BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Well, it has been a while, so good afternoon all.

I've recently got a '23 RT. Love the bike, with one exception: getting wifi to work to enable the maps.

So far, the dealer failed too, so the bike has been back for new software, after which the tech was able to get it working with his iPhone after a couple of attempts. My Pixel 6a refuses to connect though. It is a bog standard phone running nothing weird, and with up to date Android.

So far, I've tried disconnecting from the house wifi and turning off auto reconnect, played with wifi direct, and faffed about with hotspots. Whatever I try it just eventually times out with the bike's screen showing a wifi error and the app telling me to try again. I do see the bike's wifi channel (starts "2W-Wifi-30:df:........") by looking at the phone's connections. Trying to connect to that asks for a password which I don't have.

I've tried other android phones with the same result.

Also tried a webchat with BMW's Geniuses; might as well talk to the pigeon in the garden. All they did was give the the Motorrad 0800 number, which I called, and they told me to call the dealer!

I do have a Zumo XT which works fine so its not the end of the world, but some of the stuff I do I'd rather not have a satnav on the bike. I get the turn by turn nav, in fact I get everything except the **%&$* maps.

Anyone else successfully navigated this winding path?

Cheers

I've used three different Pixel phones and they all seem to work for me (I'm not saying there is never an issue but on the whole it's satisfactory).

I'm happy to hep out if I can?

Thanks @gadgetgaz . Looks like we ride pretty much the same bike too.

I did some more faffing, including uninstalling Norton 360, playing about with hotspots, wifi direct etc. Nothing worked. Went back to the dealer and we spent a couple of hours, with four of their staff, trying to get it to work. This included uninstalling the connected ride app, deleting all of its data, and reinstalling. I could not connect to their demo RT either, but one of the dealer staff logged straight into my bike on an iPhone. I was not connected to, or looking to auto connect to, any wifi either at home or at the dealer. As a last resort I stopped miles from anywhere, so no wifi interference, but no joy.

Everything else in the app works fine, incl turn by turn nav. The issue is solely that the bike's wifi and my Pixel 6a (and my wife's Pixel 7a) never connect. I've never yet seen the wifi rectangle on the dash.

I'll try to enlist the help of a mate with another shade of Android and see what that does. Maybe it is because it is the cheapskate 6a and not the full fat version, or maybe there's an obscure setting (unlikely because my wife's phone has very little installed and will be bog standard).

It's no big deal because I have other options, just bloody annoying. Ah well, first-world problem.....

Hi mate, first off - nice bike and nice phone!
It does sound as though it's an issue with your phone and not the bike.
Just so you know, when it works you don't need to do anything wifi related as long as the phone is bluetoothed to the bike i.e. you don't have to search for the bike's WiFi to create a connection - it does it itself.
You should see the telephone icon appear on the TFT and then that causes the app to initiate a WiFi-direct connection to the bike without you having to do anything. After maybe 20-30 seconds you should see the screen mirroring symbol on the TFT start flashing.

Do you see the telephone symbol on the TFT indicating the phone is connected via BT? Can you then stream music from the phone to the bike?
That would rule out any issues with BT connectivity. After that it's due to the WiFi-direct connection.

Another thought, late last year, after Google pushed out a firmware update to my phone, I lost connection to the bike. I think loads of people complained about it. It took an update of the Connected Ride app to fix it. So make sure your phone is up to date. I don't think the 6a will get Android 15 so you might be stuck on Android 14 but that shouldn't be a problem for the TFT. Your wife's Pixel7 will be already on Android15 I think?

Sometimes I need to force the connection from the TFT - you could try this. Go to the navi menu on the TFT and scroll down to the bottom. I think it's the last item in the menu - "start map mode" or "stop map mode" (I'm doing this from memory so the words might be a bit different).

Another thing to consider when reading up on this - iPhones and Androids connect differently. Android using WiFi-direct and iPhones using normal WiFi so bear that in mind.

You should be able to get this working, I'm thinking it's a software setting. I've Pixel 8, Pixel Fold and Pixel 9 Pro Fold and all work just fine. I also have a Pixel5 somewhere here if you need me to check how an older Pixel works with it.
See if you get anywhere with this info and then come back to me.

I have a 23 RT (just got a week ago) and my Pixel 7Pro does not connect via Wifi...tried everything I could find on the internet...my wife's Samsung S24+ works just fine.

Following for any solutions.

