Model S: 2019.28.3.1 -- Web browser completely dead

[tinm]

I had hopes that this software release would finally fix what's been a useless web browser app in my 2013 Model S, but no, it's deader than a doornail now.

Literally: white screen, just the URL entry box at the top, I type in any domain: tesla.com, google.com, yahoo.com, nytimes.com, anything -- and nothing happens. Screen stays white, the app is completely hosed.

App became useless with the arrival of V9 last year, with a drastic speed dropoff, to the point where nytimes.com or even Tesla's own home page took minutes to load. Now, everything is just dead.

Anyone else seeing this? How is this acceptable?

I would much rather have access to the browser than any games, none of which I have ever played nor have any interest in playing. If I want games I got my iPhone. But it was sometimes handy to access websites like stock pages, to be able to glance at charts, etc.

More functionality in the car gone. Question is, gone for good, or what?

 

[analRaviOli]

I was saying the same thing yesterday while i was parked, wanted to check out some news ( phone in pocket ) on my big screen of my car but to noavail nothing worked. i tried about 10 websites. I even rebooted the car and still nothing. It works when it feels like it honestly its about 90% non functional on my 2014 P85+. When it works, its pretty decent.

 

[BrokerDon]

The Tesla web browser in our 2015 P85D with 4G LTE cellular and AP1 definitely stops communicating sometimes requiring a soft reset using the steering wheel buttons to get it going again. Frustrating since I use the Tesla browser all the time running Tesla Waze to alert me of speed traps. Tesla Traffic Incidents and Information

I found that turning the Tesla navigation Traffic OFF helped the browser's speed and might keep it alive before needing to be reset.

Add me to the list of AP1 users who REALLY need Tesla to fix the web browser DEATH issue. Not fair for those of us who paved the way for the Model 3... and Tesla's survival.

 

[NickleNiceness]

have you tried turning sketchpad on ? There is no logical reason it works, but open sketchpad and then open browser and it should load

 

[kavyboy]

I had a neighborhood power outage yesterday. With no cell phone and dead UPS's, I went to the car to get info about when the power might be back. I keep Google search as my landing page, so that was already displayed. Searches just displayed the white screen. I did a reboot, and I was able to get the browser working, but very slowly.
I'm on version 2018.14.2, so it wasn't due to a firmware version update in my case. Maybe it was something network-related.

 

[tinm]

fired up sketchpad, then tried browser again

browser still kaput

 

[tinm]

I rebooted the MCU.

I now see nytimes BUT lots of images missing, and if I try to scroll even a tiny bit down, entire homepage turns white, and that's it, browser kaput again... lighter pages, like Google search results, now work again, but all in all the browser feels very fragile.

Of course, that's how it's been since V9. So I guess it's still useless.

 

[Bodyhauler]

I haven't been able to use my web browser for a while now also. But they must've upgraded something over night because this morning while waiting in line at the bank I tried my web browser and it came on quickly. And it browsed fast through web sights. Yay!

 

[Phlier]

I rebooted the MCU.

I now see nytimes BUT lots of images missing, and if I try to scroll even a tiny bit down, entire homepage turns white, and that's it, browser kaput again... lighter pages, like Google search results, now work again, but all in all the browser feels very fragile.

Of course, that's how it's been since V9. So I guess it's still useless.

I wonder if you could call support and have them push just the browser software to you? No idea if it's possible or not, but might be worth a shot.

Bummer of a bug. : /

 

[scottm]

The browser is pretty much a non-app in early cars now. There's a button for it.. but often does nothing... or if it does... loads so slowly and responds to input so slowly that it's useless.

It used to be a decent feature in it's day.

The problem with Tesla is not durability of the electric car driving bits, it's the absolute decay of the software eroding the car.

 

[brkaus]

Use your phone. Much faster & better experience.

In the car, try turning off traffic in the map before opening the browser.

 

[scottm]

It's gotta be something consuming the CPU1 that's not leaving enough juice for the browser.

Good tip on the traffic thing... I'll try anything to rejuve the browser to some usable degree, in times of need... you need it.

