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iOS 15 - phone key keeps disconnecting

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This is getting old. It's more miss than hit now that I updated to iOS 15.0.1 -- very frustrating to say the least.

When it isn't working - I need to open the Tesla app and contact the car before it will let me use the phone as a key!

Also as an oddity -- this morning after I parked - it did not lock the doors -- but 45min later as I walked by the car, it locked the doors while the phone was in my pocket -- I was about 30 feet from the car as I passed by... returned to the car 15min later and the car acted as if nothing were out of the ordinary!
 
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I am not sure if the issue is related to iOS 15, but I never had my phone key not recognized by my MY. After updating my phone to iOS 15, it keeps disconnecting ALL the time, so there is at least a coincidence here. I was running a few errands today, when I got into the car (which BTW was opened by my phone) the car refused to start and asked for the key card. While driving, with my phone on the wireless charging plate, the car gave me the "Phone key not detected, won't be able to restart this drive after stopping" or something similar - multiple times. I could fix it by putting my phone into airplane mode and then back on normal. Just Bluetooth off and on didn't fix it.

Has anyone experienced the same?
Yesterday, same problem, same solution
 
Yesterday, same problem, same solution
I had a similar issue shortly after getting my M#LRAWD. As a retired I.T. person, I usually think "I got this", but I didn't really. my best solution was to start fresh when I had the time to park for an hour.

I first blew everything out (app, key, BT) and first started by connecting my iPhone 12 (iOS 15) to the BT of the car. I then made sure to set my phone as the primary for BT before adding the Tesla app and register the phone as a "card". It has been very solid since. Oh yea, lastly added my partner's phone to BT. She had an older iPhone so no issues with the key app.
 
I had a similar issue shortly after getting my M#LRAWD. As a retired I.T. person, I usually think "I got this", but I didn't really. my best solution was to start fresh when I had the time to park for an hour.

I first blew everything out (app, key, BT) and first started by connecting my iPhone 12 (iOS 15) to the BT of the car. I then made sure to set my phone as the primary for BT before adding the Tesla app and register the phone as a "card". It has been very solid since. Oh yea, lastly added my partner's phone to BT. She had an older iPhone so no issues with the key app.
We'll have to see how long your solution lasts. Good luck.
 
There is a concept of apps running "in the background" in cell phones. When we say the app needs to be running, we don't mean it needs to be at the front end in main focus, we just mean it must not have been stopped. You can force stop apps and that would be a problem, you would have to re-launch it manually. Similarly, the operating system can suspend applications (prevent them from running in the background) if it thinks they are consuming power for no good reason. There are options to control that in the operating system, it varies per OS type, and varies per version of the operating system too.

As an example, every time I install an update to the Tesla app on my Android phone, the "phone as key" feature stops working. I need to manually launch the Tesla app ONCE, or reboot the phone. That is simply because the Tesla app must be stopped in order to perform the update, and it doesn't get auto-started after the update. Once you understand, it's pretty logical.
 
I have roughly the same issue but with a twist. iPhone X running 15.0.2 never had any problems for the last year with the phone as a key. Entering the car, app and car both indicated my iPhone is connected, but requests key be used. Tiresome I know and hopefully you have the key card on you. My issues started once I updated to Teslas 2021.32.21 software. I thought it was a phone issue at first, I did the soft restart holding down both control scroll wheels until restart to hope that solved it but alas no. So now since both of these items (iPhone and Tesla) updates were so close together not sure which is to blame. It is odd that with Tesla app open, connectivity established on app and nav screen, and in iPhones bluetooth settings there still is a key card required. Switching off bluetooth does not always solve the problem, is there a chance that between the two updates that a problem has occurred?
 
There is a concept of apps running "in the background" in cell phones. When we say the app needs to be running, we don't mean it needs to be at the front end in main focus, we just mean it must not have been stopped. You can force stop apps and that would be a problem, you would have to re-launch it manually. Similarly, the operating system can suspend applications (prevent them from running in the background) if it thinks they are consuming power for no good reason. There are options to control that in the operating system, it varies per OS type, and varies per version of the operating system too.

