M3 Key Fob Pros/Cons

[stonecoldrmw]

I'm thinking of purchasing the key fob as I like the idea of having a physical 'key' as opposed to relying on the key card.

After pros and cons from those of you who have them. Would you recommend?

Clearly the price tag means I want to be sure before buying.

 

[house9]

You definitely don’t need one.

I bought one and am very happy with it.
It has 3 active clickable areas (frunk, doors, trunk). But it also allows for passive entry, so if you have it in your pocket you can just walk up and open the driver door, no need to take it out of your pocket. You can achieve the same with Bluetooth on your phone app, but from what I have read fob is more reliable.

For me personally I have regular old keys for home and office, I like having all of my keys together (don’t want to drive away without them).

The fob does not come with a key ring, it has an anchor point where you can attach one.
I ended up getting this one:
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BH7L5KD

Tesla also sells a ‘key band’
- Model 3 Key Band

 

[Roy W.]

Other than for setting up both of our iPhones as keys, I’ve never had need to use the keycards again. Both myself and the wife keep the keycards on us though, just in case.

I know I’ve read of problems, but for me the “phone as a key” has been faultless.

 

[Durzel]

I thought about getting a fob, but then thought if I put my house keys on it and stuck it in my pocket then it’s going to get scratched to hell.

So, I’d have to buy a pouch for it, and at that point I’d feel a bit silly I think.

It’s probably good though, and saves faffing about with the phone to unlock the charge cable, for starters, as well as opening the frunk (although how often do you need to do that without having already been sat in the car, realistically)

 

[Radders]

I thought about getting a fob, but then thought if I put my house keys on it and stuck it in my pocket then it’s going to get scratched to hell.

So, I’d have to buy a pouch for it, and at that point I’d feel a bit silly I think.

It’s probably good though, and saves faffing about with the phone to unlock the charge cable, for starters, as well as opening the frunk (although how often do you need to do that without having already been sat in the car, realistically)

I find the notifications bar on my android good for unlock/lock and boot and front, just be good if would have unlock charger on it as well (didn't have these functions on my old android Note phone)


Does the keyfob allow unlock charger cable?

 

[Adopado]

Did I read somewhere that sometimes you have to "wake up" the key fob by shaking it before it will connect with the car?

 

[stonecoldrmw]

You definitely don’t need one.

I bought one and am very happy with it.
It has 3 active clickable areas (frunk, doors, trunk). But it also allows for passive entry, so if you have it in your pocket you can just walk up and open the driver door, no need to take it out of your pocket. You can achieve the same with Bluetooth on your phone app, but from what I have read fob is more reliable.

For me personally I have regular old keys for home and office, I like having all of my keys together (don’t want to drive away without them).

The fob does not come with a key ring, it has an anchor point where you can attach one.
I ended up getting this one:
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BH7L5KD

Tesla also sells a ‘key band’
- Model 3 Key Band

Really useful post, ta.

I know that realiatically I probably don't need one. However I am quite a hands on kinda person and like to be able to just push a button if I can. The key fob would give me that flexibility. But I know of the phone key option too and if I could get on with that, then I may choose to do without the fob.

But it does look nice...

 

[Fackson]

I had been considering the same decision; got my car early this week (phew!) and I had decided to give using the phone a run first - it has been flawless so far - especially passive entry which has always successfully recognised whether me or my fiancé is at the drivers side and selected the profile accordingly.

However, the key fob does offer an easy way to unlock the trunk or frunk, with the phone app requiring a little more effort.

Horses for courses I think and yes - the fob looks great.

 

[Pagemakers]

Strange. I hated the key fob on my old S. Too big.

Love that I only need my phone for the 3 and never need to touch my phone at all to use (unused key card in my wallet).

 

[BluestarE3]

By the time the fob was introduced for the Model 3, I had already become accustomed to using my phone and found I didn't need to carry a separate "key" for my car after all, especially since I don't typically carry any other keys with me. I do carry a key card in my wallet as backup.

Ironically, I did buy a smartphone in anticipation of my Model 3 so I could use it as a car key. If the fob had been available at the outset, I might have opted to stay with my old flip phone and saved some money by buying the less expensive fob instead.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

I had been considering the same decision; got my car early this week (phew!) and I had decided to give using the phone a run first - it has been flawless so far - especially passive entry which has always successfully recognised whether me or my fiancé is at the drivers side and selected the profile accordingly.

However, the key fob does offer an easy way to unlock the trunk or frunk, with the phone app requiring a little more effort.

Horses for courses I think and yes - the fob looks great.

How does the frunk/boot opening work in reality? Like, how much effort is it? Button presses, etc.

 

[Fackson]

How does the frunk/boot opening work in reality? Like, how much effort is it? Button presses, etc.

Not much effort but a few steps; open app - click “controls”- click “trunk” (or “front”) - click confirm.

takes about 4-7 seconds all in, so no great hardship but with the fob you would just click the back or front twice I believe.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

Not much effort but a few steps; open app - click “controls”- click “trunk” (or “front”) - click confirm.

takes about 4-7 seconds all in, so no great hardship but with the fob you would just click the back or front twice I believe.

See thats just the thing. If im walking from shops (clearly not in the immediate future given current circumstances), with a *sugar* ton of shopping in bags etc, then i dont want to faff about pressing bits n pieces on the phone. I just haul the keys out n 1 click = done.

 

[Radders]

Not much effort but a few steps; open app - click “controls”- click “trunk” (or “front”) - click confirm.

takes about 4-7 seconds all in, so no great hardship but with the fob you would just click the back or front twice I believe.

Don't even need to open app, tesla always on my notification dropdown,

Yes keyfob would be quicker on those occasions, but most of the time phone is easy and have a hand free anyway. Personal preferences.

 

[Fackson]

Don't even need to open app, tesla always on my notification dropdown, View attachment 526944

Yes keyfob would be quicker on those occasions, but most of the time phone is easy and have a hand free anyway. Personal preferences.

Nice - I don’t think that’s an option on the iPhone (not that i’m able to find at least)

 

[Fackson]

See thats just the thing. If im walking from shops (clearly not in the immediate future given current circumstances), with a *sugar* ton of shopping in bags etc, then i dont want to faff about pressing bits n pieces on the phone. I just haul the keys out n 1 click = done.

Yup - that’s a scenario where it would be useful; personally we’ve found the phone access to be everything we need but as I said earlier, horses for courses.

 

[stonecoldrmw]

Don't even need to open app, tesla always on my notification dropdown, View attachment 526944

Yes keyfob would be quicker on those occasions, but most of the time phone is easy and have a hand free anyway. Personal preferences.

Nice - I don’t think that’s an option on the iPhone (not that i’m able to find at least)

Android FTW ;-) That's definitely doable.

 

[Pagemakers]

Watch

“Hey Siri, open the boot”

 

[LK06]

You can add the Tesla app as a widget on iPhone. You can access widgets by swiping from L to R on your first page of apps.

When the car is awake it'll give you access to Lock/ unlock, frunk and climate. It'll also tell you charging state, if on scheduled departure it'll tell you when it'll start charging.

 

[jkoya]

Did I read somewhere that sometimes you have to "wake up" the key fob by shaking it before it will connect with the car?

I've personally never had to do that, unless walking with it in my pocket or picking it up is considered shaking it. It's worked flawlessly for me so far.....