I'll see if there's a correlation on my car between those two features.

@brkaus Is this just a "try" suggestion, or did you have actual luck in doing so?

 

[brkaus]

@scottm I played with traffic and the sketch pad in the background. Both tricks I’ve read here. Nothing scientific but some combination and google.com did load (2017 S100D AP2.0)

 

[scottm]

Farting around with show traffic on nav, seems to make no difference..

One day, the browser was working again with reasonable input/reaction and paint times. I thought, awesome! traffic off is the ticket! but...
The next day, same old white screen of death. Traffic on or off. Didn't matter.

You never know if it's going to be a good day, ho-hum day, or absolutely gong-show day with browser function.

Traffic settings on/off didn't budge it off white screen.

I'll play with sketch pad next.

 

[DaveBC]

I have the white screen on a regular basis on the browser. I don’t expect the browser to be fast but the white screen is a pain. Sites I use are TeslaFi, Tesla Waze and ABRP. When it stops working I’ve gotten in the habit of forcing a reboot on the scroll wheels when I park at my destination. That way it’s ready to go when I get back in the car. Can’t be great for the MCU. Maybe next time I’ll try service > power off.

Traffic off and/or sketchpad behind seem to help the browser responsiveness when it’s working but won’t bring it back to life for me once it goes white screen. I’m currently on 2019.32.2.1. Is there a thread dedicated to the white screen issue?

 

[BrokerDon]

fired up sketchpad, then tried browser again

browser still kaput

Did you drag your finger on the Sketchpad screen to create a graphic before closing Sketchpad by clicking on the Tesla logo at the top of the screen? This seemed to be the "secret sauce" to get our 2015 P85D AP 1.0 (firmware version 2019.32.2.1) browser working again:

1. turn Traffic OFF in Navigation
2. touch the Tesla logo
3. open Sketchpad
4. drag a finger to draw something
5. touch the Tesla logo to close Sketchpad
6. refresh browser... and wait for it to redraw the webpage it is on (my default is Tesla Waze)
7. turn Traffic back ON in Navigation

My awesome "copilot" wife has this down... and knows when I ask for a "Browser Refresh" this is what to do.

Now if Tesla could fix this issue... or add a "Browser Refresh" button which did this for us so we don't have to become a distracted driver to do all these steps.

 

[3mp_kwh]

It used to be a decent feature in it's day.

It used to be a decent feature, before Tesla went into one of our cars and broke it.

 

[scottm]

Did you drag your finger on the Sketchpad screen to create a graphic before closing Sketchpad by clicking on the Tesla logo at the top of the screen? This seemed to be the "secret sauce" to get our 2015 P85D AP 1.0 (firmware version 2019.32.2.1) browser working again:

1. turn Traffic OFF in Navigation
2. touch the Tesla logo
3. open Sketchpad
4. drag a finger to draw something
5. touch the Tesla logo to close Sketchpad
6. refresh browser... and wait for it to redraw the webpage it is on (my default is Tesla Waze)
7. turn Traffic back ON in Navigation

My awesome "copilot" wife has this down... and knows when I ask for a "Browser Refresh" this is what to do.

Now if Tesla could fix this issue... or add a "Browser Refresh" button which did this for us so we don't have to become a distracted driver to do all these steps.

Oh my God the fact you figured this out is amazing... I'll have to try on my car and see if it works for me.

 

[BrokerDon]

Oh my God the fact you figured this out is amazing... I'll have to try on my car and see if it works for me.

Well it didn't work the other day for no good reason so I had to reboot the MCU to get Tesla Waze working again... But normally this has been successful.

YMMV

 

[tinm]

Was dreading installing new firmware but finally relented, hoping the browser would work.

LOL.

Browser still dead in 2019.12.32.8.

And now the RELEASE NOTES shows just a white window, no content in it.

What other company would ship crap like this? I paid for a Tech Package when I bought the car, and that included a Web Browser. Which has now not worked in over a year.

WTF, Tesla?