Hotspot unlock

[gaximus]

Hey guys,
New to the forums and new Tesla owner. I got my Tesla about a week or two ago, and had to have some minor work done, and the Tesla mobile service guy came out. I asked him (because I bought used from 3rd party, and know very little about my car) what happens if I use my phone to unlock, leave my keys at home, and part in an area without signal. He said “doesn’t matter it’ll connect to the phone with Bluetooth and still unlock. He was incorrect(proven wrong the next day, had to have my wife bring me my keys). So here is my thought. If I create a WiFi hotspot on my phone, and connect the Tesla to it, shouldn’t I be able to unlock my car even if it doesn’t have signal, but my phone does? And secondly if my phone and the car doesn’t have signal will it work across a WiFi network without internet connectivity?

 

[PCMc]

Hey guys,
New to the forums and new Tesla owner. I got my Tesla about a week or two ago, and had to have some minor work done, and the Tesla mobile service guy came out. I asked him (because I bought used from 3rd party, and know very little about my car) what happens if I use my phone to unlock, leave my keys at home, and part in an area without signal. He said “doesn’t matter it’ll connect to the phone with Bluetooth and still unlock. He was incorrect(proven wrong the next day, had to have my wife bring me my keys). So here is my thought. If I create a WiFi hotspot on my phone, and connect the Tesla to it, shouldn’t I be able to unlock my car even if it doesn’t have signal, but my phone does? And secondly if my phone and the car doesn’t have signal will it work across a WiFi network without internet connectivit

You did not state so explicitly, but I expect you have a Model S (you posted in the MS forum). Service tech comment about phone connecting directly to car via bluetooth is correct for Model 3 and Model Y, but as you found, not incorrect for Model S/X.

The phone app does not connect directly to your car. All commands have to go from your phone to Tesla server and then back to your car. That means both your phone and your car must each have a connection to the internet. Even if you have your car connected to your phone via a hotspot, but are in an area without cellular connection for your phone to Tesla server, such as in an underground parking garage, you'll be out of luck.

Just my personal opinion, but I never trust my phone to act as a key and always have my fob with me when I'm driving my Model S.

 

[gaximus]

You did not state so explicitly, but I expect you have a Model S (you posted in the MS forum). Service tech comment about phone connecting directly to car via bluetooth is correct for Model 3 and Model Y, but as you found, not incorrect for Model S/X.

The phone app does not connect directly to your car. All commands have to go from your phone to Tesla server and then back to your car. That means both your phone and your car must each have a connection to the internet. Even if you have your car connected to your phone via a hotspot, but are in an area without cellular connection for your phone to Tesla server, such as in an underground parking garage, you'll be out of luck.

Just my personal opinion, but I never trust my phone to act as a key and always have my fob with me when I'm driving my Model S.

Yes It’s a Model S. That’s kind of a bummer, my ultimate goal is to have all things through my phone, most places except mobile payment methods, and with iOS 15 mobile IDs will start to be a thing. All well, thanks.

 

[zanary]

Yes It’s a Model S. That’s kind of a bummer, my ultimate goal is to have all things through my phone, most places except mobile payment methods, and with iOS 15 mobile IDs will start to be a thing. All well, thanks.

for that you need to trade in for the new Model S Plaid or a Model 3/Y.

 

[KyleDay]

for that you need to trade in for the new Model S Plaid or a Model 3/Y.

We’ll technically it’s not just the plaid - all new S/X produced June 2021+ (plaid or otherwise) have Bluetooth phone car keys.

 

[gaximus]

for that you need to trade in for the new Model S Plaid or a Model 3/Y.

Just got this car a few days ago. Too early to upgrade.

 

[roblab]

Carrying the fob in my pocket is almost second nature. My car wakes up and turns on as I walk up, I get in, shift to reverse and back out of the garage. I never think about unlocking and never worry about locking when I get to my destination. It just works.

Of course there are people who carry "stuff" around in their pockets all the time who now have a phone added to the list, but the fob is so small. I don't have to hold it against the car or tap it by the door, nor do I have to place it just so inside the car. The fob requires no thought, which is something I'm really good at.

