My BMW Remote: "No Internet connection" (Android)

[stevexyz]

I have the Android version of My BMW Remote. It has worked intermittently in the past, but whenever I try to do anything (headlight flash, lock, etc.) it errors out and says "No Internet connection available for your smartphone". Obviously that's not correct, it's connected fine and every other app, web browsing, etc. works just fine.

Has this happened to anybody else? Any known fix? I have uninstalled and reinstalled the app several times but didn't help. I contacted the Genius line and they verified the account was OK and submitted a support case but didn't have any info other than that.

[EALm4]

man i cant even get mine to work and kind of too lazy to try and fix.
What do your local dealer's genius have to say?

[stevexyz]

Originally Posted by EALm4

man i cant even get mine to work and kind of too lazy to try and fix.
What do your local dealer's genius have to say?

Are you having the same issue or a different problem? I haven't asked the local Genius. If the Geniuses from the 800 number don't get back to me in a few days I might drop by my dealer to see what they have to say.

[rebirth24]

Constant problem for me as well on the android version. I have an iPhone as well with the app on it and it appears to work a bit better, but it is still a bit flakey. Garbage App Dev's...

[EALm4]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

Are you having the same issue or a different problem? I haven't asked the local Genius. If the Geniuses from the 800 number don't get back to me in a few days I might drop by my dealer to see what they have to say.

I just got off the phone with them and they were no help.
Having the same problem on my S6 trying to send a signal to vent the car.

The app is garbage

[stevexyz]

So they got back to me about my support case. The Genius guy initially agreed with me it's probably a bug in the app (or, he said, maybe my Android version is too new (5.1.1)). Then he called back a few days later and said he'd heard back from the developers. They advised "Uninstall and reinstall the app, then use the car menus to Update BMW Assist." if it still doesn't work take it to the dealer.

WTF? It took the dealer two days just to fix Connected Drive when there was already a service bulletin for it. I can't believe the dealer cares or wants to deal with an obscure Android app bug. I guess it's possible the problem is with the car, but the app instantly complains about the Internet connection on the phone. It's not like it fails while trying to talk to the car.

[stevexyz]

Anyone else have a recent update? It's been working slightly better for me... I've been able to send map positions to the car a few times, flash headlights, honk horn, but today it's refusing to work again. Same error, "No Internet connection for your smartphone". I still think it would be a waste of time to take the car into the dealer for this. Maybe at my next regular service I'll ask about it if there's no fix by then.

[boss2k]

I downloaded the android app and get message "No activated services, please contact BMW Assist for further support', does this mean by BMW assist is not activated?

2 days back i had issues with SOS button in the car and then had spoken to BMW Assist and they confirmed my services are activated.

How to address this ? Whom to contact?

[stevexyz]

Yes I believe this means you need to activate. In my case I recall it took several days after activation until the app started working so you may want to wait a few days if they just activated it.

[boss2k]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

Yes I believe this means you need to activate. In my case I recall it took several days after activation until the app started working so you may want to wait a few days if they just activated it.

How did you activate, was it by pressing the SOS button in the car or calling BMW assist.

For me the problem started when i pressed SOS button in the car last tuesday and the representative told me they were not getting signals from my car and asked me to try again and after he hung up my system was frozen for 30 mins showing message " transmitting data etc". during that time idrive did not work .

I called BMW assist from my phone and they told me dealer needs to submit ESA to BMW to activate service and had the dealer submit that and BMW assist called and confirmed the services are activated.

I am yet to try hitting the SOS button and check if its working

[stevexyz]

Originally Posted by boss2k

How did you activate, was it by pressing the SOS button in the car or calling BMW assist.

For me the problem started when i pressed SOS button in the car last tuesday and the representative told me they were not getting signals from my car and asked me to try again and after he hung up my system was frozen for 30 mins showing message " transmitting data etc". during that time idrive did not work .

I called BMW assist from my phone and they told me dealer needs to submit ESA to BMW to activate service and had the dealer submit that and BMW assist called and confirmed the services are activated.

I am yet to try hitting the SOS button and check if its working

I originally activated it by pressing the SOS button and telling them I wanted to activate. I was on the phone with them for about five minutes and it went OK. When the app still didn't work the next day I called BMW assist on the phone and they confirmed the activation was OK but said it could take a couple days. Finally a few days later (don't remember exactly) the remote app did start working (the "no activated services" message went away and I haven't seen it since), but it's always been flaky since then (with the "no internet connection for your smart phone" message appearing intermittently). Seems like it will work fine for a few hours, then not work for a day, very annoying.

