The BMW iX is fitted with a Drive Recorder – an advanced dashcam that uses the already-installed parking cameras. It can record and save valuable evidence of your driving activity or that of other road users.
Before you use the BMW iX Drive Recorder, BMW strongly recommends checking local and regional legislation. Recording video without notice may be illegal. Thus, any clips you take would be both inadmissible in court and could land you in serious trouble.
This article will walk you through how to use the Drive Recorder on the BMW iX.
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What is the BMW iX Drive Recorder?
The BMW iX Drive Recorder uses pre-installed parking camera sensors to record video immediately around the car. This could be useful if:
- You’re involved in an accident.
- Your vehicle is stolen.
- You witness an accident or some other road incident.
- You witness an act of crime while driving along, such as road rage or dangerous driving.
The BMW iX Drive Recorder can be used manually but otherwise records clips automatically.
Activating the BMW iX Drive Recorder
Before you can use the BMW iX Drive Recorder to save video clips, you must activate the feature. Doing this doesn’t mean that the system stores everything it sees. Saving the clips must be done manually or in the event of an accident or theft (see the next section).
To activate the Drive Recorder:
- Open Menu.
- Choose All apps.
- Select Drive Recorder.
- Read through and accept the data policy.
- Now, go to Settings.
- Find Allow recording and choose your desired setting.
Setting up a storage device
It’s a good idea to set up an external mobile storage device. In the meantime:
- Clips are saved to the iX’s internal memory.
The best way to ensure the survival of your clips is by connecting your iX to your My BMW app. This provides a cloud backup to your BMW account in case of significant incidents like fires.
To use your smartphone as storage for the Drive Recorder clips:
- Download and set up the My BMW app.
- Connect your iX to the app.
- Connect your My BMW-enabled smartphone to your iX via WiFi and Bluetooth.
In rare cases, the file transfer will be interrupted before it can save.
Using the BMW iX Drive Recorder
The BMW iX Drive Recorder automatically saves clips in the case of accidents and thefts.
- For accidents – up to 30 seconds of video is stored.
- For thefts – between 5 and 40 seconds of video is held.
This is all dependent on system limits. For example, a car thief might not trigger the alarm if they have a key. In this instance, the Drive Recorder wouldn’t save any video.
Read more about the system limits in the BMW iX owner’s manual.
You can also use the Drive Recorder manually:
- Press and hold the Drive Recorder button.
- It’s a symbol of a camera with waves emanating from the letter “P”.
Or, use the iDrive infotainment system.
- Open the Menu and go to All apps.
- Choose Drive Recorder.
- Select Start recording.
- A display message saying “Recording” will pop up.
- Tap Stop recording when you’re finished.
You can also use the widget.
The button is a safer way to record, especially if you’re driving. Only use the center console if you’re asking a passenger to activate or deactivate the recording process for you or you’re stationary. Never take your eyes off the road.
Adjusting the BMW iX Drive Recorder settings
Various settings for the Drive Recorder can be changed before the clips are stored.
- Go to the Menu.
- Select All apps.
- Choose Drive Recorder.
- Open Settings.
From here, you can adjust things like the recording type, duration, and active cameras.
Watching Drive Recorder clips
You can watch the recorded video clips from whatever storage device they’re saved on.
To view them straight from your iX:
- Open the Menu and select All apps.
- Choose Drive Recorder.
- Tap Recordings.
All the saved recordings will now open up. Select the clip you have in mind to view it.
Remember to always drive safely and read your owner’s manual. Check out a PDF from the BMW iX owner’s manual here.
