How dangerous to leave house with only phone key?

[Tony Hoyle]

I've never had the phone fail but always have the keycards... They don't take enough space in my pocket for it to be sensible to leave them.

 

[rnbetsy]

No issues with phone only. I do keep a card key in the back of my phone case, but I've never had to use it.

 

[Zilla91]

Or use phone NFC

Can use use the NFC on your phone?

 

[JDF90210]

Keep the card with you! better safe than sorry!

 

[spdpsba]

Got the ring, and phone. But I do carry my wallet (with the key card) most of the time.
Never had to use ring or key card!

 

[ACarneiro]

Now that I have my Model 3 a thought occurred to me yesterday... I don't always carry my wallet when I leave my house. I have an Apple Watch and iPhone, and I'm so used to using ApplePay to do contactless payments when I'm out and about that I've got out of the habit of bringing my wallet with me if I'm just out locally running errands etc. I usually bring my wallet only if I'm going on a proper day trip, or going out to a restaurant or something.

I believe the way it is supposed to work with the Tesla is that you mainly use your phone as the key, but that you keep the keycard in your wallet for emergencies. Just wondering how often people are having to use the keycard because of the phone key not working? Is the phone key failing a frequent enough thing that I'm going to be sorry if I don't keep my keycard on me, so will have to get back into the habit of bringing my wallet with me every time I leave the house again?

In my experience it is exceedingly rare for the phone key to not work...... assuming you have your phone and it's not damaged or flat!
I always carry a Tesla key fob in my pocket. Seems to be a bit faster unlocking the doors and a lot more convenient for opening the boot, bonnet and unlocking the charging cable when using non-tesla chargers (which is admittedly pretty rare).

 

[ACarneiro]

All I can say is don't get caught out in a place with no phone signal. You might be able to get into the car, but once the car wont 'start' without the key card, it can still be pretty frustrating when you have it but tucked away somewhere, or its still inside your house. Not all charge sites have good mobile signal, nor do underground car parks. And there is something about when I wash the car that can occasionally can lock me out too.

You don't need a phone signal to use the phone key unless you've been logged out of the app for whatever reason.

 

[MrBadger]

You don't need a phone signal to use the phone key unless you've been logged out of the app for whatever reason.

You don't to enter the car but I've been unable to 'start' the car on two occasions using the phone even though I had just re-entered the car using phone - I had been sitting in the car whilst supercharging then got out to unplug from supercharger (at Fleet on at least two separate occasions). After reopening the car door the car flatly refused to respond to the phone constantly prompting to use key card. Had I not had key card on me I would have been unable to drive. Fleet Supercharger is notorious for poor mobile phone signal - no point relying on the 5 minutes to supercharging complete message - its too easy not to have signal to receive it. On one occasion, Tesla mobile technician was there by chance on way back from Southampton, and I mentioned it to him. He said something about not moving far enough away from the car.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

The phone acts as a keycard through NFC if you have to. I'm not even sure you need the app running for that to work.

 

[MrBadger]

The phone acts as a keycard through NFC if you have to. I'm not even sure you need the app running for that to work.

Android only I believe.

 

[ACarneiro]

You don't to enter the car but I've been unable to 'start' the car on two occasions using the phone even though I had just re-entered the car using phone - I had been sitting in the car whilst supercharging then got out to unplug from supercharger (at Fleet on at least two separate occasions). After reopening the car door the car flatly refused to respond to the phone constantly prompting to use key card. Had I not had key card on me I would have been unable to drive. Fleet Supercharger is notorious for poor mobile phone signal - no point relying on the 5 minutes to supercharging complete message - its too easy not to have signal to receive it. On one occasion, Tesla mobile technician was there by chance on way back from Southampton, and I mentioned it to him. He said something about not moving far enough away from the car.

That's really interesting, I've experienced that once or twice over the last 3 years but because my app had been logged out for whatever reason.
Thank you for the heads-up, I guess it further reinforces my decision of buying the key fob

 

[RedMod3]

I've twice could not open the car with the phone key. I used to have a phone case with room for two cards, but while the iPhone 11Pro charged through a Spigen case that holds 2 cards, the iPhone 13Pro does not, so I now usually use my phone with a case that doesn't hold cards.

I always carry a card key with me.

 

[khyros]

I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately. I don't usually even carry my house keys anymore as I have a smart lock that I open with my apple watch. My biggest concern is my iphone's battery dying on me, which is happening quite a lot lately.

 

[Dilly]

No issues with phone only. I do keep a card key in the back of my phone case, but I've never had to use it.

All your eggs in one basket. Convenient, but lose your phone and you‘re in trouble.

 

[rnbetsy]

All your eggs in one basket. Convenient, but lose your phone and you‘re in trouble.

True. But I'm 36, never lost a phone or wallet.

There's always the spare key..

 

[HenryT]

Buy a spare keycard, and place it under the liner in your shoe.

Go 100% James Bond... or go home

I tried that but I struggle to get my foot high enough to open the door these days.

(Don't even ask about getting it onto the centre console)

 

[MrT3]

Quick question regarding NFC, if a phone battery is dead can it still be uses to access and drive the car?

No.

The iphone has a reserve power mode for NFC once the main phone dies but iphone doesn’t act as a generic NFC device, only supports CarKey which Tesla doesn’t. I’ve not heard of an Android phone having the same reserve power feature, even if there is one, it only gives you a few more hours before it stops working.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

True. But I'm 36, never lost a phone or wallet.

Narrator: Ironically, the very next day they lost their phone and wallet.

 

[Irata]

The phone acts as a keycard through NFC if you have to. I'm not even sure you need the app running for that to work.

The app does need to be running.

Tesla currently use some propriety authentication over NFC, which the app participates in and hence is needed. NFC devices simply announce themselves and this tells the phone which app to use. No app, no key.

Some phones will launch the app when needed, giving the illusion that the app did not need to be running. Unfortunately, different makes/models of phones all do different things, so the only way to know for sure is to try on your own phone.

 

[Nick77]

I'm on Android and have NFC on all the time.

So if I turn off Bluetooth but still have the Tesla app running, I can open the car by tapping the pillar like the key card?

I'll have to try it.