One of the funny things the people on the Genius line told me was that they were surprised I was having trouble with the Android app; they said it was "very reliable" and the iOS app was the one constantly causing problems for users!

[rebirth24]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

I originally activated it by pressing the SOS button and telling them I wanted to activate. I was on the phone with them for about five minutes and it went OK. When the app still didn't work the next day I called BMW assist on the phone and they confirmed the activation was OK but said it could take a couple days. Finally a few days later (don't remember exactly) the remote app did start working (the "no activated services" message went away and I haven't seen it since), but it's always been flaky since then (with the "no internet connection for your smart phone" message appearing intermittently). Seems like it will work fine for a few hours, then not work for a day, very annoying.

One of the funny things the people on the Genius line told me was that they were surprised I was having trouble with the Android app; they said it was "very reliable" and the iOS app was the one constantly causing problems for users!

Typical Genius response. You call in for Android issues, they say the iPhone App is more reliable... and vice versa when it is the other way around...

[stevexyz]

BMW released a new version of the Android app yesterday. Version "4.0.0.US". It has a minor UI redesign with new icons, colors, etc. Also they dropped "My" from the name and now it's just named "BMW Remote".

Most importantly, I haven't seen any errors since I installed the app. The "No Internet connection" error seems to be gone. Fingers crossed, I'll keep my eye on it!

[rebirth24]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

BMW released a new version of the Android app yesterday. Version "4.0.0.US". It has a minor UI redesign with new icons, colors, etc. Also they dropped "My" from the name and now it's just named "BMW Remote".

Most importantly, I haven't seen any errors since I installed the app. The "No Internet connection" error seems to be gone. Fingers crossed, I'll keep my eye on it!

There you go... probably just jinxed us all!!

Things seem to be running a bit smoother for me as well. Sending address info just fine to the vehicle (slight delay) and none of those pesky I-Net connection messages as you said.

[Nonopr01]

Always try to connect for the first time. It will tell you there is no connection. Wait a few seconds for the server to send a signal to your car. After a Minute or so your car will be visible and then you can connect.
Try that. It always works for me.

[stevexyz]

Originally Posted by rebirth24

There you go... probably just jinxed us all!!

Things seem to be running a bit smoother for me as well. Sending address info just fine to the vehicle (slight delay) and none of those pesky I-Net connection messages as you said.

Glad to hear it's working for you. Still no connectivity problems for me either.

However, I just confirmed after reading reviews on the Play store: they removed the ability to share addresses from other apps. E.g. if you have an address in Google Maps or other app and choose "share", BMW Remote no longer shows up in the list of apps you can share to. Which totally sucks, because now you have to use their map interface to search for addresses.

[Nonopr01]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

Glad to hear it's working for you. Still no connectivity problems for me either.

However, I just confirmed after reading reviews on the Play store: they removed the ability to share addresses from other apps. E.g. if you have an address in Google Maps or other app and choose "share", BMW Remote no longer shows up in the list of apps you can share to. Which totally sucks, because now you have to use their map interface to search for addresses.

Google maps is working fine with the remote app.

[stevexyz]

Originally Posted by Nonopr01

Google maps is working fine with the remote app.

Have you upgraded to 4.0.0.US version? Please describe exactly what you mean by "working fine".

[Nonopr01]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

Have you upgraded to 4.0.0.US version? Please describe exactly what you mean by "working fine".

That is going to google maps when i click on the option to see where my car is located

[stevexyz]

The problem we're talking about is if you are in a different app like Maps and choose to Share an address, BMW Remote no longer shows up in the list of target apps. This forces you to use the BMW Remote built in search to find destinations instead of sharing from Maps, your email, etc., which is much more convenient.

[rebirth24]

Originally Posted by stevexyz

The problem we're talking about is if you are in a different app like Maps and choose to Share an address, BMW Remote no longer shows up in the list of target apps. This forces you to use the BMW Remote built in search to find destinations instead of sharing from Maps, your email, etc., which is much more convenient.

Typical for BMW... 2 steps forward and 3 steps backward...