Vendor Dashboard for Tesla - the better app for your Tesla

[SG57]

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Hey all,

Here is the official TMC forum thread for the Tesla Android app, Dashboard for Tesla, on the Play Store.

Background

This project was conceived a few months back while waiting for the delivery of my Model S (which I now have and adore ♥). I was excited to learn I could be controlling my expensive new gadget from my phone. Like all new Tesla buyers stuck waiting, I spent many hours pouring over the details but ultimately felt let down by what Tesla's official app has to offer after their 4+ years.

There is immense potential laying dormant here, a state-of-the-art, always-on-and-connected vehicle should be fully exploited. We should be able to schedule automatic behaviors for a "smarter" Smart Preconditioning, monitor protect cabin temperatures from extreme cold and heat, configure alerts and notifications for everything from speeding to leaving the area, speed clocking with graphical analysis for 0-60, 0-100, 1/4 mile, and log all vehicle data to our own local or remote databases for security and analysis purposes for tracking battery degradation or optimal performance.

The capacity is there, we just need an app that can do it. I figure since Tesla won't do it, I'll just do it.


Privacy

Your sensitive information is of our utmost concern and has been catered towards from the very beginning. Read our full privacy policy for complete details on what private data we collect and how we keep it extremely secured..


About Me

I'm a full-stack developer specializing in mobile development (particularly Android) and this project was originally the result of 3 months of my spare time starting July 2016 with the first release October 2016. I'm driven by my own desire to do awesome things with my own Model S. I have amazing things in mind, I hope you stick around to see it. You can find more information about me on my site.


Features & More Info

Official Website

Support Forum

Support Email

Privacy Policy

Play Store


Free Trial

Everyone can download the app for free and try out the demo mode where you can explore the app in full operating on fake, virtual Teslas with no Tesla account sign in required.

If you're interested in trying out the app in full on your actual Tesla vehicle, sign in to take part in our free 1-Week Full Access Promotion.


FAQ

• Payment Models - One-Time & Subscription

• iOS Support

• Data Logging

Screenshots

View more screenshots here

Spoiler: Screenshots

 

[tliving]

Nice job! Looks great. I don't use Android (iOS user) but it's great to see some great looking apps get developed for the Android platform too.

 

[davidc18]

Looks nice but the cost is a show stopper.

 

[davidc18]

Quick question. With you app, can I set a temperature and have the car stay at that temp indefinitely? I have to park outside in the Miami sun and would like to set a max temp for the day. This I would pay for. Thanks in advance.

 

[BerTX]

I applaud your effort. I won't do a subscription for any software -- don't approve of the concept, sorry. I don't lease cars, and certainly not software.

The only thing I see that might be of use to me is the "complete climate control", but since you don't define that feature, I'm not sure even that is worth a fee to me.

 

[GTIceman]

I also think this looks like it has a lot of promise and thank you for creating something. I think I probably like it better in some aspects than Induction. However, I will not pay a subscription fee for software.

 

[SG57]

Hey all, new release out today with some neat new features. View the original post for an update and read below for more details.

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Camper Mode

A must-have for snoozing in your Tesla. You can now keep the HVAC running indefinitely with the car off.

Ordinarily, your Tesla will automatically shut off its HVAC system after 30 minutes of running without interaction if the car is off. This is to protect your battery from draining to empty if you should forget to turn the HVAC off remotely. However if you plan to spend the night in your Tesla, you may want to keep the HVAC system running all night.

With Camper Mode, you can do just this with peace of mind your battery charge is safe by configuring it to automatically turn off camper mode when the car's battery drops below a set percent.

This feature works by automatically ensuring the HVAC system is on every 15 or so minutes. As long as your device and Tesla maintain internet connectivity, feel free to close the app, or sleep your device and Camper Mode will still function while respecting your device's battery waking it up as little as possible.

Speed Clocking with Graphical Analysis & Data Export

An exclusive, one-of-a-kind feature for your Tesla. You can now record, track, graph, analyze, and export raw data for your speed clock times for various scenarios: 0–30 mph, 0–60 mph, 0–100 mph, and ¼ mile.

