BMW iDrive crash when selecting artist from library

[woetersnoeter]

Hi all,

I am not able to select artists from my library using iDrive in a BMW, instead it shows only the artists I'm following. Attempting to change this, the app crashes in idrive.

Going through iDrive to my Spotify library it now only shows the amount of artists I'm following. I am following a few people/groups in Spotify of which 3 are artists, iDrive would show 3 artists available in my Spotify library. Selecting the artists (currently showing 3), it does actually and only lists the 3 followed artists.

In an attempt to have it show up the 100+ artists which are part of my library I un-followed all 3 artists in the Spotify app. iDrive now showed 0 artists in my library, and when trying to list these the app crashes and can't even reconnect unless I restart the car completely. Restarting the app on the phone didn't work for me.

This problem is occuring on my BMW F21 (2012). I'm running the latest iDrive update (UPD01008.bin), so my iDrive version is MX-3.5.4 and TX-3.5.8.

Spotify is running on my iPhone 7 iOS 10.0.2 and Spotify version is 6.8.0.3786, the phone is connecting with the car through USB.

[FabianS_Bogota]

Hey @woetersnoeter, welcome to the Spotify Community!

Thanks for letting us know about this. It's not cool that this is happening, but you could try a clean reinstall to see if it makes any difference.

Also, make sure you don't have any filters on your Artists. Here is some info about it. Finally, let us know if using a USB cable or an AUX cable makes any difference. 

Keep us posted.

[woetersnoeter]

Hi Fabian,

Thanks for your support.

I've tried to connect with different iDevices and they all appear to work in a similar way with regards to the artist selection through my iDrive system. So I highly doubt if a reinstall will sort the problem, but I will try nevertheless.

Filtering on artists through iDrive is not possible, please note that I'm only operating spotify through iDrive and not on the iPhone whilst it being connected to the car. Also, the artist list still only displays the artists I'm following even though my library doesn't even contain only records of this particular artist. Therefore it seems like there is an incorrect mapping between the displayed artists in the iDrive system and the source (Spotify app) it's getting the data from.

The connection with the car is through USB as this is the only way I am able to operate Spotify though iDrive. Using AUX or Bluetooth audio to connect to the car would defeat the purpose as I would then only stream audio and are then unable to use the BMW apps functionality and operate the Spotify app with the car controls. Streaming audio is not a problem. The USB-port I'm using (with original apple cable) is dedicated for iPhone connection and BMW apps integration with the car and the iDrive system.

[FabianS_Bogota]

Thanks for the extra info @woetersnoeter!

It's odd that this is happening. Just to confirm, are you able to see all of your artists on your phone without the iDrive connection?

Let us know if reinstalling the app did any difference. Also, have you tried with a different device like an iPad or Android phone?

Take care

[woetersnoeter]

Hi Fabian,

Yes all artists appear just fine on any device I use with my spotify account, even when connected to the car.

Reinstalling the app didn't work unfortunately. Nor does any other device change the behaviour of the way the artists are displayed in the iDrive system. I've even tried to downgrade the car multimedia software in order to see if there is any difference in the way it operates, without success.

Is there any info on how the Spotify app integrates with BMW's iDrive system? It doesn't seem to be a connection problem, but a display of incorrect data instead.

[marskiller]

Hello I have the exact same issue!

I already reinstalled spotify in the Iphone and same problem and not filters applied artists

Please solve I dont want to go back to deezer that by the way  works perfectly !!!!!!! 

[Mara_F]

Hey guys! 

If possible, can you try using a different device? Do you experience the same issue?

Also, were you able to look for artists without any issues before? If so, when did this start happening? 

Hope to hear back from you soon 🙂 

[woetersnoeter]

Hi valsabbagh,

Please have a look at me previous full description of the issue, using different iOS devices does not change the issue or result.

I've only just purchased a BMW with Spotify integration and have not seen the system work in any other way, so for me there has not been a change of how the system operates. I did however downgrade the car's multimedia software which didn't resolve the problem.

[Mara_F]

Sorry for the confusion @woetersnoeter, forgot to mention @marskiller above. 

