99.9% of the time I have never had a problem with my iPhone as a key. If I do have a problem it just takes a few seconds for the car to recognize the phone and then the door will open. I never want to own another key fob in my life. And why fill your pocket with a bulky fob when you can use the keycard?
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I’ll get roasted but here goes anyway
- Thread starter Johnny Mac
- Start date
So many people don't understand the app has to be open in the foreground or background and your car selected for this to work. I think this accounts for a majority of the issues. If you force close the app, until you open it again, it will never open your car.
Great idea, that’s one of the things I was wondering about—how they would manage to not lose the card if they are unable to hang it in their key box. Hopefully that gizmo does the trick.
That’s what I thought too until today, but I dropped my car off at tesla. Then took the Uber back home. And couldn’t get in. Damn I’ve gotten spoiled not taking keys with me and today it bit me in the ass. Until my phone can open my house which is probably some Something it can do, if I figured it out I probably still need to think about keys.
sduck
Mr. Duck
Actually this isn't the case (or at least wasn't the case when I was using my phone as a key). Once you have it running correctly all you need is bluetooth on and the car bluetooth connection active - if it is, it doesn't matter if the app is open in the foreground or background, you can force close it or anything. Please note that I've been using the fob for several months now, they may have changed things since then.
I threw away my beeper, and started being notified by my cell phone instead, since about 16 years ago. Some days, I still walk out of the house and tap my belt to be sure I have my beeper! It takes a while to lose old habits.
It's always been required to be running in foreground or background. At least if you want to be able to unlock your car.
With our iPhone 8 and 8+, we had no problems until a recent software upgrade. My wife’s phone is still fine (same OS version), but mine is intermittent—fine fir a few weeks, then requires that I START to open the app.
First time this happened, I disconnected and reconnected phone and also rebooted phone and our Model 3, and then no problem.
Annoying to have to do this again, but worth fir the no fob freedom.
Early on I had some connection issues with my iPhone 6. Since I upgraded a year ago I haven't had a single problem. Works every time. So why waste $150 & have something else to haul around?
Zero problems with my 3 year old Galaxy S8. Works every single time - although one time it did take ~2 seconds for the door to open instead of the nearly-instant open. I also enabled NFC on my phone so I can use the phone on the door pillar for when I want to quickly lock instead of "walk away".
My phone automatically reboots every Wednesday while I sleep to keep the OS clean and happy. Don't know if that keeps things working smoother or not.
Is there any general consensus on whether the problems tend to be phone-related vs. vehicle-related? Sounds like some people have weaker BLE signal than others (having to take the phone out of their pocket)
My phone automatically reboots every Wednesday while I sleep to keep the OS clean and happy. Don't know if that keeps things working smoother or not.
Is there any general consensus on whether the problems tend to be phone-related vs. vehicle-related? Sounds like some people have weaker BLE signal than others (having to take the phone out of their pocket)
Yes, something happened with either iOS or with the Tesla app. I updated the Tesla app a couple weeks/months ago and it crashed on startup. I had to delete it and re-make the phone key, and roughly speaking it hasn't been the same since.
I got a lot of warnings from Apple about "this device is using your location", which I agreed to. They come once a week / several times a week so I'm hesitant to ever delete the app again.
Is there another thread about this problem? I assume that the fault is with Apple/Tesla and am hoping that it will someday start working again as it once did. Specifically, the car asks for the key card, but pressing the power button on the iPhone 6s seems to activate the bluetooth.
sduck
Mr. Duck
Jonathantuba
Member
The model 3 opening with the iPhone I see as one advantage it has over the S and X. When I use the wife’s model 3, I enjoy not having to have a key fob in my pocket, like I do driving my X.
But whatever works for you.
But whatever works for you.
That’s not true. my app stayed closed all the time and it worked flawlessly and then it stopped working that way and that’s when I purchased the fob because I cannot keep my app open all the time I am too OCD and close my apps out by habit.
Jonathantuba
Member
I just leave my key ring in the car during the day concealed in the center console and can move about with just my phone on my person
BluestarE3
Active Member
Had that happen to me a few days ago when my wife and I returned to the parking garage after an evening at the theater. However, it took me more than 10 seconds of pulling on the trunk lid and doors handles and having HAL wink at me before it finally dawned on me that my phone was still in Airplane Mode. After that realization, it was a quick fix. Definitely a "senior moment".
Other than these occasional user-error incidents, the phone-as-key has been reliable for me. I do keep a key card in my wallet and have used it on occasions when I got into the car and had it time-out because I spent too much time messing around with stuff before driving off. Between these two methods, I haven't felt the need for the addition of a key fob; however, i'm not going to "roast" or chastise anyone who prefers or finds it necessary to use one. It's good to have options and people should use what works for them.
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