- BBC Sounds now integrates with BMW and MINI cars
- Selected models only and v9 of your car’s operating system is required
- You will also need a subscription.
What’s the one upgrade that would make every BMW better? No, the indicators don’t work – it’s BBC Sounds!
The BBC radio and podcast app will reach more than 50,000 UK drivers thanks to a partnership with BMW and MINI. They are the first car brands to integrate the app with their car audio systems. The feature will first arrive on select models and then be rolled out more widely in the near future: BMW expects 150,000 drivers to have it by the end of 2025.
Until now, listening to BBC Sounds in any car meant doing so via Android Auto, Apple CarPlay or on my old jalopy, a third-party Bluetooth dongle. But for BMW or MINI owners with version 9 of their car’s operating system, the app is now there in the dashboard.
However, there is a problem.
What you need for BBC Sounds in your BMW or MINI
To use the app, you will also need to be a subscriber to BMW Digital Premium or the MINI Connected package. That’s not a BBC requirement because of course BBC Sounds is a free app for license payers and its content is also free. That’s because those subscriptions give you the data package you need to get audio when you’re on the go.
The app works best if you log in with your BBC account, because then you get the benefit of account syncing across multiple devices, so if you were listening to a podcast on the phone app on the train, it would continue from where you left off. you left when you got into your car.
If you like the sound of this, here are the cars the app currently works with.
- BMW 1 Series (2024 onwards)
- BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe (2025 onwards)
- BMW 2 Series Active Tourer (2024 onwards)
- BMW X1/iX1 (2023 onwards)
- BMW X2/iX2 (2024 onwards)
- BMW X3 (2024 onwards)
- All MINI models (2024 onwards)
And of course, if you don’t have a BMW or MINI, or if your car is not one of the currently supported models, the BBC Sounds app is available in the Google and Apple app stores.
