How to change the battery in your BMW Key Fob

Changing your battery in your F-Series BMW Key Fob is easy. Just follow these 5 steps:

1) Press the button and pull out the car key in the direction as indicated by the arrow:

2) Notice the notch at the key fob:

3) Using the same car key, push into the notch and lift the plastic cover up:

4) Slowly lift the plastic cover with your fingers:

5) Presto! Your key fob has been disassembled, exposing the CR 2032 battery. Time to source for a good CR2032 battery and swap it in!

How to check your BMW car ISTA/P version (BMW ECU Software version)?

First of all, what does ISTA/P stands for?

It stands for Integrated Service Technical Application/Programming. ISTA/P is used to process all coded, programmed and enable-dependent control modules in BMW Group vehicles. In short, it's what BMW calls their ECU software.

To check the version of your ECU software, you have to use E-Sys to connect to your car and go to "VCM" -> Read I-Steps and check the version number shown under "I-Step (currently)". 

For example, if you are driving a F46, it will shows "F056-17-11-531". The format is <F-series model number> - <Year> - <Month> - <Version number>. Note that F46 and F45 is using F56 (Mini platform) when it comes to coding/programming.