PressClub Global · Article.
Life360 – The popular family app is now available in BMW and MINI cars. Stay connected with BMW ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected.
Fri Apr 17 10:00:00 CEST 2015 Press Release
Munich. BMW and MINI are integrating Life360 – a family app enjoying considerable global popularity – into their vehicles. 50 million families around the world already use Life360 to stay connected with their friends and relations.
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Osama El-Sherif
BMW Group
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Munich. BMW and MINI are integrating Life360 – a family app enjoying considerable global popularity – into their vehicles. 50 million families around the world already use Life360 to stay connected with their friends and relations.
Whether planning dinner together, meeting up with a car pool or wanting to make sure that the kids or grandparents have made it home safely, the Life360 app allows families and friends to communicate easily and bring each other quickly up to speed. After signing up to a new private “circle”, users can share their location and make phone calls or chat online. They can also choose to switch off the location-sharing function. It is also possible to create several groups, although members of different circles, such as close and extended family, can only view one another if they are also members of the same group.
The integration of Life360 into BMW ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected allows the car’s navigation system to guide the driver to a circle member’s current location directly through the app. Telephone conversations with group members can likewise be made directly from the application via the car’s audio system. All that’s required is a live Bluetooth connection between the phone and the car.
The Life360 app is certified for use in BMW and MINI cars with the Apple iPhone and can be downloaded free of charge from the Apple App Store.
BMW ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected: neatly integrated
smartphone apps for a wide range of services and
features.
The integration of smartphone apps into
BMW and MINI cars enables BMW ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected to
offer users a steadily and rapidly expanding range of services and
features. The Apps for Automotive (A4A) interface developed by BMW
allows BMW and MINI to seamlessly integrate smartphone apps from
third-party suppliers into their cars. These applications are not
simply shown in the car’s display – their functionality is integrated
into the car with maximum usability and the smoothest possible control
logic. These BMW-certified apps meet the same requirements in terms of
safety and ease of use as every other vehicle function that is
operated by the BMW iDrive Controller or MINI Controller and displayed
in the BMW Control Display or MINI Centre Instrument.
The innovative A4A interface ensures that current and future models
can be equipped with the latest apps at any time via BMW
ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected, bringing exceptional flexibility to
all BMW and MINI models and ensuring they keep pace with future
developments. All that’s required are a connectivity platform –
already provided by ConnectedDrive Services (with BMW apps) or MINI
Connected – and a smartphone hooked up with the car via a snap-in
adapter or USB cable.
Some of the most prominent applications that can be used in BMW
and MINI models are summarised below:
n-tv (Apple iOS) – News channel n-tv is one
of the leading information carriers in the German media. Reports from
the worlds of politics, business, sport and technology are
complemented by a football ticker, Formula One ticker and weather
bulletins. The latest financial news is a recognised focal point of
n-tv’s reporting. The n-tv editors offer a special compact news
service via the smartphone app (available free of charge from the
Apple App Store) in the form of audio files. The news items are read
by a professional newsreader and provide a summary of the most
important developments at any given time.
Spotify (Apple iOS) – Music service. One of
the world’s most popular music streaming services for smartphones,
tablets, computers and home entertainment systems,
Spotify has more than 50 million users and over 12.5
million paying subscribers across 58 countries.
Deezer
(Apple iOS) – Music service. This comprehensive music
experience is available in 182 countries and offers a back catalogue
of more than 30 million music tracks which can be played on mobile
devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets as well as on home
audio systems, integrated in-car devices and computers.
Napster/Rhapsody (Apple iOS)
– Music service. Napster offers access to 25 million
songs of every genre – including rock, pop and soul – as well as
classical music, jazz and thousands of audio books. Napster’s music
experts compile playlists and tracks from specific artists and help
users to discover new work. Live sessions, exclusive interviews and
spoken content are also part of Napster’s portfolio. Access (via BMW
ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected) is through Napster in Europe and
Napster’s parent company Rhapsody in the USA.
Amazon Music
(previously Amazon Cloud Player, Apple iOS) – Music service.
Amazon Music allows access to 27 million music tracks,
which can be downloaded onto a smartphone or streamed. Many tracks
have an AutoRip function, through which the track is available for
mobile devices in MP3 form even if it has been purchased in a
different format.
TuneIn Radio Free/TuneIn Radio Pro (Apple iOS) – Internet
radio. Over 50 million listeners tune in to TuneIn every
month. This gives them access to 100,000 FM, AM, HD and internet radio
stations and two million on-demand programmes from every continent.
