My phone works perfectly 100% of the time, it is a.......

[GutsyGibbon]

I'll report in again in a week or two, or if either of us have any problems in the meantime, but both phones are looking good so far.

Speaking for myself, when it always works there's not much to dive into. On my phone it is never the signal strength. I have checked the 2.4ghz band by my garage, there is nothing unusual. On many occasions the phone connects/pairs. It is the key exchange that fails to connect.
I have done related work for a living, what TM3 has is truly bizzare, and without access to lots, we can only experiment to get this to work 100% of the time.

 

[GutsyGibbon]

and without access to lots, we can only experiment to get this to work 100% of the time.

Not lots.....duh! Connectivity LOGS. On the few instances my phone has failed to unlock it has been after I have connected my phone over Bluetooth to legacy Bluetooth devices to do file transfer, and to older Bluetooth devices/speakers. Today I rebooted my phone after connecting to a legacy Bluetooth device and it unlocked my car perfectly. Clearly, TM3 needs to cover lots of such interop testing. This has little to do with users, or signal strength.

 

[SageBrush]

Totally reasonable but I'd still argue that the car is so much more efficient than an ICE... or almost every other vehicle on the road that it's not that big of a deal.

I understand, but I don't think that way.

I have 3.78 kW of PV I cannot expand, and I want it to cover my home and cars as a net zero household. This requires pretty careful conservation and for us is *just* possible. Burning coal to cover vampire losses that add practically nothing to my quality of life is not my cup of tea. Actually, I find waste in general to be fairly offensive.

 

[slipnslider]

My phone works perfectly 100% of the time, it is a.......

Pipe dream.

 

[ahagge]

• Mine: Moto G5+, Android 7.0 - works for about 1-2 hours after a reboot, then goes to "Disconnected" state and will not reconnect without a full reboot of the phone. No amount of cycling Bluetooth, Airplane mode, etc. will bring it back. Have already ensured that the Tesla app is not set for battery optimization. Other suggestions welcome!
• Wife: Moto G (gen1), Android 5.x - usually works OK (probably 70-80% of the time). When it doesn't she uses her key, so haven't tried to troubleshoot further.

And yes, from other forums, Android phones are much less reliable, except perhaps a few Google and Samsung models.

 

[jamnmon66]

I understand, but I don't think that way.

I have 3.78 kW of PV I cannot expand, and I want it to cover my home and cars as a net zero household. This requires pretty careful conservation and for us is *just* possible. Burning coal to cover vampire losses that add practically nothing to my quality of life is not my cup of tea. Actually, I find waste in general to be fairly offensive.

Hmmm... interesting. I can see your point now. Are you off grid or just have that as a goal/belief?

 

[SageBrush]

Hmmm... interesting. I can see your point now. Are you off grid or just have that as a goal/belief?

The latter.

 

[iwannam3]

Bump, apparently no one since May has had a phone that worked 100% of the time! Has anyone ever gotten anything from Tesla on this? Tweet, service bulletin, apology from service center? Maybe if we called roadside service every time it failed they might see that as an expense and fix it or fob it!

 

[bradhs]

iPhone X.

 

[iwannam3]

iPhone X.

Great, a $999 fob replacement that also makes calls.

 

[bradhs]

Great, a $999 fob replacement that also makes calls.

A well made hardware and software platform key fob.

 

[fseir]

I have an iPhone X, and it’s not 100%. For some reason, about once a week, I’ll go to open the door, and nothing happens. The screen in the car says to use the key card. Instead, what I do, is just launch the app and hit the unlock button, and then everything seems to go back to normal again.

Can’t figure out what causes this. I never turn off Bluetooth on my phone.

It’s a minor annoyance, easily addressed by using the app, but I suppose if it ever happens during a downpour, or when I’m being chased by a zombie horde, I may feel differently.

 

[dduffey]

Wife's Android Freetel Dual REI 2 works 100% so far (not sure if available in the states).

My Nexus 5x fails often. Toggling airplane mode seems to make it work.

I do use other Bluetooth devices (ZTE watch), she does not.

 

[Twiglett]

Probably also worth mentioning firmware version.
9.999% first time success so far here with iPhone 6S+ latest regular iOS with 2918.21.9
The remaining .001% took a second go to open the door.

 

[dduffey]

For those that have intermittent issues w/ android even with the Tesla App open, try setting the "Google Connectivity Services" App to "Not optimized" in the battery optimizer:

Click path:
Settings
Battery
... (settings button top right)
Battery Optimization
Not optimized -> All apps
Scroll down select "Google Connectivity Services"
"Don't Optimize"
Done

This is on an updated Nexus 5x. Has been two days and it (may) have resolved my issues.

You can also enable developer mode and then have it list all bluetooth devices (MAC addresses). I found that when the tesla phone key stopped working the phone would not be able to see the Tesla key auth bluetooth mac address. No amount of restarting the Tesla App or turning on/off bluetooth would fix it. It would get fixed by enabling Airplane mode on/off.

So my theory is that the "Google Connectivity Services" was potentially battery optimized (put to sleep) and by enabling/disabling airplane mode restarts/wakes up the network services.

Anyway, it could have been some other setting I changed or it could be that it has worked by chance without flaw for a couple of days. Let me know if this works.

 

[shrspeedblade]

...... iPhone 7.

I've only had the cars for three days, but I need to test the keycards some time to make sure they work!

 

[Glamisduner]

In terms of working best with the Model 3, the OP would have better odds with an iPhone. All the surveys so far have shown androids have far more issues working reliably as a key.

I think your correct if this is your only requirement for a phone. However the macbook, itunes, and whole ecosystem kills that option for me. Well, until someone gives me a free macbook at least

 

[Runt8]

I think your correct if this is your only requirement for a phone. However the macbook, itunes, and whole ecosystem kills that option for me. Well, until someone gives me a free macbook at least

Not sure how long it's been since you've looked at iPhones but they are standalone devices now - you don't need iTunes for anything (and technically iTunes runs on windows but I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone ).

But if you are invested in Android then switching can be a difficult proposition, and it seems silly to chose your phone based on your car. A NFC based smartwatch solution would be a nice temporary fix instead of having to carry the keycard everywhere.

 

[Glamisduner]

Not sure how long it's been since you've looked at iPhones but they are standalone devices now - you don't need iTunes for anything (and technically iTunes runs on windows but I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone ).

But if you are invested in Android then switching can be a difficult proposition, and it seems silly to chose your phone based on your car. A NFC based smartwatch solution would be a nice temporary fix instead of having to carry the keycard everywhere.

Been a while for sure Still won't switch since I don't like their app store terms (as a software engineer event though I don't code mobile apps hah), or the dumbed down interface, or the fact that they were slowing down people devices on purpose, or using special charging cables etc, or the unlockable boot loader. I did read somewhere the new iphone will use USB-C (woohoo), but I will believe it when I see it. They would lose too much money selling dongles and adapters. I will probably recommend them to my Dad next time though, he seems to find android too complicated, KISS certainly has it's place.

 

[UZJedi]

I have a Pixel 2. Works 98% of the time... But when it hasn't worked, I used the app to unlock, not the keycard.