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App becoming required
- Thread starter tesrocks
- Start date
I can appreciate your situation, but it raises several interesting points (pardon the length of the following response).
I don't know your, nor the OP's personal reasons for not having or wanting a smartphone. Perhaps you never got comfortable with the graphical touch-screen UI paradigm (yet you're OK if not thrilled with with the Tesla UI). Perhaps you prefer to be more private and anonymous, which is very difficult to do within the ecosystem of almost any smartphone OS. But whatever the case, I think you might pause and ask yourself why the desktop-accessible website should be considered the obvious alternative or backstop for people in your situation.
Desktop browsers were the primary high-tech vehicle for the rise of the internet from the late 1990s through about the mid-2010s. Not a tremendously long period of time in the context of our civilization or even our lifetimes. During that time, it was quite common to hear people make frustrated complaints about the progressive disappearance of telephone-based customer service, i.e. the ability to interact with a knowledgeable human to make inquiries, arrange a purchase or service, or to resolve a problem. I still prefer that method but I don't spend too much of my energy complaining about it.
I'm now on the threshold between middle-age and old-age. I was right there with mainframe and minicomputer usage and then the rise of the desktop computer. I've kept up with smartphones also, since their beginning. But a few years ago I noted with some surprise that my young adult children gravitated more to smartphones for internet consumption, not to mention the common syndrome of almost completely abandoning voice-phone usage for any communication. However, due to my own eyesight issues I've also greatly reduced my usage of the desktop and I prefer a big handheld smartphone with my uncorrected nearsighted eyes. For me it's the mid-distance that is most difficult. (When driving with my distance correction, I'm quite annoyed with Tesla's lack of concern to make the simplest adjustments regarding readability and optional speech interaction, but that's another subject.)
Bottom line is that for me, the app is not a problem and I would now use it in preference to the website. I think the age of desktop-primary and mobile-app-secondary is drawing to a close, with the new preference being for the mobile app if programming resources are limited - but supporting all desktops and all smartphones equally is obviously even better.
My very elderly parents are retired scientists who programmed and used electronic computers since almost the beginning, then were late but eventually enthusiastic adopters of mouse-driven desktops, and never became comfortable with touchscreen smartphones. My dad uses a tablet occasionally and grudgingly. Though I think a Tesla, after one or two more years of development, might be the safest car for him to be driving, I could honestly never suggest it to him in good conscience, because the touchscreen UI would just be too great a hurdle. He doesn't need that confusion and learning curve added to the driving experience.
And here's the irony of this topic for me: I would prefer to get him in the habit of taking Uber or Lyft instead of driving himself, but to do so effectively you have to have the smartphone app! I'm frankly stunned that Uber hasn't developed an easy-to-use phone dispatching service for this non-smartphone demographic. Even blind smartphone users have to contend with the app via the seemingly very awkward voice-accessibility extensions in Android and iOS.
So back to the complaint of "I want to use the desktop instead of the smartphone app", I hear you but I'm saying the desktop is not intrinsically the natural or preferred interface for that group of customers who happen to shun smartphones. What about telephone calls with either human or robot at the other end? What about people who would rather sit down and write a letter with enclosed check for payment? What about people who would like to drive down to the office and conduct their business in person, pay with cash on the barrelhead? I can sympathize with any of those but not surprisingly, they're not going to happen with Tesla in 2022.
Seriously? Yes. On my own and with the customer service rep on the phone who was as puzzled over this change as I was. Check out your account on tesla.com. See your Premium Connectivity subscription mentioned anywhere? It's only in the app now.
You mistake a short-term trend for a long-term trend. Facebook is the future and every human must have a Facebook account and post everything they're doing to it all the time... until the trend ends. How often do you post to Facebook now compared to 5 or 10 years ago? What happened to the future? It got real and unnecessary mobile apps are next. A web browser is an app which functions as a digital sandbox to protect you. You don't need to forgo that protection in order to update a credit card or opt in to a service. As with Facebook, when you install and run an unnecessary app on your phone, *you* are the product. The trend will eventually move against this and the technological path forward will righten itself as it always does.
This has nothing to do with desktop vs mobile. Mobile devices have web browsers too. This is about forcing people into the role of a product. To do so willingly is one thing but to be sold a car without that requirement and then have it forced onto you after the fact is garbage.