BMW ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected support both the charge-free
version and the ad-free Pro option.
Audible (Apple iOS) – Audio books and other audio
content. The world’s largest provider and producer of digital
spoken content offers more than 130,000 audio programmes. BMW
ConnectedDrive and MINI Connected allow Audible customers to access
their libraries via the iDrive operating system and MINI Controller.
myKIDIO (Apple iOS; only BMW) – In-car entertainment for
children. This app lays on age-appropriate and organised
content, such as TV series, films, audio books and audio plays, to
make long journeys that much more entertaining for children travelling
in the car. This app requires both an iPhone and an iPad, which
displays the content in the rear of the car. Then there is the
BMW Kids Cockpit journey monitor, which shows the latest information
on the journey, including the car’s speed and the remaining duration
of the travel. The content shown on the iPad can be easily and safely
controlled by parents using the BMW iDrive operating system.
Glympse (Apple iOS) – GPS-based location information.
This app allows you to inform other users of your location for a set
period of time. The timespan involved ranges from a few minutes to
several hours. It’s a handy way, for example, of letting people know
your expected arrival time without having to call ahead.
M Laptimer (Apple iOS; only BMW) – Driving analysis
tool. This application was developed by M GmbH for ambitious
BMW drivers. Telemetry data is sent directly from the car’s sensors to
the connected Apple iPhone – a function that clearly sets this
application apart from other such tools. The M Laptimer app records
data including acceleration, braking points, lap times and g-force,
and also offers a comparison function which allows drivers to measure
their stats against other motorists’. Virtual laps can be played back
in animated form for comparison purposes and shared via e-mail,
Twitter or Facebook.
GoPro app (Apple iOS) – Camera remote control. GoPro
cameras are compact, robust, easy to operate, very small and handy to
use. All of which makes them ideally suited to recording spectacular
sport and leisure activities in photo or video form. On a race track,
for example, the cameras can be attached to either the inside or the
outside of the car to provide the perfect record of hot laps. The
GoPro app for the iPhone, available free of charge from the Apple App
Store, enables intuitive remote control of the GoPro camera via
smartphone. For example, options such as video, recording mode or
photo burst can be selected.
BMW Connected app (Apple iOS / Google Android) – This
free app allows access to Twitter, connects to radio stations around
the world via web radio and leads you to your final destination after
you’ve parked the car courtesy of its Last Mile function. The
application can also guide you back to your parking space on request.
Other integrated functions include a calendar, Wiki Local (for useful
information from your local area) and news via the latest RSS feeds.
The BMW Connected app also reveals the latest range of certified
smartphone apps.
MINI Connected app (Apple iOS/Google Android) – This
free app demonstrates the MINI infotainment system’s infinite ability
to update itself to whatever the future might bring. Third-party apps
developed specifically for use in a MINI allow the continuous
expansion of the range of functions designed to make driving safer,
more comfortable and more exciting. The services embraced by the MINI
Connected app can also be added, including web radio and RSS newsfeed
services, use of Twitter and foursquare as well as an online search
facility and functions exclusive to MINI, such as Driving Excitement,
Mission Control, Dynamic Music and MINIMALISM.
MINI Connected XL Journey Mate (Apple iOS/Google
Android) – MINI is offering a new level of in-car
connectivity with the MINI Connected XL Journey Mate personal mobility
assistant. This application makes the valuable services of a travel
guide available to drivers before they even set off. When the driver
selects a destination on their smartphone, the Journey Mate summons
information on the current traffic situation. Tasks such as telephone
calls and other information for the journey can also be factored in. A
smartphone connection allows the data to be transferred to the car.
The MINI Connected XL Journey Mate provides parking recommendations
and advance notice of filling stations, keeps an eye on the journey
time and sources the weather forecast for the destination. Meanwhile,
its Traffic Radar gives you an up-to-the-minute overview of the
situation on the road. All the information and recommendations –
updated, adapted to the context and intelligently filtered – appear
alongside the normal navigation instructions when the 8.8-inch
integrated screen is in split-screen mode. At the end of the trip, the
Journey Mate guides you to your destination with its Last Mile
Navigation function, whether the user is still driving or now on foot.
And the Car Finder function means you’ll always be able to locate your
car again.
Some apps are only available for specific markets. The QQ Music application (music service) for the Apple iPhone, for example, is only available in China, and the Pandora app (music service) is only offered in the USA.