In vehicles equipped with the OS 7.0, BMW offers the optional Rear Seat Entertainment system, which offers the rear-seat passengers direct access to relevant functions of the infotainment system and the possibility to individually choose the desired media and entertainment sources aboard the vehicle.

Whether you’d like listening to your favorite albums or would rather watch a TV show or movie, as a passenger in a BMW you are always cherished with multiple attractive options. Traveling in the rear seats of a high-end bimmer has never more fun. The optional Rear Seat Entertainment, which costs well over 2,000 euros in Germany, gives you the needed freedom to spend quality time in the car.

The equipment is comprised of two touch-sensitive screens, which are installed on the back of the front seat headrests. In addition, the rear armrest houses various media connections (USB, HDMI, 3.5mm etc.) as well as a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray player. The entertainment also comes with a pair of wireless headphones.

Using the main control display of the OS 7.0 system, you can adjust the settings for the behavior of the Rear Seat Entertainment. By going to CAR > Settings > General Settings > Rear Seat Entertainment, you can either enable or disable the rear seat control for the iDrive system. You can as well choose to allow a restricted amount of operation freedom or a limitation of the volume.

To modify the sound settings, follow the path CAR > Settings > General Settings > Sound. Here you can choose from two options: Theater Mode, which means the sound from the Rear Seat Entertainment system will be channeled via the car’s speakers and the media content will be available for anyone in the car to hear; and Individual entertainment, which lets you choose an individual and different content for each of the two rear-seat display.

The media source in the front can also be shared with the passengers in the rear: both, right or left. Simply access the desired entertainment collection, like music albums, and then press Share button. The rear-seat passengers can also control if they want to allow the sharing process.

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When the Share button is pressed at the front, an alert message displays on the rear screens which lets the passengers select what they want to do – accept or reject. A default behavior for this situation can also be configured using the Pop-ups from the rear-seat displays: Always ask, Always allow or Always reject.

More information on the complete functionality of the Rear Seat Entertainment equipment can be found using the digital owner’s handbook in the BMW OS 7.0 infotainment system or simply by calling the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant using a suggestive phrase for the topic.

Let’s now have a look at how the BMW Rear Seat Entertainment works!