[Ozzie8]

For all of the 8 series owners who did not receive the Drive Recorder (DR) app installed in your vehicle on delivery, I am pleased to present this how to guide to install and enable it. Also for reference my m850i was an April 2019 build.

1. CHECK ELIGIBILITY
Log into the web version (ie not the app) of BMW Connected Drive with your connected drive ID. Under Store you will see a list of the apps that are booked for your vehicle and a list of apps that are available with prices. If you cannot see the DR app then it is likely your car does not support. If you select the DR app you may also get a 'check availability' box so select that and enter the vehicle VIN. In my case the DR app was already listed as available.

2. BOOK THE APP
Select the option you would like - 1 year, 3 year or unlimited. Following the process to pay for the app. If you have not already registered a credit card in your Connected Drive profile then please do this BEFORE you buy the app. Once completed, the DR app should show on the list of booked apps for your vehicle. Please note the DR app only shows as booked in the web version of Connected Drive. It has not yet appeared in my BMW Connected phone app.

That was the easy bit.....now for the tricky dribble. Extreme patience required.

3. CHECK YOUR VEHICLE
Now go to your vehicle and turn on the ignition. Select the apps icon at the bottom of the left hand vertical menu bar. Then scroll down to 'Booked' and you should see BMW Drive Recorder in the list of apps. If you have purchased and booked the app, but cannot see it in your car then wait. This could be anywhere from an hour to 48 hours (more on this later).

4. INSTALL THE APP
According to BMW (since I spoke to the BMW helpline on multiple occasions) the app loads automatically. I was informed that this can take up to 4 days. However I learned there is way to speed this up. Still in the apps window, scroll until 'Installed apps' is highlighted, that is it changes color to red. Now press the 'Option' button on the console next to the selector wheel. Do not press the selector wheel. A dialog box should then appear, scroll to 'Update Apps and services' and select with the selector wheel. A new dialog box should appear with 'Transferring data...'. This step required multiple attempts and calls to BMW as nothing seemed to be happening and there is nothing useful such as % complete indicator (more on this later). Eventually the 'Transferring data...' message changes to 'Apps and services updated'.

5. ENABLE THE APP
After successful installation scroll to 'Installed apps' and select and you should now see the DR app icon. If you cannot see the app I learned there is way to speed up the app enablement. With your engine running, now go to the Power on/off & volume control knob for your main car display and press and hold this button. The screen will go black then after 30-40 seconds the screen will come back on with the standard warning message. No go back to 'Installed apps' and see if the DR icon is there. I completed steps 4 and 5 multiple times over a couple of days.

6. SETUP THE APP
Select the DR icon. The first time I did this I got a blank screen. It actually took nearly an hour for the app to startup and then there is a setup process which is easy to follow. There are two main options 'Manual' and 'Automatic'. Manual means when you are driving you can press the camera button on the console and DR will commence recording. Automatic means if the car detects emergency braking or collision it will automatically record from the car cameras (can be time adjusted in the settings). The app saves your recordings which you can export using a USB.

There you have it gang! Good luck and let me know how you get on.

Some further commentary. I sense the root of all evil here is the BMW Connected Drive back end. Booking the app on the web, very easy. Setting up and using the app in the car, very easy. Everything in between is sort of like a secret process from the book of medieval alchemy. The two things you and your car are constantly battling is the BMW Connected Drive back end. You see, you can never really be sure when its available, and I note this morning as I tried to log in it was down. Of course the back end is hosted in Europe and I'm in Australia, so the perfect European maintenance window happens to be mornings in Australia. Beyond the availability challenges we then have the performance itself. I know the SIM and mobile network my car is connected to is blisteringly fast, but any download action in the car will only be as fast as the back end can push it to the car, and I honestly think this is also a big issue. So that's why my friends it takes multiple attempts, with some inside knowledge and trickery, to finally enable any new app in your 8 series.