I get ya. I'm an outlier, as I said, and you can't cater to everyone. I understand that. But in this case we have a multi-multi-billion dollar tech company that seems unwilling to modify their website that already sells things to add this one additional "product". Making that change is the kind of task you assign a new hire to do on their first day and expect to be done in a week. It more smacks of pushing every little thing to the app, even when it's not necessary to do so, much like service is now.
As a phone-less person, I can't think of anything else that 100% requires a mobile app, other than things like Uber where the app itself is the main product.
I thought you could subscribe to Premium Connectivity via the screen in the car as well. At least I can either monthly or yearly:
Do you have a credit card linked to your account? (Which last I check could still be done via the web, even though it sort of says that you can't.)
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Not any more:
App becoming required
When I bought my Model Y I was assured that the phone app was not required. Recently my credit card was stolen and then canceled so the Premium Connectivity service couldn't charge its fee. I have a new card but I'm told that resubscribing and changing my card can only be done in the app which...
teslamotorsclub.com
I was referring to the payment option on the web site:
But if I click the drop down arrow next to my current card it lets me click a + button to add another one.
The future got real? Please expand on that.
You're right that Facebook is not a thing anymore. It's been replaced by tik tok, twitter et al and those will be replaced by something else. Individually they are each short term trends, but the long term trend is clear. "Unnecessary mobile apps are next" was a perspective in 2010-ish. It comes from a view of technology that is primarily about consumption and very rudimentary inputs.
That's clearly not where things are going. More specifically, mobile is the long term trend hand in hand with content creation and distribution at an individual level, along with micro-interactions (think widgets). We're on the verge of a post-app world where apps are a foregone conclusion and they're spawning min-apps (widgets). If anything, the mini-app is what's next.
Tesla is going to be a part of that. They don't see themselves as a car company. Folks may think that's great or terrible but it is what it is. Buyer beware.
Let me start by saying I am 100% getting it - you don't want to use an app or a smartphone. Not going to try to convince you of anything.
The part that I can't square up is what you expected when when you bought the car. I mean, you bought the most tech-forward car out there. One where they showcased the fact that the phone (app) can be the key, used to update the software, schedule service, get notified when you leave it unlocked/open, track the location of, etc - heck even remotely drive.
It's like buying a laptop and being upset that at some point the OS/software needs the internet to do something.
The part that I can't square up is what you expected when when you bought the car. I mean, you bought the most tech-forward car out there. One where they showcased the fact that the phone (app) can be the key, used to update the software, schedule service, get notified when you leave it unlocked/open, track the location of, etc - heck even remotely drive.
It's like buying a laptop and being upset that at some point the OS/software needs the internet to do something.
I mean, I sort of get it. I am sorta like @JHCCAZ , except I was raised by a single mom who was a computer programmer, and brought home punch cards that I played with as a child (and got in trouble for getting them out of order).
I still prefer using "a computer" to do anything important, and I am in IT. An example of this is, I will use my smartphone and an app to check my bank balance, but in general dont use that same app to move money around, etc.
My old excuse for this was, "I hate how a smartphone gives you a limited view of what they want to present to you compared to a desktop". This can usually be seen with a "mobile version" of a companies website, vs the version that presents itself on a computer. Of course, now you can request the desktop site on mobile, but my old eyes have a hard time seeing it on most mobile smartphones, even larger ones.
I am still the person who buys 4k blue ray disks vs streaming (because I have a sound system in which you can absolutely tell the difference in sound quality / separation on a 4k version of some action movie, vs the streamed version even if its streamed in 4k).
Even things like browsing the internet, I usually do from a laptop (not my phone) even though my phone does just fine at it.
So, I sorta get it, but I also use the tesla app for everything with my car since its so convenient to do so. ordering something from the tesla website? I use a computer browser, and not the app.
I never had any expectation that I would interact with this vehicle with anything other than the app when I bought it, though. Like I said in my first post in this thread, its my expectation that they will move more into the app, and it will be "app required", so if thats not acceptable, its time to get out (and thats ok, every product is not for everyone).
I still prefer using "a computer" to do anything important, and I am in IT. An example of this is, I will use my smartphone and an app to check my bank balance, but in general dont use that same app to move money around, etc.
