Faster connections from Tesla App?

[sleepydoc]

I saw the story linked below indicating Tesla is working on a way to have the app connect to the car more quickly. This would be awesome - not only is it so slow that I'm most of the way out to my car by the time it connects, If I try to connect then leave the app to do something else on my phone it seems to cancel the connection. I've taken to opening the app, hitting the climate button and just leaving my phone turned on while I do other things. It works but it's a rather clumsy setup.

Tesla app may load vehicle data instantly in an upcoming update

 

[gx9901]

It would be great if the app connection happens more quickly, but as-is, I believe it's still a lot better than most other car apps. I only have personal experience with my wife's Volvo C40, but their app has barely any functionality and you are kind of guessing when it is connected. I will soon be able to test out the Audi app on my mom's new e-tron, but from what I've read the Audi app seems to be a bit of a disaster.

 

[sleepydoc]

It would be great if the app connection happens more quickly, but as-is, I believe it's still a lot better than most other car apps. I only have personal experience with my wife's Volvo C40, but their app has barely any functionality and you are kind of guessing when it is connected. I will soon be able to test out the Audi app on my mom's new e-tron, but from what I've read the Audi app seems to be a bit of a disaster.

Yeah, I don't have experience with any other apps/brands other than Tesla so I can't say if it's good or bad. From other posts on TMC it sounds like Ford's app ain't that great, but then, it's Ford...

I will say that even though it takes a bit to connect, it's reliable and does what it's supposed to do.

 

[Marty3SR+]

My experience has always been that it occasionally takes forever to connect, usually connects within 5-10 seconds, sometimes a little longer. Doesn't seem to depend on the phone at all, so I guess it depends on how sleepy the car is.

The change they're talking about doesn't actually connect faster, but it can return cached data faster without the need to wake up the car. So, you will see certain status info, but not actually connect so no interactive control, etc.

 

[GtiMart]

That's it, the car will upload status information to the Tesla server before going to sleep. The app will initially show that "last state" immediately. As far as I understand, the car will be told to wake up during that time. I guess the hope is that it's awake by the time you get to the command you want to send.

 

[EVRider-FL]

That's it, the car will upload status information to the Tesla server before going to sleep. The app will initially show that "last state" immediately. As far as I understand, the car will be told to wake up during that time. I guess the hope is that it's awake by the time you get to the command you want to send.

The article said that the app won’t wake the car unless you issue a command that requires it (for example, turning on the AC).

 

[GtiMart]

"likely" is used in that sentence. We'll have to wait and see. Some users will complain that turning on climate takes longer than before if they do it that way

 

[sleepydoc]

That's it, the car will upload status information to the Tesla server before going to sleep. The app will initially show that "last state" immediately. As far as I understand, the car will be told to wake up during that time. I guess the hope is that it's awake by the time you get to the command you want to send.

That would still be an improvement. Often times I’ll open the app and it will show ‘last seen yesterday’ even though I just drove it an hour ago.

For me, the biggest improvement in usability would be the ability send a command before the car wakes up. If I could open the app, tap the climate icon and then close my phone before the car wakes up it would be so much more convenient but the app doesn't seem to send the command until the car is actually awake. Even if I open up the app, then do something else and go back to the app it seems to halt the wakeup process.

 

[Marty3SR+]

That would still be an improvement. Often times I’ll open the app and it will show ‘last seen yesterday’ even though I just drove it an hour ago.

For me, the biggest improvement in usability would be the ability send a command before the car wakes up. If I could open the app, tap the climate icon and then close my phone before the car wakes up it would be so much more convenient but the app doesn't seem to send the command until the car is actually awake. Even if I open up the app, then do something else and go back to the app it seems to halt the wakeup process.

Good point. I think that now it sends the command and waits a fairly short time for a response, and if the car doesn't wake up in time, the command simply fails. I think a good way to do this might be to have a status flag like "awake/asleep". Right before the car sleeps, it could set that along with the other information; then when it gets a wake-up call, it would set the flag to awake, and any commands can check that flag before sending. If the command fails when the flag says awake, then it can abandon the command, otherwise retry.

 

[sleepydoc]

Good point. I think that now it sends the command and waits a fairly short time for a response, and if the car doesn't wake up in time, the command simply fails. I think a good way to do this might be to have a status flag like "awake/asleep". Right before the car sleeps, it could set that along with the other information; then when it gets a wake-up call, it would set the flag to awake, and any commands can check that flag before sending. If the command fails when the flag says awake, then it can abandon the command, otherwise retry.

It seems like what the app does now is send a wake up request, then hold any commands until it hears back that the car is awake. if it doesn’t hear back before the phone shuts off or before you leave the app it dumps the request.

What I can’t figure out is why it seems to take just as long for the car to wake up if you leave the app before the car‘s awake and then come back as it does the first time you tell it to wake up.

 

[Marty3SR+]

It seems like what the app does now is send a wake up request, then hold any commands until it hears back that the car is awake. if it doesn’t hear back before the phone shuts off or before you leave the app it dumps the request.

What I can’t figure out is why it seems to take just as long for the car to wake up if you leave the app before the car‘s awake and then come back as it does the first time you tell it to wake up.

Well, that's not my experience at all. I can send a command, and have it fail without ever closing the app or phone at all. And when there is a long delay for the car to wake up, it doesn't seem to take very long next time I open the app soon after.

But perhaps we're just not using the same definition of "long delay".