BMW readies Apple Watch app ahead of i4 launch, surveys drivers for ideas

BMW I4 (Image credit: BMW)

What you need to know

BMW is reportedly readying an Apple Watch for the launch of the new i4 electric car.
The German automaker is surveying customers to see what features they'd like.

German automaker BMW appears to be getting ready to launch a new Apple Watch app for controlling the upcoming i4 electric car and it wants to know what features people will expect.

While the app will likely work with other BMW cars, it's the new all-electric i4 that the company is using in the artwork for the new survey, according to a 9to5Mac report.

In that survey, BMW wants to know what kinds of features people will expect from an Apple Watch app that is capable of controlling their car. Questions include whether or not people have a cellular Apple Watch. how often they use their Apple Watch for accessing apps, and more.

Thank you for taking the time to complete our short survey about the upcoming My BMW Apple Watch App. Your feedback is extremely valuable to us as it helps us in designing the My BMW Apple Watch App according to your personal needs and preferences.

The prospect of using a brand new Apple Watch Series 7 to lock and unlock a brand new BMW i4 this fall is one that will surely appeal to many. BMW also seems to be asking whether drivers own traditional cars with internal combustion engines, suggesting the app could work with those, too.

Apps that control cars are nothing new of course — but Apple Watch control is a rarity. Being able to use your Apple Watch Series 7 to control your car sounds pretty sweet and could be a killer feature for what will surely be the best Apple Watch Apple has ever shipped.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.