For some reason I'm having a difficult time trying to get familiar and comfortable with the Audi MMI and VC systems. I have Audi Connect and Apple Car Play. I believe I've read that others are unimpressed with Audi Connect. My dealer set mine up with the free period to try it out. After about 4 days Google Earth still doesn't show up on my screen because the "server is unavailable".
While I love Google Earth on my computer, I'm not sure I need it in the car, and I don't think I want to pay for Audi Connect after the free trial period unless someone can convince me there are enough benefits. My main preference for sound entertainment in the car is listening to podcasts on my iPhone, AM radio briefly for traffic reports, music lists on my iPhone, and Pandora radio. For navigation I find the maps in the nav system adequate, although I am disappointed that the speed limit is only displayed on the MMI screen, and NOT on the VC screen where it would be closer and easier for me to compare it to my actual speedometer speed.

In my previous Macan, I simply played my iPhone via bluetooth, but it required that I make selections on the phone since the car didn't support making selections on the vehicle screen.

I suppose with more practice I'll get more comfortable with how to display info that I want on the VC display. For now it seems like a lot of trial and error.

Am I just a slow learner, or do others find this stuff as obscure or confusing as I do? Does anyone know of any videos that describe some of this stuff better than the owner's manual?

 

Re the google earth not showing up, I had the same issue, its to do with the privacy settings. Basically you need to turn them off. Somebody did write a post with the sequence as you also have to turn the car off, leave it for a few minutes etc. if you call the Audi Connect customer care they can walk you through the process.

 

I saw "the fix" to this issue on another thread and copied it down just in case I needed it later when my car finally gets delivered so I have no idea (personally) if it works or not but it should. Your mileage may vary however. :-) Please let me know one way or the other though. Thanks.

The Fix: Won't connect to myAudi Server Error
Step 1:
Login/create account on myaudiconnect.com, make sure everything there is listed correctly, that your VIN number is correctly linked. (my sales guys initiated this for me, i got an automated email asking me to confirm my email and to setup myaudiconnect.com account, you should have gotten one too, if not, ask your sales guy.)


Step 2:
Then Login to audiusa.com/myaudi, setup your account (it's separate site from myaudiconnect), make sure your VIN is correctly linked to your myaudi account here. I had to do this myself, i only heard about it from other guys here on the boards.

Once your VIN # is linked up correctly here, you should see a picture of your car when you login.

Below your car picture, on the right side should be 2 buttons/icons.

One for "Audi connect plan" which just redirects you back to myaudiconnect.com which you already did in step 1
Another button/icon for "Audi connect services" - click on this icon, it will redirect you my.audi.com (a 3rd ****ing site, genius!) and list the services your mmi will have access to as part of your free trial.


On this new my.audi.com site, on top left, click on MENU icon. it'll expand.
Click on "Audi connect user management"
A screen will display with your My Audi 8 digit Pin number. Click on OK button, and it'll email you with that pin number, or just write it down somewhere. This PIN is what you'll need to login to your car's MMI.


Step 3 - this is the stupid part. According to info i found, if you try to use the data services before myaudiconnect account was verified, you get caught in a loop where it won't let you re-enter your account info/pin no matter how many times you try, and you get that useless generic stupid unhelpful "can't connect to myaudi server" message.

You have to go to the data connections menu in MMI in your car (i think it was in there), and find the setting to turn "Data module off". Don't remember the exact name/navigation, but you'll see it when you see it.
I think it was in same menu where you see the "Log In" option.
It basically turns off the data on the car.

Give it about 30sec to shutoff the data antenna.

Then navigate back to that "Log in" menu option.
Just use your 8 digit myaudi pin and login.

Give it a few minutes to connect, and then you should be able to go back to map settings and turn on Google Earth, and also traffic info will activate on the map as well. When looking at the map on center MMI screen, you should see a little "google" icon in lower right corner. That means you are connected.

Give it a day, and myaudiconnect.com will also refresh, and you can start seeing usage history, and the rest of that functionality will work too.

 

Thanks very much. Can anyone advise if Audi Connect is worth this hassle?

 

So today I tried just connecting my iPhone via Bluetooth to listen to music etc. However, when I select "Folders" on the MMI, it only displays whatever is currently open on the iPhone, such as music, or podcasts, or Pandora etc. On our Mazda CX5, selecting Folders on the nav screen lets you browse through all the choices on your phone to pick the one you use, rather than having to first select one on the phone. Is the Audi MMI unable to display more than one choice in the Folders view? I know I could implement Apple Car Play for more functionality, but then it requires that I plug in my phone, which I don't always want to do when I'm jumping in and out of the car.

Update August 15: Thanks to Russbert I went through the frustration of doing the "fix" he posted, and even though it appeared I may have failed as it wouldn't accept what I thought was my user name and password (as established on line on the Audi Connect website), I found that somehow things started to work. I now have Google Earth and other features of Audi Connect working in the car, finally. Thanks for the help Russbert!

 

Can the features of Audi Connect be used w/o Navi?

 

I would assume so. Truthfully, I don't expect to continue with AudiConnect after the free period, since Apple Carplay seems to provide sufficient functionality for me. The only advantage I see in AudiConnect is having Google Earth maps for nav, but as much as I prefer Google Earth maps, I can live without them.

 

While I'm not 100% certain, I think the other benefit, and perhaps more important one if you want to actually use the NAV feature of your car, having AudiConnect will likely ensure you're maps continually get updated. Specifically speaking, real time traffic updates and potential re-routing. Without AudiConnect, I think you won't have those features. As such, I don't think it's just a matter of having the nice Google Earth maps (overlays).

 

Can't get Audi connect on a '16 A3, I am told

 

In my experience you have to manually update the maps and it only allows you to do two areas at a time (i.e. Texas 1, Texas 2, some other states, etc.) when using AudiConnect.

I just got my car a little over a month ago and it had the 2017 maps installed. After going through the not very user friendly process and only being able to update two map regions at a time (to 2017/2018 versions) I decided to buy a $30 SD card and was able to update all the maps at once. Also, if one decides to use AudiConnect after the initial 6 month free trial I'm going to assume updating all the maps OTA will eat up a lot of that 6 GB data allowance which means a user will then have to purchase more data.