Update – iPhone 15: pay attention to wireless charging for BMWs

December 6 update:it's official, iOS 17.2expected for December 12should fix this bug of problematic wireless charging in car.

Updated October 26, 2023: Apple has acknowledged that there is a problem with the iPhone 15 and induction charging in BMW cars. The Californian firm has promised a fix to come before 2024 (source).

Certainly,the iPhone 15 and cars, that's not really it. If you are the lucky owner of a BMW with the wireless induction charging option, take precautions. According to numerous comments coming in particular from the social network “X” or the MacRumors forum, filling your battery using the induction support of a BMW could make certain functions of the iPhone defective.

Several Internet users have reported having problems after trying to charge their new smartphone using their German vehicle. The plaintiffs, however, do not seem to beonly iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max owners. It is currently unknown whether other versions are affected. Some are of the opinion that BMW owners have more money than average and therefore automatically opt for a Pro version of the iPhone. Which would explain why there has been no return for the classic and Plus models. When in doubt, it is better not to tempt the devil and wait until a fix is ​​deployed.

Plus d’Apple Pay

When reading the feedback from people affected by this inconvenience, we always notice the same pattern. The affected people try to charge their iPhone 15 Pro in a completely normal way. But once done, the phone goes into data recovery mode. After the reboot, those affected will realize thatthe services linked to the NFC chip are no longer operational.

As a reminder, the NFC chip allowscontactless payment with Apple Pay, it also offers the possibility ofuse your phone as a car key. Unfortunately, after charging their iPhone 15 via a BMW's wireless charging, the plaintiffs saw these services no longer work. Additionally, the error message“Unable to configure Apple Pay”appears in the Wallet app.

No reaction from Apple

The Cupertino-based company has not yet reacted, especially since for the moment there does not seem to be a way to resolve the problem, as one of those affected wrote in apost X:«If you own a BMW and purchased an iPhone 15, do NOT place your phone on the car's surface charger. This would lead to adigital card reader failureand you MUST get another phone becausethey don't have the capacity to fix it yet.»

However, there is no doubt about the ability of Apple and BMW to work together to find a solution. Especially sincethe two companies have good relations.