[Iggi]

Originally Posted by SpitFire868

Iggi, humour me and try android auto using the guest profile in your car. I had this issue on ID9 on an early software version (now fixed), but I know people on idrive 8 with the same issue.

Per what I researched and figured out, there are different problems with Android Auto on U11 with ID8 and ID9.

Problem number 1:
In some countries, states, territories, - Android Auto of BMW (in ID8 and ID9) fails to connect to all types of Android Smartphones.
This problem is due to BMW purposely disabled the 5 Ghz frequency of WiFi-Direct, which is required for establishing wireless connection between BMW's Android Auto and Android Smartphone.
Note: this problem was reported many times in all kinds/models of BMW cars (e.g. X1-X5), delivered to these countries, states, territories.
Per what I know, there is no known solution for this problem yet.

Problem number 2:
Android Auto of BMW with ID9 gets frequently disconnected from Android Smartphone.
This problem seems not related to a specific territory and was mainly reported for the earlier software versions of ID9.
Per what I know, people reported that later software versions of ID9 improved the situation and the disconnections are less frequent.

[SeaSkiAndMe]

All I can add here is that I had trouble connecting to Android Auto when I first bought my car in Nov, 23, even though I had a version of Android that was supposed to be compatible. After Christmas, my daughter and I upgraded our phones (I moved to a Galaxy S23 Ultra.) It solved my problem, it auto connects whenever I get near the vehicle.

[Iggi]

Originally Posted by Joaste

So first of all, upgrade your pixel 6 pro to android 14. The update has been available for a very long time now. There is no reason to stay on Android 13.

After that, I would do a full reset of iDrive 8 (not just a reboot).

Then re-pair your phone to the car.

As I mentioned above, the problem with Wireless Android Auto (that I described) is due to BMW disabled 5Ghz frequency in BMW's WiFi-Direct Hardware within BMW head-unit.
This problem happens in ALL BMW models sold in areas/states/countries where BMW's WiFi-Direct 5GHz frequency is not compliant with local government regulation for using wireless frequencies.
It is known that same problem was reported with brand new X5, sold in same region.

This problem is not due to smartphone issues and it happens with all Android Smartphones. I was able to reproduce this issue using Google Pixel6 with Android 13, Android 14, with 4 different new models of Samsung smartphone, and with Sony smartphones.
As part of my testing, I did try re-booting BMW's iDrive, re-setting BMW's iDrive, forgetting previous smartphone connections within iDrive, and re-pairing smartphone with iDrive (from scratch).
Nothing helped to fix the problem, which is logical, since we know that this specific problem is due to BMW's WiFi-Direct disablement of 5 GHz frequency. Bottom line: BMW's Wireless Android Auto fails to connect to any Android Smartphone in certain areas, states, countries.

Note: there are other Wireless Android Auto problems reported by BMW owners (such as ability to connect with intermittent disconnections), which are totally different problems, from the problem described above.
Some of them might be possibly resolved by updating ID's software version, updating smartphone software version, and resetting/re-pairing the hardware units from scratch.