 

[Huachipato]

I actually had a similar idea of just using the phone and leaving the key at home. Then one day the servers were down for some reason leaving me stranded.

I just carry the key with me all the time now.

 

[PCMc]

That’s kind of a bummer, my ultimate goal is to have all things through my phone, most places except mobile payment methods, and with iOS 15 mobile IDs will start to be a thing. All well, thanks. I understand the desire, but I think you now understand that's not viable with your current Model S.

 

[swt2c]

Hey guys,
New to the forums and new Tesla owner. I got my Tesla about a week or two ago, and had to have some minor work done, and the Tesla mobile service guy came out. I asked him (because I bought used from 3rd party, and know very little about my car) what happens if I use my phone to unlock, leave my keys at home, and part in an area without signal. He said “doesn’t matter it’ll connect to the phone with Bluetooth and still unlock. He was incorrect(proven wrong the next day, had to have my wife bring me my keys). So here is my thought. If I create a WiFi hotspot on my phone, and connect the Tesla to it, shouldn’t I be able to unlock my car even if it doesn’t have signal, but my phone does? And secondly if my phone and the car doesn’t have signal will it work across a WiFi network without internet connectivity?

It seems like your first idea might be possible (although I've never tried it): connecting the car to a hotspot running on your phone.

 

[PCMc]

It seems like your first idea might be possible (although I've never tried it): connecting the car to a hotspot running on your phone.

Even with it directly connected to your phone via wifi, the communication still goes from your phone, back through internet to tesla server, and from server to your car. If you're in an underground garage where your phone does not have cellular connection, you'll still not be able to unlock the car.

I also think you'll find the car will not stay connected to your phone as a hotspot. You'll need to manually reconnect it from inside the car each time you enter.

 

[ucmndd]

It seems like your first idea might be possible (although I've never tried it): connecting the car to a hotspot running on your phone.

It certainly won’t work without cellular service. The commands to lock or unlock or do anything else are all brokered through the mothership, not directly between the car and the app.

 

[swt2c]

It certainly won’t work without cellular service. The commands to lock or unlock or do anything else are all brokered through the mothership, not directly between the car and the app.

Yeah, but in the OPs first idea, his/her phone HAS service but the car does not.

 

[PCMc]

Yeah, but in the OPs first idea, his/her phone HAS service but the car does not.

I'll admit I've not tried it, but everything I've read says that as soon as you leave the car it will disconnect from your phone hotspot and will not reconnect to it automatically. You need to manually trigger it to connect to your phone each time you enter the car.

I was referencing last comment in his post about working over wifi without internet connectivity:

if my phone and the car doesn’t have signal will it work across a WiFi network without internet connectivity?

 

[sorka]

You did not state so explicitly, but I expect you have a Model S (you posted in the MS forum). Service tech comment about phone connecting directly to car via bluetooth is correct for Model 3 and Model Y, but as you found, not incorrect for Model S/X.

The phone app does not connect directly to your car. All commands have to go from your phone to Tesla server and then back to your car. That means both your phone and your car must each have a connection to the internet. Even if you have your car connected to your phone via a hotspot, but are in an area without cellular connection for your phone to Tesla server, such as in an underground parking garage, you'll be out of luck.

Just my personal opinion, but I never trust my phone to act as a key and always have my fob with me when I'm driving my Model S.

He already said his phone has a signal, so yes that should still work.

 

[gaximus]

He already said his phone has a signal, so yes that should still work.

In theory it should work, but I’m not going to take that chance, the car uses AT&T, and I have T-Mobile, so it’s more likely that the car will have signal and I won’t. Looks like it’s best to just always carry the key with me.

 

[KArnold]

If I create a WiFi hotspot on my phone, and connect the Tesla to it, shouldn’t I be able to unlock my car even if it doesn’t have signal, but my phone does?

Yes that works.

If you have the phones wifi hotspot defined to the car, the car will connect automatically to that hotspot whenever it is in range. Assuming your phone has cellular Internet connectivity you could unlock/start your car this way.