You are correct. I think the worry is how long is it going to take Tesla to figure this out? It's been almost a year and the wait continues. If they hadn't figured this out, they should not have deprecated the USS.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
How well does phone key work compared to the old key fob?
- Thread starter cstromme
- Start date
Thanks, the delivery guy said they removed the sensors but never mentioned vision in future. Good info!
SO yesterday handsfull from grocery store, approach car trunk, nothing, struggled to reach for my phone, once I went touched the phone screen unlocked the phone, the car unlocked. The difference with the Fob, as soon as car detected the Fob, it unlocked. I am considering buying a Fob now.
The phone key should work just as good as a fob (if not better). But make sure you have set location services for the Tesla App on your phone to ALWAYS. The default is "only when using the app." In the next day or two, the phone may warn you that "Tesla" has used Location Services Xteen times in the last X days, and ask you again if you really mean Always. Be sure to say Always. With that set, it will talk to the car, when it gets close.
Last edited:
This happens to me randomly as well. Location is set to Always for the Tesla app, but I hate carrying the fob around, so I just deal with it whenever it occurs.
It's happened to me maybe twice in 4 years of ownership across 3 cars. I've heard/read it occurs more with Iphones, but there are posts that walk through fixing it on them, it's more than just setting "Always" like with a Samsung.
i’m quite the opposite - going from a 2018 to 2023 MX, I HAD to get a keyfob for the new car. So many times i’m carrying a toddler in one hand, or my older kids are running towards the car and it’s so much easier to just reach in my pocket, feel for the falcon door, double press and voila! so much easier than taking my iphone out, unlocking it, go to the tesla app, press controls, and opening the doors that way.
That being said, new key fob requires you to be much closer to the car than old keyfob. I think the new one is bluetooth.
That being said, new key fob requires you to be much closer to the car than old keyfob. I think the new one is bluetooth.
With my old 2016 MX key fob, I could open the trunk or passenger door for my wife when approaching.
With the phone key, I cannot. Passenger and trunk remain locked.
With my old 2016 MX key fob, auto open / present always worked for driver door.
With phone key, driver door unlocks but does not auto present.
I have to use phone app to unlock and open passenger door or trunk when I approach.
My app location is set to "allow only while using app" on my android samsung fold 5.
There is no "always" option.
Will buying a key fob fix this?
Quite frankly this stinks on my new 2023 refresh MX
With the phone key, I cannot. Passenger and trunk remain locked.
With my old 2016 MX key fob, auto open / present always worked for driver door.
With phone key, driver door unlocks but does not auto present.
I have to use phone app to unlock and open passenger door or trunk when I approach.
My app location is set to "allow only while using app" on my android samsung fold 5.
There is no "always" option.
Will buying a key fob fix this?
Quite frankly this stinks on my new 2023 refresh MX
I am coming from 20 MSLR with FOB to 23 MXP without FOB. The FOB is certainly more reliable with the MS. I never had any issue with the FOB, not once for the 3 years I had the MS other than replaced battery once. But, the car will tell you to replace it before it went dead. With the 23 MXP, I am using iPhone. It works great when it works. I now have the MXP for 4 months now. Few times where the car will not recognize the phone. Turn off and on the BT on the phone will quickly solve this issue. I had the issue once after SW update on the car, I had to pair the phone afterward. When changed the phone, you will need to pair it again. In summary, not reliable. You will need to carry the card key as the back up at all time. I do consider getting the key FOB. Just not yet justify the cost for the time being...
It is a setting you can change. You must turn off "Driver Door Unlock Mode" in Settings/Locks. With that feature on, only the driver door and charge port unlock passively. Turning it off, everything unlocks (it could use a better explanation in the bubble). A fob would not fix the passive part (it works the same as the Phone Key), although it would give you the ability to manually open the Falcon Wing Doors and rear hatch. But then you have to carry something extra and fish for it to manually unlock anything.
My car came with fobs, but the only time I ever use them, is when taking my car to the car wash. Easier to hand the attendant the fob, than digging my card out of my wallet.
As far as your phone is concerned, I'd put the $175 cost of the fob, toward a new phone.
Last edited:
My phone key worked great. Until it didn't. And it decided not to work when I had no cell phone coverage and was 60 miles from home, where I left the fob. That left me no options: not a great feeling. I rebooted the phone a few times, and after waiting around 20 minutes, it finally decided to work again. It only failed this one time, but that was enough to make me carry the fob everywhere since then. The phone key is a wonderful convenience, but if it isn't 100%, not good enough in my book.
That is why Tesla suggests you always carry a key card with you, as a backup for your phone. It is very rare, but there are sometimes the car will just not read the phone (who knows why, interference maybe?). It has happened to me maybe twice, in the last eighteen months.
My fob works about the same on my 2022 as it did on my 2018. Which is almost perfect.
2018 X: no card key available. Just phone key or fob. And since the phone key won't work every once in a blue moon, I now always carry fob. Card key would be more convenient to carry for those rare cases where phone key doesn't work, but not an option for me. Since the fob is so easy to accidentally press a button due to the cutesy design, a card key would be great. Not really a fan of the fob since it gets accidentally pressed all the time when in my pocket: not great to walk out to find the falcon wing doors wide open in the rain.
If you have a legacy X, this entire discussion does not apply. There is no phone key for a 2018 X. It did not become available until 2022 or newer.
So after getting our car in early May I'll share what our actual experience ending up being. So far it's been working almost perfectly. Both my wife and I use phone key exclusively, and I don't think I've even carried the key card since early June. The only times it hasn't worked perfectly it's been enough to pull the phone out of my pocket and tap the screen, and the car has usually unlocked immediately. Has happened probably 4 or 5 times to me, and a few times for my wife.
I do miss being able to tap the buttons in my pocket to open the rear doors etc. But I'm guessing they'll update the widget soon to use the new widget type that Apple introduced, so at least that should work better than it does today.
I do miss being able to tap the buttons in my pocket to open the rear doors etc. But I'm guessing they'll update the widget soon to use the new widget type that Apple introduced, so at least that should work better than it does today.
I use to have a M3P with the phone as a key. It worked most of the time but a lot of times I had to pull out my iphone and unlock my iphone and wait a few seconds for the car to open up. It was great not having to forget my car key as long as I had my phone and it was charged. I sold the M3P and got a legacy MX 75D so I have the key fob. I like the key fob, no issues with the MX when I walk up to it, it unlocks, never had a delay or issue.
Similar threads
- Question
