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Can't authenticate for Tesla account [from older android device]

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slcasner

Active Member
Supporting Member
Feb 20, 2011
1,536
1,083
Sunnyvale, CA
I have an old Google Pixel 2 phone dedicated to displaying the Powerwall Monitor app. Yesterday the app popped up a message about needing to reauthenticate, but when I tried to do so, I got an error saying authentication failed and showing a txid in GUID format. I tried logging in with the Tesla app as well, but that failed in the same manner. I figured the problem might be that I was running V3 of the Tesla app, even though I have seen recent posts here saying that people are successfully running V3. So I updated to the current Tesla app, but authentication still fails. Now the error message is different: "Error. Failed to log in. Please try again later. (EUNSPECIFIED) Host unreachable". I don't think I have a network problem since I had just completed downloading the current Tesla app. I have tried power cycling the phone.

Anyone else having trouble authenticating in the Tesla app?
 
there was another thread which indicated the new app does not support some older phones. You may want to check compatibility with your phone
Good point, but I think the new version of the app was still happy with this phone because it does start up and go through the authentication steps. I think the recent posts here about older phones were regarding iOS devices.
 
I have an old Google Pixel 2 phone dedicated to displaying the Powerwall Monitor app. Yesterday the app popped up a message about needing to reauthenticate, but when I tried to do so, I got an error saying authentication failed and showing a txid in GUID format. I tried logging in with the Tesla app as well, but that failed in the same manner. I figured the problem might be that I was running V3 of the Tesla app, even though I have seen recent posts here saying that people are successfully running V3. So I updated to the current Tesla app, but authentication still fails. Now the error message is different: "Error. Failed to log in. Please try again later. (EUNSPECIFIED) Host unreachable". I don't think I have a network problem since I had just completed downloading the current Tesla app. I have tried power cycling the phone.

Anyone else having trouble authenticating in the Tesla app?
You might need a newer software. I had to get a higher android version OS. Old phone was doing the same as yours.
 
You might need a newer software. I had to get a higher android version OS. Old phone was doing the same as yours.
My Pixel 2 XL is running Android 11, which is stated as the last version available for this device. The phone has been running the Powerwall Monitor app just fine for several months until two days ago when the authentication problem arose, so I wonder what changed. Just now, as I was poking around trying to see if I could update Android, I opened the Powerwall Monitor app and it started up properly as before without going through any authentication steps. Perhaps this was something messed up on Tesla's servers.
 
My Pixel 2 XL is running Android 11, which is stated as the last version available for this device. The phone has been running the Powerwall Monitor app just fine for several months until two days ago when the authentication problem arose, so I wonder what changed. Just now, as I was poking around trying to see if I could update Android, I opened the Powerwall Monitor app and it started up properly as before without going through any authentication steps. Perhaps this was something messed up on Tesla's servers.
Old phone was running Android 6. App needs 7 or above or so they say. I still have another phone with android 6 running the app.
 
One of the popular methods for capturing a token for yourself is an app called "auth for tesla". They had an update in the past couple of days, which stated something like: "removed ability to refresh token v2 since tesla has completely depreciated V2 tokens. Only V3 token generation works" or something like that, paraphrasing.

I suspect that the issues people are having with older devices and older version of the app might have something to do with depreciated support for an older token generation algorithm, or something like that.
 
Tesla did indeed change their authentication mechanism in the past few weeks - I had to update my homebrew automation to account for the change. I think the timing is unpredictable because the old app continues to function until it needs to renew its token (I think about 30-45 days from the last time it renewed - I never really paid attention to the expiration time, but I know it was pretty long). I suspect old versions of the Tesla app are no longer able to log in to the system after this change.