2nd phone app user: Same Tesla account or separate?

[Ecmiyake]

Ah, so you can actually set a primary driver on the main screen. Thanks.

My wife and I use the same account on our phones. It seems random, but most of the time her phone would “win” if we approach the car at the same time (ironically, prior to Christmas, her phone was older than mine).

With my device set as the priority device, it seems to always unlock with my phone.

 

[BeeGood]

Ah, so you can actually set a primary driver on the main screen. Thanks.

Yep, you just go under Bluetooth, select the device and there’s a priority toggle.

 

[JCtx]

Hey guys, I accidentally erased my wife's 'key' card, which also erased her phone, so will have to figure out how to add a key card, and then add her phone as a key too. And finally, need to give her phone priority, since I bought the car for her... but can't find that damn option anymore. Where is the menu to do that? To click on the BT icon on top of the screen?

Finally, when you're going to drive the car, and both phones are 'active keys', it obviously gives priority to the phone on the driver's side for the key... but does it also connect that phone to BT, or it connects the one given priority, even if it's not the driver? Curious about that. Thx.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Hey guys, I accidentally erased my wife's 'key' card, which also erased her phone, so will have to figure out how to add a key card, and then add her phone as a key too. And finally, need to give her phone priority, since I bought the car for her... but can't find that damn option anymore. Where is the menu to do that? To click on the BT icon on top of the screen?

Go to the Locks screen. You should see all the active keys there. In my car it says the keycards are "Unknown Key", but the Phone keys would be your phone's name. See page 11 in manual.

Finally, when you're going to drive the car, and both phones are 'active keys', it obviously gives priority to the phone on the driver's side for the key... but does it also connect that phone to BT, or it connects the one given priority, even if it's not the driver? Curious about that. Thx.

Not sure about the keys, but for bluetooth, there is a separate menu to connect devices to bluetooth and you can set priority there. See page 137.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

 

[JCtx]

Thanks guys. Yeah, the 'priority' button is in the menu that pops when you click on the BT icon. And I can confirm now that I deactivated the priority, when I drive the car, both my phone and key get connected, so awesome. But on the negative news, Spotify is not profile dependent, but it's not a big deal, since you can just stream it with the same sound quality.

 

[PRO & TessY]

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet. For me, the number one reason to have two separate accounts is that the driver profile can be linked with the key used to enter the vehicle. This includes phone key. Which means that if your wife uses her phone (with her own Tesla account) to access the car it will automatically load her seat / mirror / steering wheel preferences. Same goes for you when you enter the vehicle using your phone and your own Tesla account.

So I’m about to be a new Tesla owner here Thursday, I’m wondering how to link the Tesla we purchased under her account onto mine as well. We are registered as co owners under her app and Tesla did send me an email to create my own account.

 

[stopcrazypp]

So I’m about to be a new Tesla owner here Thursday, I’m wondering how to link the Tesla we purchased under her account onto mine as well. We are registered as co owners under her app and Tesla did send me an email to create my own account.

After you create your own account you should be able to access all the functions in your app.

Here's how to share access from website in owner's account:
Tesla launches new car-sharing feature to simplify access - Electrek

I presume you got the "Driver Access Granted" email already. If not, you can try to follow the steps shown in the article.

Note however, if you want to use the phone key function, you still need to add your phone in the car. See page 8 in manual to see instructions how:
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

 

[EVRider-FL]

We have two Teslas (S and 3) and two accounts. My account has access to both cars because I drive both, my wife's account only has access to the 3, which is her car.

Regarding the phone key and driver profiles, it's a bit hit and miss for us. Sometimes I'll get in the car without my wife, and the car will either switch to her profile or fail to switch from hers to mine. Her phone is often within Bluetooth range of the car even when she's in the house, but obviously the car isn't detecting the "closest" phone when choosing my wife's profile.

As others have mentioned, phone keys are not identified by the account, they're identified by the phone, so it doesn't matter if you share an account or use separate ones.

One the correct profile is selected, the priority Bluetooth device feature seems to work correctly most of the time.

 

[PRO & TessY]

Thanks for the responses. We ended up just sharing the account and connecting it to our separate phone Keys.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks for the responses. We ended up just sharing the account and connecting it to our separate phone Keys.

I wrote up a step by step "how to" that I stickied on this topic, in case you change your mind on sharing your account:

How to enable additional users to access your Tesla

This question comes up fairy often, so I thought I would provide a write up for why you would want to do this, and how. PROBLEM STATEMENT / GOAL I would like to have other users to have access to my Tesla, via the Tesla app, on their own smartphone. How do I do this and is there anything I...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Jlescobar]

Took delivery yesterday, got my phone app set up great. Then when installing the app on my wife's phone, I wondered whether it makes any difference if we log in on her phone using my same Tesla account, or is there a reason to create a separate Tesla account for her? We're only ever going to share the one car.