This feature works by using the already available speed and location telemetry data of your vehicle to track and calculate your times accurately. You may export all the raw telemetry data for your times to a CSV file for other uses.

The analysis of your times and the respective data are presented with an interactive graph allowing you to dynamically plot each data component collected against one another - speed, distance, time, power, etc.

Next Up...

• Cabin Temperature Protection - protect against extreme heat and cold of your Tesla at all times by keeping the internal temperature within your desired range

 

[davidc18]

The app is looking better. I wish Tesla would enable these features. I am looking forward to seeing what you enable next.

 

[Mattzilla]

Like others have said, I applaud you for your work. The app looks magnificent. I just messed with demo mode and I'm pretty much sold on the functionality.

However, also like others, I do not believe in subscription models.

If you ever change this to a pay-once-and-done, you'll gain at least one customer.

 

[Akikiki]

Great. I hope you get a lot of people using it.
Your comment about AC running too long? How about an option to set a local time for the AC to turn itself off, like 06:00 am when sleeping in the car. Just an idea.

 

[CmdrThor]

To everyone who does not believe in subscription models for software, you won't like what is coming because that is the future.

That being said, $5/mo is a pretty absurd price when similar apps have a $10 one time fee. I bought Remote S for iOS for $10 and love it. I'd be willing to pay $10/year or $1/mo for it if it were subscription based.

 

[SG57]

Thanks for the kind words all.

@Akikik Good idea! I see value in being able to automatically turn off Camper Mode if your car battery drops too low (currently supported), as well as your suggestion- turn off at a set time. They aren't mutually exclusive, so it'd give greater peace of mind to turn off if the battery drops below X% OR at ? am/pm. I'll add it to the list for the next release, shouldn't take long.

@Mattzill , thanks for your time, the demo mode is pretty fleshed out, glad you gave it a shot. Only thing you can't test out is the Summon functionality (yet), but trust it works safely, it's well vetted and incredibly stable (I've been testing the hell out of it on my car for months). It supports Standard and Continuous modes as configured in the car's settings, even has a cute heartbeat vibration.

I understand people's apprehension towards a subscription-based model, but the one-time-payment model is not sustainable in the future. It's a necessary evil going towards the operating costs of the great ideas that are in the works. I'm passionate about what's in store, I'm always at work to establish the feeling you're getting what you pay for.

 

[supratachophobia]

Very nicely done. How would your app differ from Energi and how it functions (is it simliar API access)? Also, have you been able to do anything about the long connection times with Android?

Edit: Does camper mode work while being plugged in; both supercharger and Level II?

I wouldn't choose the subscription model for myself, but if you charged a reasonable (more expensive is ok) amount, I'd really like to give it a shot.

Thanks for your hard work.

 

[supratachophobia]

Like others have said, I applaud you for your work. The app looks magnificent. I just messed with demo mode and I'm pretty much sold on the functionality.

However, also like others, I do not believe in subscription models.

If you ever change this to a pay-once-and-done, you'll gain at least one customer.

Agree about subscriptions. I understand the motivation to continue to develop with a known income. However, software like this will reach a point where you have all the features you have so with the exception of Tesla changing something that breaks his app, I don't see the value as an end-user. However, if he had a "lifetime subscription" rate that was reasonable, I'd heavily consider that.

Edit: In fact, if he had something like a "founders package" that offered the app for a one-time fee and then sold those for the next 30-60 days to build up his user-base, and then switched to subscription, that might work out even better for him. That way, everyone would know the subscription was coming if they didn't get on the bandwagon, and he'd have a ton more people hawking his product.

 

[SG57]

@supratachophobia - thanks for the kind words and many great questions! I don't have experience with Energi, however reading the description and features, there are many differences. The main one being Dashboard for Tesla is for Android-only currently, where I believe Energi is iOS-only (correct me if I'm wrong). An iOS build is possible in the far future, but for now I'm focusing on Android packing all the features I can. Energi doesn't look to provide live telemetry data readings, or speed clocking, or camper mode, or a demo mode, few others (again correct me if I'm wrong).

