Best Practices for Smartphone Settings for BMW TFT Connectivity
Rev: 2.2 Date: 31 May 2022
Author: John Morris
Interruptions from Notifications
If you are experiencing dropouts of the Wi-Fi
connection between your iPhone and the BMW
TFT, it may be because an iPhone notification is
interrupting the BMW Connected application. To
prevent iPhone notifications from interrupting the
app while it’s running, iOS has a feature - Do Not
Disturb - which can be set to turn on automatically
whenever running the Connected app. If you are
concerned that you will miss an important call or
text, perhaps from a significant other, the feature
allows notifications to bypass Do Not Disturb from
specific people. However, keep in mind enabling
this bypass may mean the TFT drops the
connection to your phone if a call or text is
received by the bypass contact.
Instructions for iOS 15 Figure 1
1. Go to Settings and tap Focus
2. tap Do Not Disturb
3. In the section labeled “Turn On
Automatically” tap Add Schedule or
Automation (Figure 1)
4. tap App, select the Connected app
To Allow Notifications (Bypassing Do Not
Disturb) for Named People
1. Go to Settings and tap Focus
2. tap Do Not Disturb
3. In the section labeled “Allowed
Notifications: tap People (Figure 2)
4. tap Add Person
5. Select the appropriate person (or
Group) from your Contacts list to be Figure 2
added to the bypass list
Wi-Fi Settings
To prevent the phone from automatically
connecting to your home wireless access point,
which likely has a stronger Wi-Fi signal than the
bikes, while you are still home.
1. Go to Settings and tap Wi-Fi
2. tap the information icon for your home Wi-Fi
Name
3. slide “Auto-Join” to OFF (Figure 3)
Figure 3
To reduce or avoid potential conflicts with other
Wi-Fi networks.
1. Go to Settings and tap Wi-Fi
2. tap “Ask to Join Networks”
3. tap “Off” (Figure 4)
Figure 4
Verification of BMW Connected App Settings
BMW recommends the following settings for its
application (Figure 5):
Location Services = Always
Contacts = On
Photos = All Photos
Bluetooth = On
Local Network = On
Background App Refresh = On
Cellular Data = On
Note: Cellular Data is On if you desire Internet
connectivity when away from a Wi-Fi connection.
Depending on your mobile provider plan, this may
incur charges.
Figure 5
Correct Pairing Between TFT, SmartPhone &
Helmet Communicators
As BMW have pointed out in their publications, the
correct order and pairing of devices with the TFT,
is critical to the correct operation of the TFT. Keep
in mind there are multiple interactive operations
between the TFT and the smartphone and helmet
communicators.
Although BMW states that only the BMW Fit4All
communicator works with all functions, the author
been successful using a Sena 50SV2.
Step #1 (IMPORTANT): Delete all existing
pairings in the TFT, smartphone and helmet
communicator. If this step is skipped, the TFT will
likely not work correctly.
For the TFT, navigate to the connections menu
and delete all pairings. Turn bike off and wait at
least one minute.
Step #2: Pair TFT with SmartPhone. Turn bike on,
wait for until the connections menu is available in
the TFT. On the iPhone, navigate to Settings-
>Bluetooth and ensure Bluetooth is turned ON. Go
back to the TFT connections menu item and select
“Mobile device” followed by “Pair new mobile
device”. Wait until the smartphone’s name
appears in the TFT and select that name. (Note:
do not start the pairing process from the
smartphone!) Wait until the pairing process
completes, noting that you have enabled access
rights if requested. The smartphone is now paired
with the bike’s TFT. Leave the bike turned on.
Figure 6
Step #3: Pair the TFT with the helmet
communicator. Place your helmet communicator in
paring mode (this varies depending on the
communicator). Go to the TFT connections menu
item and select “Rider’s helmet” followed by “Pair
new rider’s helmet”. The Bluetooth icon will begin
flashing. (See Figure 6) The TFT should identify
the helmet communicator – select the
communicator’s name in the TFT menu and the
pairing will complete. Turn off the bike.
Step #4: Wait at least one minute and turn the bike
back on. As the TFT starts up, its Bluetooth
broadcasting is enabled and the smartphone,
followed by the helmet communicator should pair
automatically within a minute. After another short
delay, the Wi-Fi icon should appear flashing on the
TFT display (see Figure 8). Open the Wi-Fi
settings on the smartphone and accept the
connection from the TFT, which will be expressed
as a series of characters separated by colons (a
Wi-Fi name with a MAC address – see Figure 7).
Start the Connected app on the smartphone and
tap on the Connect to bike at the bottom of the
home screen. (Note: See instructions on
smartphone configuration at the top of this
document.) The screen on the smartphone will
black out and the navigation maps will be available
Figure 7
in the TFT.
Figure 6
The system is now ready for use. See Figure 9 –
Wi-Fi connected, mobile phone connected with
battery status and cellular signal strength and
helmet communicator connected. Also note during
startup, Figure 10, the volume control will appear
indicated the radio (if installed) or helmet
communicator is ready.
Figure 7
Figure 8
In summary – the following steps must be followed
to ensure correct operation:
1) Delete all pairings in the TFT and helmet
communicator and relevant pairings in the
smartphone’s Bluetooth.
2) Pair the smartphone with the TFT over
Bluetooth (this will enable control functions
between the TFT and the smartphone)
3) Pair the helmet communicator with the TFT
over Bluetooth (this will enable control
functions between the TFT and the helmet
communicator)
4) Pair the smartphone Wi-Fi with the TFT
((this will enable map information to be sent
to the TFT from the smartphone)
Tips for TFT Operation
1) When the rider has directed audible turn by
turn directions to the helmet communicator,
the volume can be adjusted by turning the
WonderWheel up for an increase in volume
and down for a decrease in volume. Note: it
may be helpful to turn the volume of the
smartphone up to its maximum. If the helmet
communicator has been updated to properly
interact with the TFT, adjusting the volume
on the helmet communicator will adjust the
volume in the TFT. This has been verified as
working correctly with the Sena 50SV2 by
the author.
2) To momentarily use the smartphone while it
is still paired to the TFT, swipe up slowly
from near the bottom on the Connected app.
Not on the very bottom as this will likely
invoke the switch app function of the
smartphone. Returning back to map mode
with the TFT is via a button on the
Connected app.
