CarPlay iOS 26 - Songs not displaying on 2021 BMW HUD

I took the advice of someone on BMW message board and it seems to have (somewhat) resolved this issue. When the HUD is stuck on the "Please Wait" or "No Entries" message, toggle the PLAYLIST REPLAY button (none, repeat song, repeat playlist) within the Carplay Now Playing view. This seems to reset the information feeding into the HUD and generally resets the list so the song information is there. I can't say it has worked everytime, but it does work often enough that it feels like a worth-mentioning workaround. Beyond that, as a result of this issue I finally set-up a Sportify account using the native app within BMW's operating system (not through Carplay) and that approach doesn't seem to struggle with maintaining a given playlist's song titles in the HUD. So, if Apple doesn't come through with a solution as part of an update, and you love the functionality of having the song list in the HUD (I do!), then Spotify seems to get it right.

Incidentally, this is slightly different but related to another connectivity issue - if I turn on the car and see that my instrument panel is showing a generic musical note where the album art should be, this means that I get the same "Please Wait" message. In order for the above solution to work, the album art has to be present (a sign that historically indicated whether the songs would/wouldn't be listed in the HUD). First and foremost, get the album art up and running by disconnecting and reconnecting the phone. If the album art is populating but the song list is not in the HUD, then try toggling the PLAYLIST REPLAY button. If none of that gets you solid enough outcomes, then contemplate Spotify through the native BMW app. Hope all that's not too convoluted.

I have the same problem with multiple BMWs (2021 X5, 2022 M4) and multiple phones (15 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 17 Pro Max). iDrive 7 in all cases. Both when it’s just Bluetooth and CarPlay.

I first saw it when my iPhone 16 Pro Max upgraded to iOS 26. Then my iPhone 17 Pro Max also showed the same problem. Restarting iDrive and restarting the phone almost never solves the issue. In rare cases when it works, changing the playlist breaks it again.

Even on Bluetooth, all it can show in iDrive (main screen) is the current song with album art. Where the playlist is supposed to appear, it just says “Please wait…”.

The HUD also says “Please wait…” indefinitely.

When in CarPlay mode, CarPlay obviously has no issue in its interface but HUD either says “Please wait…” (most of the time) or “No entries.” (rarely). On very rare occasions, everything works - I’ve never been able to replicate how that happens.

It’s incredibly frustrating. I even tried getting the iOS 26.1 developer beta for any hope of this being fixed. No luck.

Same here. 25’ X1, ios26 with 14 Pro. After updating ios26, I only get “Prev/Next track” and shows the title of the current track on the HUD when I attempt to scroll from the steering wheel.

It’s been over a week now, and now to the point I have to create a habit to just not bother with Apple Music playlists while driving because it’s forcing me to have to reach and navigate through the main display taking my eyes off the road. Definitely annoying when most of these newer cars are getting rid of manual buttons/scrollers in the car itself and relying on more touch screen. Figured I at least had the wheel scroller, but now that has become useless.

I have better luck with Spotify or disconnecting from CarPlay and just using the car’s Bluetooth to navigate music through the HUD.

same here. apple music , hud displays “Please wait…”. ios 26.0.1, carplay , bmw 2020 530i,

in fact , the problem began from ios18.