comotiger

Hi all,

I noticed something interesting yesterday while driving to St. Louis about connecting multiple smartphones by BT, and just confirmed it by testing systematically. Well, as you know, 2010+ cars automatically connect a smartphone by BT when the car is started. Further, this allows us to listen to music or podcasts using internet radio apps like Pandora and TuneIn. I always assumed that the system can connect to only one smartphone at a given time. I just discovered that is not the case at least in my 2014 LS.

My iPhone connected automatically to the system when I started the car. Then, I selected BT audio and the system has the option of either listening thru apps on the already connected iPhone, or connect a different phone or BT device. I assumed that if a different phone was selected, then the system would drop the previously connected phone, and that the newly connected BT audio phone would become the connected phone also, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to keep my iPhone connected to receive phone calls, and my wife's iPhone connected to BT audio to listen to music apps. Pretty neat!!

Of course, it would be really great if the system allowed us to connect multiple phones simultaneously by BT to receive or make calls. Does anyone know if other cars like MB and Audi can do this?

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Telephony and Audio transmit through two different bluetooth systems so they don't interfere with each other. But I'm not aware of any system that will let you connect two telephony transmissions simultaneously.

comotiger

Thanks. I realize that two phones cannot be sending and/or receiving calls simultaneously. What I was wondering is whether two (or more) phones could be linked simultaneously by BT to the car system. I searched a bit, and this device called Blue Multi would fit the bill. This issue is not such a big deal for me because my wife prefers to take her calls in private in the car, but I figured it would be an useful feature to have, for example, to receive work and personal calls on different phones.

http://www.mrhandsfree.com/en/shop/1...016-blue-multi

Duck05

Have not played around much with our '14 but I know the car can remember more than one phone and it seems to look for the last one it knew first. Have not tried the one phone to the phone function and another tied to BT audio but that sounds plausible. Maybe a bit confusing but I can see where that would be handy.....

Have not heard of any car systems that support two linked phones at the same time but I can see where you were heading and I would not be surprised to see a feature like that in the near future....

jamodeo

iTrader: (1)

In the BMW it actually does let you have two cell phones connected at the same time and if either rings it will come through the car Bluetooth. As well as the recent call history and contacts. You can pick which phone is your default phone it dials out from and if you click a name on your recent calls list and it was originally made from your second phone it will ring out from that second phones number which is pretty cool. I know some users have this (dual phone) feature and some don't even in the same generation of BMWs so I got lucky with my car having it. Its pretty convenient! Otherwise I don't know if any other manufacturers have this but at least know for sure it exists in the world!

-Joe

comotiger

Thanks, Joe, that's exactly what I was wondering about. In the LS, the system allows you to switch between any number of smartphones to be linked by BT, but only one can be linked at a given time. Clearly, BMW offers the ability to link two phones simultaneously, at least in some vehicles. Do you know what the feature is called? I am sure if this feature were readily available, people would find it useful.

jamodeo

iTrader: (1)

I believe its the professional navigation or something called enhanced bluetooth. Sorry I don't have much knowledge on those cars as I do with Lexus as this is my first BMW.

-Joe

comotiger

Hi all, I was about to start a new thread to write about this exciting feature I discovered today, then found out that I had already posted about it several months ago! I am really turning into a dotard

To recap, I think it is really cool to have my iPhone7 BT-connected as my iPhone. I don't keep much music on it as it is getting pretty full with a lot of photos (I don't use iCloud). So, I transferred my music to an iPhone4 (iOS7) that's been gathering dust and BT-connected it as my audio player. In effect, both devices are connected by BT simultaneously. When I use the phone, the BT audio is muted, and comes back on automatically when the phone call is terminated. Maybe this feature is old news to you, but I love it