB cable that came with my iPhone and that I need to buy the BMW official y cable?

This seemed very odd to me, and was wondering if anyone on here had any thoughts/experience with this issue? I find it hard to believe that the official cable is going to make any difference.

All my other cars media players have worked just fine for audio using any regular USB to lightning cable. Is there really need to use an audio jack as well, let alone it having to be the official one too? USB should send audio and MIDI just fine shouldn't it?

I have a 2014 i8 that just had its first service, so should be up to date software/firmware wise.

Thanks 👍🏻

[MrRob]

I have a 2015 and mine connects fine using the standard apple lightning cable. My 2013 Mini has to use a Y cable as did my previous 3 series and 1 series as those models did not support audio through the lightning (or 30 pin) connector so the Y cable split the audio out to 3.5mm stereo jack.

When I say mine connects fine, I do occasionally get an "Unsupported device connected" message which requires complete shutdown and restart of the car or phone (have never really worked out which) to get connection again.

I don't think the dealer is correct that your require the Y cable but maybe others can confirm. IF the car did require a Y cable and you plugged in with the standard lightning cable the phone should still be recognised, you just would not hear anything.

[jonathanthehornet]

Originally Posted by MrRob

I have a 2015 and mine connects fine using the standard apple lightning cable. My 2013 Mini has to use a Y cable as did my previous 3 series and 1 series as those models did not support audio through the lightning (or 30 pin) connector so the Y cable split the audio out to 3.5mm stereo jack.

When I say mine connects fine, I do occasionally get an "Unsupported device connected" message which requires complete shutdown and restart of the car or phone (have never really worked out which) to get connection again.

I don't think the dealer is correct that your require the Y cable but maybe others can confirm. IF the car did require a Y cable and you plugged in with the standard lightning cable the phone should still be recognised, you just would not hear anything.

Thanks for your reply, your thinking matches mine. I'll do some more digging before buying the extra cable and hope to hear from some other owners on the subject too 👍🏻