As an example, every time I install an update to the Tesla app on my Android phone, the "phone as key" feature stops working. I need to manually launch the Tesla app ONCE, or reboot the phone. That is simply because the Tesla app must be stopped in order to perform the update, and it doesn't get auto-started after the update. Once you understand, it's pretty logical.
Yep, this is what is going on. Tesla just released 4.2 of the iPhone app. Let's hope they fixed something so that IOS doesn't kill the app.
 
The thing is, I do not think that applications can bypass the operating system mechanisms that save battery. If they could, all apps would do that, especially the semi-malicious ones. I think the only course of action is for each user to go in their settings and configure those mechanisms so the Tesla app is as free as possible to run. I don't own an iPhone so I cannot say exactly what needs to be done there. Also, as each OS version brings new mechanisms, any guide would become obsolete at each update.
 
I have been using Bluetooth accessories forever (started with dongles way before Bluetooth became mainstream) and my observation spanning many, many generations of Bluetooth on all kinds of devices using various operating systems, hardware, software, etc. is that Bluetooth as a technology has never been truly reliable, period. Sometimes things connect, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they disconnect and sometimes act in random or odd ways. Sometimes my BT headset just will not connect to my computer no matter what until I restart my computer.

Even though it's a decades old technology which had plenty of time to mature and work the kinks out, that never happened. My top of the line expensive BT headsets sometimes refuse to connect, or get confused and I have to go to menus and settings to manually connect them. My Bluetooth smart home accessories work almost all the time... but not 100% of the time.

The traditional RF key fobs of my Mercedes never failed to open or close my car. Ever. Same experience with every other car I ever owned - never a problem. What that tells me is that there are wireless technologies that are close to 100% reliable, but Bluetooth is not one of them.

I think that, sadly, Bluetooth in 2021 is STILL a damn experiment rather than a reliable connectivity standard. And I'm pretty sure that most (if not all) of the problems discussed here are due to the nature of Bluetooth, and not strictly speaking the fault of Tesla, Android, Apple or any other manufacturer using them - they are stuck with it because it's the most popular. Of course manufacturers can find ways around it and some hardware and software implementations are better than others, but nothing can change the fact that the Tesla app uses Bluetooth as its foundation which is inherently less than reliable.
 
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I think you're right, and my bluetooth (for calls and media) connection between my phone and my Tesla sometimes doesn't auto-connect either. The thing is, the Tesla app must work with the possibilities of the cell phones. They offer internet connectivity, bluetooth (and LE) as well as NFC. A key fob can implement whatever communication protocol it wants, it comes with its own hardware.
 
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The thing is, I do not think that applications can bypass the operating system mechanisms that save battery. If they could, all apps would do that, especially the semi-malicious ones. I think the only course of action is for each user to go in their settings and configure those mechanisms so the Tesla app is as free as possible to run. I don't own an iPhone so I cannot say exactly what needs to be done there. Also, as each OS version brings new mechanisms, any guide would become obsolete at each update.
Apps can be manually configured to do this on Android. I did it on my Galaxy S21. I have not found a way on IOS.
 
Silly question. I just went from years of using Android devices to the new iPhone and am having these issues. Never a problem with my Android phones and my M3. I was looking under Bluetooth and see “Device Type” for my car. Choices are Car Stereo, Headphone, Hearing Aid, Speaker or other. I chose Car Stereo, but am wondering if it should be other? Would that be messing things up?
 
iPhone 13 Pro on 15.0.2 and I have the same problem. No issues with auto locking/unlocking the car, so the car recognizes my phone for that.

When I try to drive, the car prompts me for the keycard. When I open the Tesla app it shows the keycard not connected.

The following did not work: Bluetooth off and then back on. Airplane mode on and then off.

When I completely rebooted the iPhone, the keycard shows connected. This was never an issue on iOS 14 on the 12 Pro Max. I would occasionally have a failure to auto unlock when approaching the car, but that was less than 5% of the time. Hopefully it's a software issue and Apple resolves it quickly.