My partner and I are signed into the same account and we do not get any issues. Just assign the user with the correct phone under bluetooth and the car is able to identify who comes into the car from either side to adjust seat settings.

 

[PRO & TessY]

I wrote up a step by step "how to" that I stickied on this topic, in case you change your mind on sharing your account:

How to enable additional users to access your Tesla

This question comes up fairy often, so I thought I would provide a write up for why you would want to do this, and how. PROBLEM STATEMENT / GOAL I would like to have other users to have access to my Tesla, via the Tesla app, on their own smartphone. How do I do this and is there anything I...

teslamotorsclub.com

Thanks I'll keep this in mind. Right now I think we are fine with sharing the one despite the fact that I've setup my own as well. The tough part is I'm very into the tech parts, so I want access to be able to do the system updates and stuff like that, which it sounds like I can't do if I just used my account as a driver. We're also married so it's really no big deal, I could see it being more of an issue for different scenarios though.

 

[CrimsonO2]

The one question I'll ask is: Do you want your partner/spouse to know your Tesla account password? Every so often, a mobile app or phone update will come and force you to re-log in to your Tesla app. In many ways, it's easier if you're just sharing the one account if you both know the password (and both know the password tied to the email the account is attached to). If you don't want them to know your password, then the 2nd account/app would be the way to go.

 

[PRO & TessY]

The one question I'll ask is: Do you want your partner/spouse to know your Tesla account password? Every so often, a mobile app or phone update will come and force you to re-log in to your Tesla app. In many ways, it's easier if you're just sharing the one account if you both know the password (and both know the password tied to the email the account is attached to). If you don't want them to know your password, then the 2nd account/app would be the way to go.

A valid point, but we know all of our passwords so guess that just depends on the trust between interpersonal relationships.

 

[welchtima]

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet. For me, the number one reason to have two separate accounts is that the driver profile can be linked with the key used to enter the vehicle. This includes phone key. Which means that if your wife uses her phone (with her own Tesla account) to access the car it will automatically load her seat / mirror / steering wheel preferences. Same goes for you when you enter the vehicle using your phone and your own Tesla account.

This is precisely why you want two accounts. Great feature.

 

[jjrandorin]

This is precisely why you want two accounts. Great feature.

Yeah, when it works properly (which is not always, lol). It seems to depend on which phone key the car sees first. Sometimes, even if I have my wife wait to open the passenger door to my model 3 when we are going out, the car will "crunch" me down to her settings (Im 6'2, shes 5'5).

Not always, but often enough to say that its not a one or two time glitch. I just deal with it, but yeah I wish it was better at determining this (and I have triple / quadruple checked key to profile, primary key, etc).

 

[Mattopotamus]

Yeah, when it works properly (which is not always, lol). It seems to depend on which phone key the car sees first. Sometimes, even if I have my wife wait to open the passenger door to my model 3 when we are going out, the car will "crunch" me down to her settings (Im 6'2, shes 5'5).

Not always, but often enough to say that its not a one or two time glitch. I just deal with it, but yeah I wish it was better at determining this (and I have triple / quadruple checked key to profile, primary key, etc).

I have my account marked at primary, but the car always seems to pick up my wife's phone first. I get in, press the brake, and start getting smashed into the steering wheel haha.

 

[EVRider-FL]

This is precisely why you want two accounts. Great feature.

You don’t need two accounts to link different phones to different profiles. It uses the phone‘s Bluetooth ID, not the account, to detect which phone is nearby. That’s why you have to set that up again if you get a new phone.

A different use case for separate accounts is having separate calendars on your phone that you want to keep separate in the car. Unless Tesla changed the implementation, calendar data syncs to the car from your phone via the Tesla server, so it’s based on the account. Call logs and contacts sync directly from the phone to the car, so for those it doesn’t matter.

 

[drtimhill]

This is precisely why you want two accounts. Great feature.

But you DONT need distinct accounts for that to work. The driver profile is associated with the physical phone device, regardless of which account is used to access the Tesla app on that device.

 

[Whosyourbaba]

I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this yet. For me, the number one reason to have two separate accounts is that the driver profile can be linked with the key used to enter the vehicle. This includes phone key. Which means that if your wife uses her phone (with her own Tesla account) to access the car it will automatically load her seat / mirror / steering wheel preferences. Same goes for you when you enter the vehicle using your phone and your own Tesla account.

You can link phone to its own profile. My wife and I share my account but car knows our different profiles due to the phone. Just have to set it up.