I own a FairPhone 5 and use it as an audio source in my cars via Spotify. In my bus, which has a retrofitted Pioneer radio, it works very reliably. The FP5 connects automatically and quickly, and all information about the played song is transmitted to the radio.
However, in my BMW with the original BMW Entertainment System, this is not the case. From the very beginning, the connection has been very unreliable. Bluetooth connects immediately and automatically, but the music does not play.
The symptoms vary. Sometimes the player plays for a fraction of a second and then pauses the song on the phone. Sometimes the player runs on the phone, but there is no sound. Sometimes everything works immediately after starting the car. Sometimes the music can be started after switching back and forth between radio and multimedia a few times.
What only worked a few times at the beginning with the BMW was the correct display of the song information. I haven’t seen this displayed correctly for months.
A first attempt to fix this issue was to uninstall and reinstall Android Auto. That helped briefly a few months ago, but not anymore. I can’t get the music to play, no matter what I do.
Update:
After some work with AI, I have new Information on the topic.
Since it seems to have something to do with Bluetoth audio codecs, I accessed developer settings to force the device on using a particular codec, but my phone has no other option then SBC and System default when connected to my BMW and only System default when not connected. Don´t know what to do with this information, but I will gather more.
Update:
Seems that SBC is the only codec the BMW Radio of my E87 supports and codecs the connected device doesn’t support are deactivated in the settings. So this is the suspected behaviour.
Another interesting thing is, that phonecalls work all the time, but playing whatsapp voice messages don’t.
Compatibility issues get solved through software updates. These are done on both devices (in this case the phone and the car).
I presume your phone is up to date.
I suggest you also look into the availability of an update for your car’s system.
You might also like to experiment with USB. Though not strictly a solution it may bring additional information.
[Edit] Could you confirm your phone’s OS version?
With standard Fairphone Android (commonly referred to in this forum as “FPOS”) it’s not possible to uninstall AA, though it can be disabled and re-enabled. You can however empty the cache and data, which might help.
AA problems over Bluetooth are also sometimes solved by removing the phone from the car’s list of known devices, and the car from the phone’s list. This will lead to a re-initialisation of the connection.
Hi OldRoutard,
thank you for your reply.
The Baseband Version is: QCM6490.LA.3.0-00031-STD.PROD-,QCM6490.LA.3.0-00031-STD.PROD-
The Kernal-Version is: 5.4.242-qgki-ge7e9b1e994d4 #1 Thu Jun 5 13:07:52 CST 2025
There is no newer version of the Cars entertainment system. At least this is what BMW service says.
You have an option to delete the App in the Play Store, but after that it says “Update”, so you are probably right. At least it deletes the APP data.
I don’t think it is a bluetooth problem per se, because bluetooth works fine in every other aspect. It seems to be a codec problem.
I have to add, that the Song information is showen as unnowen again after a few weeks, but connection establishes after seconds still. There is a new android update available that I will install and hope it contains a bugfix again…