@woetersnoeter, is there a chance you can try logging out/back in? Does that make a difference? 

You also mentioned you had downgraded the car's multimedia, can you update it to the latest?

In the meantime, can you let us know where you're currently located? 

Let us know how it goes.

[marskiller]

Hello I'm in Belgium

For me the problem started since the integration of the  search function on the bmw Idrive, the browse by artist worked fine before 

My car is updated

Reinstalled spotify in my iphone and same problem when I chose artist on the idrive, spotify closes in the iphone 

[user-removed]

Thanks for letting us know that @marskiller!

Before we report this, we'd like to gather some more info. Can you let us know if your app only crashes when searching for artists? If you search for an album or specific songs, the issue persists?

Keep us posted. 

[marskiller]

Hello 

The app crashed only when I want to browse my artists from the Idrive

I found a workaround that is to follow all the artist that is have in my library and now they show correctly on the Idrive and i can select them without problems 

[woetersnoeter]

Hi,

Same here, only when searching the artists the app crashes in iDrive.

I do however also come across on occasional crash during playback whilst spotify is playing through iDrive. When this crash occurs I'm not using any car controls nor am I operating the iPhone, it just happens. Right before it crashes though, the playback is interrupted briefly as though the car is struggling to process all the data. Restarting the app does allow to continue playback.

Following all artists is indeed a workaround for the search functionality, but I wasn't planning on followowing 200+ artists just for the sake of pretending the app works like it should.

[zerreissen]

Same problem here. Using the Spotify app on the phone, I can access all of the artists that I've saved, and therefore all of the songs that were saved under that artist:

If I connect my iPhone to the car, Spotify in iDrive will only show artists I'm following:

I am almost (but not 100%) positive it changed when I upgraded to IOS 10 and the new Spotify version installed. Previously, I was able to view all of my saved artists > songs in Spotify using iDrive. I originally had this issue on my iPhone 6, and I recently got a new iPhone 7 running IOS 10.1.1 and I'm having the same issue. In order to play music by a certain artist, I now have to search through the list of albums, or follow each artist that I've already saved.

2014 BMW 335i running the latest version of iDrive (UPD05074) for my car

iPhone 7 running IOS 10.1.1 and Spotify version 6.8.0

[zerreissen]

FWIW, I currently have a 2016 (F10) 5 series as a loaner while my car is in the shop and this car exhibits the same behavior.

[tennisbold]

I just bought a brand new MINI (F56) and I have the same problem. Running iOS 9.3.5 on iPhone 6.

[woetersnoeter]

Hi All,

All of a sudden, I'm getting these error messages when my connection is disrupted as described previously. Possibly this is also related to the artist not showing up/crashing when you select "0 artist" through iDrive.

The messages:

[crackofdawn]

Is there still no update for this?  I've been having this problem since September 21st with multiple iOS Spotify updates since without a fix.  I actually have tried 3 different iOS devices (iPhone 5s w/iOS 9, iPhone 7 w/iOS 10, iPhone 6 with iOS 10) in 5 different BMWs (2017 340i, 2016 435i, 2017 x3, 2016 x3, 2017 m240i) and all of them have the same crash when trying to view 'artists' in my library.  The spotify iOS app crashes instantly when trying to click 'Artists' in the iDrive Spotify control panel.

The problem first started when the iOS spotify updated on september 21st and allowed searching inside the BMW iDrive interface - before that there were no issues seeing artists in my library from the iDrive interface.

It's pretty ridiculous that this is still a problem 4 months later when it is actually broken on what appears to be millions of BMWs worldwide.

[Alexverloop]

Hello, 

same problem here. I recently updated spotify wihich changed the crashing when selecting artists to showing (without crashing) an empty library. Still no artists there.

Anyone found a solution yet?

[douzounian]

 I could not agree more with you about this BMW Spotify issue of crashing.  I love the app when it works, but it crahses quite randomly all of the time to the point of having to just stream the audio and forego the idrive interface.  How does one escalate the issue?  It appears that one can only email the company and no phone number exisits?