BMW Apps Adds Stitcher SmartRadio, But Only for iOS Users

While BMW has outpaced its German rivals in getting apps into the dash, the brand is behind Detroit in the app space, particularly in spreading the love beyond Apple. Case in point: Owners of BMW models equipped with the BMW Apps options (and also Mini vehicles with Mini Connected) can now add Stitcher SmartRadio to the system’s handful of existing apps. This is more than a year and a half after Ford made Stitcher available for its Sync AppLink system and more than six months after GM added the app to certain Buick, GMC and Chevy infotainment systems.
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While BMW has outpaced its German rivals in getting apps into the dash, the brand is behind Detroit in the app space, particularly in spreading the love beyond Apple. Case in point: Owners of BMW models equipped with the BMW Apps options (and also Mini vehicles with Mini Connected) can now add Stitcher SmartRadio to the system’s handful of existing apps. This is more than a year and a half after Ford made Stitcher available for its Sync AppLink system and more than six months after GM added the app to certain Buick, GMC and Chevy infotainment systems.

As with those domestic brands, BMW’s Stitcher SmartRadio app allows drivers access to thousands of talk radio programs, live broadcasts and podcasts from around the world, including content from NPR, BBC, NBC and the Wall Street Journal. The app also includes Stitcher’s new Smart Station feature that recommends programs based on user's personal preferences – similar to Pandora – and it's operated via a BMW vehicle’s iDrive controller. “BMW Apps adopts the familiar BMW display and controls to ensure that all functions can be operated comfortably, simply, safely and intuitively while minimizing driver distraction," BMW told Wired in an e-mail.

The free Stitcher app can be used in any BMW equipped with the $250 BMW Apps option (or again, with Mini Connected). But if you own a compatible BMW and don’t own an iPhone or iPad you can’t get access to Stitcher using BMW Apps – or any other ConnectedDrive-specific apps, including Facebook and Twitter integration. BMW recently announced that it will add Android compatibility for most of its ConnectedDrive features, although not until the middle of next year. Of course, there’s always Bluetooth streaming, although you lose the ability to use the car’s controls and instead have to fumble with the phone.

In the meantime, BMW is throwing a bone to its Android-toting drivers by giving them access to one ConnectedDrive feature. The free My BMW Remote app that allows controlling aspects of the car from afar can now be download from Google Play and used with compatible vehicles that have an active subscription to the BMW Assist telematics system. Features include the ability to remotely lock and unlock the doors, activate the horn and parking lights to help find a vehicle in a parking lot and adjust the climate controls and use a timer function to preheat or precool the car. The app will also show a car’s location on a map and guided the owner to it as long as it’s no more than a mile away, and can send points of interest found using a Google Local Search to the vehicle’s navigation system.