As for API access, the latest customer reviews state the app Energi's API usage is broken currently, so I can't tell you if it uses the same APIs I do. I can tell you I am making use of most every API endpoint we currently know of. As new ones are discovered/added, I will be adding functionality to make use of them. All network traffic in and outgoing from the app is securely sent over HTTPS, some even certificate pinned.

As for long Android connection times, I don't experience that in my app however I have in the official, sometimes the official simply won't load. Also, make sure you turn on the "Always Connected" setting in your Tesla's settings, this will dramatically speed up connection times to the car for a negligible hit on battery life. This made a HUGE impact.

I can't attest to Energi's network traffic but Dashboard for Tesla's network traffic is designed to be as minimalist as possible thereby lite on data usage and battery usage. My philosophy is you should always know (within reason) what/when network traffic is occurring. To put it in comparison, the official Tesla app is incredibly greedy (read: sloppy) with its network traffic, it shotguns requests in such large batches and so frequently even while idling I can't believe Tesla's QAs didn't catch the battery life hit or mobile data usage. Their streaming API traffic is nice and efficient though, kudos there Tesla. I use Dashboard for Tesla myself as a customer too, I'm right there with you guys wanting an efficient, fast, reliable, simple, functional app.

Camper mode can be used agnostic of the state of your vehicle. As long as your Tesla and your device have internet connectivity and the climate can be turned on, trust it'll work. Whether you're charging, supercharging, disconnected, driving, parked, etc. doesn't matter.

The "founders package" is a nice concept, but I feel after 60-days time passes the same subscription-based model apprehension will rear its head again. I don't want to waver here, either I stay subscription-based model, or I go the free-with-ads + paid-ad-free model route. The latter is not sustainable long term for the features I have coming up.

Perhaps the idea of a subscription will feel more respectable when you can log your data securely to a server autonomously and your data can be served up at any time and made accesible through the app or through the web. I promise there are some great ideas being realized just around the corner worth your $5. Perhaps I'm being naive and bias here, but I feel a subscription model is justified currently given the available options for Android are both limited and lacking where I'm dedicated and developing, again very bias.

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Sorry for that wall of text.

Here's an all-access code that allows you to sign-in for free without a subscription valid Friday (today) only: 4803
To enter, touch-and-hold the sign-in button for 3 seconds. Be sure to update to the latest build, 1.09.

Cheers

 

[jpcarreiro]

The app functionally looks good, but it's quite slow.
Switching between screens shows the Loading animation most of the time, taking a couple of seconds or more. ( I'm on Android 7.1 on a Pixel XL, so not a slow phone)

The official app is annoyingly slow to start ( if it doesn't open on the first 10 seconds, I close it and try again), but after being open it's quite snappy.

 

[GTIceman]

I agree about a deal for initial adopters, but I do see subscription as the way of the future. Many subscription applications do have lifetime options as well and I think that would be solid for a 30 day run. Just so many options out there right now.

I continue to applaud your work. I suggested this privately to the developer who has been super responsive but I would like a dark mode. Also the sunroof seems to work in reverse of how the car displays the percentages.

My other issues is a stylistic one. I would love if you could come up with a better way of shoring the doors being open or closed rather than those boxes.

 

[supratachophobia]

50 bucks for a lifetime subscription, Today only?

 

[Xenius]

Checked out the demo mode, seems a pretty good app. But to me, I already bought Induction, which I now own, and it does everything I need.

Your costs are too high for the services rendered, great looking app though. Will stick with Induction for now.

 

[FerraraZ]

First off congrats and thank you for developing on Android. I don't think there's enough love for that platform with these cars. I purchased Remote S on iOS and with the $10 price tag, I was happy to do it. Seeing people complain about the price early on in this thread made me think it was a similar situation and not bother me at all. After looking through the site I hate to say it but I agree with them. I would love to just pay an upfront fee and not go the subscription route for a mobile app. I understand you have costs but it'd be great to have a baseline version and a one time fee. I don't need camper mode through a mobile app, I'd prob. use that once in my entire life.