My old excuse for this was, "I hate how a smartphone gives you a limited view of what they want to present to you compared to a desktop". This can usually be seen with a "mobile version" of a companies website, vs the version that presents itself on a computer. Of course, now you can request the desktop site on mobile, but my old eyes have a hard time seeing it on most mobile smartphones, even larger ones.
I am still the person who buys 4k blue ray disks vs streaming (because I have a sound system in which you can absolutely tell the difference in sound quality / separation on a 4k version of some action movie, vs the streamed version even if its streamed in 4k).
Even things like browsing the internet, I usually do from a laptop (not my phone) even though my phone does just fine at it.
So, I sorta get it, but I also use the tesla app for everything with my car since its so convenient to do so. ordering something from the tesla website? I use a computer browser, and not the app.
I never had any expectation that I would interact with this vehicle with anything other than the app when I bought it, though. Like I said in my first post in this thread, its my expectation that they will move more into the app, and it will be "app required", so if thats not acceptable, its time to get out (and thats ok, every product is not for everyone).
No, it's like buying a laptop, installing Linux, cruising for awhile, and then all of a sudden seeing the hardware disable itself because it realizes it isn't running Windows.
I don't see why some folks are making this a desktop vs mobile thing. It's a browser vs standalone app thing. Browsers work great on desktop and mobile. Maybe if I put it this way. Would you be ok with installing an app on your *desktop* to update your Premium Connectivity credit card? It's the same thing.
Not if the desktop app IS the main way you access 99% of all of the other functionality. And if I was really that opposed to having an app, I'd download it, do what I needed to and then delete it. It takes 10s to install and less than that to delete. Even if I have to do that every few years, it's NBD.
So if the app is required then it's ok that it's required? It's not ok if it isn't required when you buy the car and becomes required later on.
Do you not like Apps in general? Or something about the Tesla app? What is the concern?
Any reason you can't install, update your credit card, and then delete?
Any reason you can't install, update your credit card, and then delete?
CapsEngineer
Member
I’ve hesitated replying to this thread because no solution is going to make you happy and Tesla isn’t going to change what they do because you posted on here.
My solution:
If you don’t want a smartphone and don’t have one, get a cheap, prepaid smartphone, install the app and do what you need. If the minutes expire or you use them, don’t get more. The phone will continue to work on WiFi so you can make any changes in the app that you need. You could still use it as a key if you wanted to. You can always leave the phone at home and powered off.
If you have a smartphone and just don’t want the app on it, install it, sign on, do what you need to do, logout, then uninstall.
Personally, I like having the connectivity from my phone. I learned from using the Lincoln app for my wife’s car how nice it is to have the climate running before you get to it. From work. From the Metro coming from games. Anytime I leave the house or the store. Anywhere.
My solution:
If you don’t want a smartphone and don’t have one, get a cheap, prepaid smartphone, install the app and do what you need. If the minutes expire or you use them, don’t get more. The phone will continue to work on WiFi so you can make any changes in the app that you need. You could still use it as a key if you wanted to. You can always leave the phone at home and powered off.
If you have a smartphone and just don’t want the app on it, install it, sign on, do what you need to do, logout, then uninstall.
Personally, I like having the connectivity from my phone. I learned from using the Lincoln app for my wife’s car how nice it is to have the climate running before you get to it. From work. From the Metro coming from games. Anytime I leave the house or the store. Anywhere.
It's about being forced into the role of a product as described earlier:
"A web browser is an app which functions as a digital sandbox to protect you. You don't need to forgo that protection in order to update a credit card or opt in to a service. As with Facebook, when you install and run an unnecessary app on your phone, *you* are the product."
"This is about forcing people into the role of a product. To do so willingly is one thing but to be sold a car without that requirement and then have it forced onto you after the fact is garbage."
Install and delete it? Or do you mean install it (instantly increasing your device's attack surface and vulnerability to security issues), grant it intrusive permissions over your device, agree to enter into an abusive legal contract with the company behind it, provide it with your personal information, link it and all of the above with your Tesla account, link it and all of the above with your vehicle and your vehicle's technology, "delete" it, and carry its cruft on your device forever? And do it all over again the next time you need to update your card.
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