Thx

Make sure you do not have a VPN engaged.
I lost my connection for a while last summer, took me forever to figure it out !

Tried that too...no progress.

Update: I switched to a Samsung S25+, NOT Ultra as it is too big for the charge box. It fits just fine without a case and has no issues connecting. I did make sure to disable any wifi auto-connect for my saved wifi that I use.

I believe the Google phone have some software issue that is preventing connection...better to just switch phones than fight with it. I don't have disconnects that i've noticed and my music streams fine via Amazon Music.

On another note:
I do have to figure out how to turn up the volume for the voice on navigation vs main volume (music). Turning the WW turns up everything but the Turn by Turn volume is very low compared to everything else. Maybe this is on the helmet volume, seperate channels of volume? I just want that louder so I can hear, "In 2 miles, take exit 31B on the right..." When music is playing it is drowned out completely. When no music, I have to turn the volume up completely and barley hear it. BTW, I am not deaf.

I'm experiencing the same problem.

Google Pixel 5 phone. Android version 14. I'm using this as a ''dedicated bike phone'' - it's not being used for any other function other than running the app. No SIM card installed. Bike software version is 13/13/20. I've updated the Connected Ride App to version 5.5.1.

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are set correctly on the phone. All of the app permissions are set as suggested.

I can start the app on the phone and select 'map mode'. The map displays on the phone screen OK and says 'connect your motorcycle'. If I switch the bike on, after a few seconds the bluetooth symbol appears on the bikes TFT and the phone symbol and phone battery status are displayed, so the phone is connected to the bike. The phone screen then changes to an 'expanding square' symbol and a message says 'connecting to your R1250RT'. This tries to connect for about a minute, then an error message box is shown on the bikes TFT, saying 'Wi-Fi error' and the phone screen says 'retry or cancel'. Using the 'start map mode' command in the TFT navigation menu doesn't work either.

The annoying thing is that it was working OK until recently. Although - the map display has always been a bit 'shaky' - sometimes maps would display, sometimes not, but then recently, no map display most (almost all) of the time. I don't know what has changed. I only updated the app in an attempt to get it working again. I've unpaired and re-paired the phone to the bike a few times and it pairs up OK, as expected. I can get step-by-step directions on the TFT, but no map display. Frustrating!

All and any suggestions welcome. The bike will be due a service soon, so I'll request a software update to the latest version to see if that improves anything.

I just got a brand new R1300RT, and have not been able to use the map mode. The phone is a Google Pixel 7 Pro. Similar story, BT connection is OK, so is step-by-step navigation.

However, I was able to use map mode with an old LG Nexus 5X which has served as a web-camera since the start of the pandemic. However, during the test, I noticed that the battery of the phone was larger that it's supposed to be, so I delivered the phone to the local recycling station and cannot use it as a "MC phone".

The dealer was also able to connect to my bike using is iPhone.

I will be sending an email to connectedride@bmw.com with my story. I found the email address in the review section for the app on Google Play. Guess it doesn't hurt if they get a couple of similar stories. Seems like there is a problem with the app or the bike's software and Pixel phones.

Sorry for not bringing any new information. (Perhaps except the Nexus 5X bit...)

Kind regards
KML

Any progress on this front ?

I did sent the email as mentioned, and received the following (standard?) answer after a couple of days:

"Of course we regret the problems you are facing with your cell phone from Google. This is certainly not the product experience we want for our customers.

Unfortunately we can only assure you that we are working intensely on the problems with the Pixel phones. Currently, we can not yet say when the new software version will be released."

I sent a new email asking if this meant that they were already aware of problems with Pixel phones, but I haven't received an answer.

Significant news! Last night my phone received an update of the app (dated 17th July), and now WiFi connection is established automatically and map mode available! Still Pixel 7 PRO and R1300RT.

kml wrote: Fri Aug 01, 2025 9:38 pm Significant news! Last night my phone received an update of the app (dated 17th July), and now WiFi connection is established automatically and map mode available! Still Pixel 7 PRO and R1300RT.

Yes, Samsung/Android did a software update last month(early July) which created problems with the connected ride app connecting to the cradle or bike resulting in having to restart the phone each time you turned the bike off. It affected my Audi as well for the multi media interface connecting and disconnecting constantly. Thankfully they've done an update late July and things are back to seamless connections.

Ps. I'm still taking the Nav6 to Spain later this month just in case