No offense, the current card/phone setup is utter *sugar*

[rdlink]

By and large Apple's BT is the most rock solid of just about any phone. But it's still BT, which is, 5 generations in still a fairly unreliable, picky and frankly immature connectivity technology.

All of the defensive posts above are comically ridiculous. Make sure your phone is in a certain pocket. Pull the phone out and hold it in a specific place. Make sure this and that setting are perfect for X phone or Y phone.

These "suggestions" and defenses just prove the OP's point. Unlocking, locking and actually starting your car shouldn't be so complicated. Period. The automotive industry solved this problem a long time ago, and the Model 3 took things backward.

Yes, the hardware, firmware, middleware, OS, radios, etc of each and every variant of each and every phone are going to yield different results. As will the state of your car. That's the point, though. Something as elementary as just locking and unlocking your car should not be left to the variances and idiosyncrasies of multiple manufacturers. It should just work, and Tesla's allowing Apple, Samsung, Google, HTC, and numerous and sundry other phone manufacturers to have so much input into the way this most basic of need/function of the car works is just dumb. And the keycard as a backup is just as dumb, if not dumber.

The fob can't come soon enough.

 

[RedModel3]

I've had BOTH the phone AND the key card fail. Bring on the fob!

 

[KenF]

Thank you.

I was not in low power mode, the phone had just been charging in the car (was close to fully charged).

I had granted the app the necessary privileges, nonetheless with location access when using as opposed to always.

The Model 3 requires phone location access of “always” to unlock reliably. Otherwise, the car has no way to know whether you (and your phone) are near the car unless you are actively using the app.

Note: Edited for clarity.

 

[Tam]

...All of the defensive posts above are comically ridiculous...

They sound like Steve Jobs who responded to complaints of poor cell phone reception when holding it in a certain way: "...avoid holding it in this way..."

It's an easy way out to skip solving a problem like other companies do when Apple could just blame it on users' errors!

 

[TeeEmCee]

I've had BOTH the phone AND the key card fail. Bring on the fob!

Yep, that’s what I was pointing out as well.

I had simultaneous failure to operate of both phone (car disappeared from app) and card (locked itself inside) within the first 6 hours of ownership.

The reasons for each such failure would only interest me if I were in charge of making such a system work (and I do build things like this for a living).

It is honestly beyond my understanding why this level of dependability is accepted by so many. There are plenty of problems we need to solve and things to concern ourselves with and this should not be one of them. It’s a problem that was solved long ago, reliably and cheaply.

 

[TeeEmCee]

That was your problem. The iPhone requires location access of “always” to function reliably. Otherwise, the car has no way to know whether you are near the car unless you are using the app.

Soooo ... “tell me where you’ve been all day and I’ll let you in to your car”.

Y’all find that acceptable?

 

[rdlink]

Soooo ... “tell me where you’ve been all day and I’ll let you in to your car”.

Y’all find that acceptable?

Exactly. Technical issue with apps on phones. Most of them on my phone who want "always" access don't get it, because I don't need them to have it unless I have actually pulled my phone out, and I am interacting with the app.

But the problem with the "with the phone in your pocket you can just walk up to the car and it will unlock" feature is that it needs to have the location information on your phone without the app actually being open. Not ideal from a privacy standpoint. The fob, however will not need to have access to my phone at all.

 

[ecarfan]

I took delivery of my Model 3 today and, now that I’m a total expert after having owned it for half a day, i can unequivocally state that the current locking unlocking methods are complete crap.

Sorry to hear you are having problems. I have had no trouble with my 3 using my iPhone X and the RFID cards. Yes, I have Location Access turned on in my iPhone. Since Tesla knows the location of my car, I have decided I am willing to trust them with knowing the location of my phone in the same way I trust Apple. It’s a trade off: convenience for potential loss of privacy. Some entities I don’t trust: for example, I don’t use Facebook or Twitter or Instagram.

They take the “just have the fob on you” requirement and turn it into “make sure you have privileges, app running, net connection, pull card from wallet, place inside, make sure you left with the card or it will lock itself inside etc”. It’s a massive downgrade. Yes, it may be cooler/fancier etc. but it’s less than 100% reliable and therefore not good enough for a primary system

a key fob will be available for the Model 3 in the near future (no official announcement yet). See
Tesla Model 3 is finally getting a key fob – first images

 

[ewoodrick]

I took delivery of my Model 3 today and, now that I’m a total expert after having owned it for half a day, i can unequivocally state that the current locking unlocking methods are complete crap.

Locking and unlocking are not supposed to be beta things and one is not supposed to be content with these methods working “most of the time”. I have read all kinds of opinions here on this subject and I cant believe the apologists. Guys, face it, it’s crap.

After one solid afternoon of ownership I can say my phone can open the car with below 50% reliability (new Apple XS) while working perfectly with all my other bluetooth devices.

I was showing the car to some friends and the damn thing locked me out with the key card inside. I then tried to unlock using the app, but the car had disappeared from the app, leaving the app useless. Luckily I had previously lowered a window and i could reach inside and hit the unlock button. At this point, the car had not recognized any unlocking device and I had opened it by reaching in from outside, yet the alarm was not triggered. Does it even have an alarm?

Over the last hour or so I’ve been walking in and out of the garage to check on the charging (first charge, making sure the wiring is good and no wires are overheating). The car locks itself and then unlocks when i grab the door handle. I have no card or phone on me, nor is the phone close by. It just unlocks. That’s plain stupid, it shouldn’t let me open the door.

That Model 3 fob can’t come soon enough.

My first recommendation is to just chill for a few days. The locking system on the Model 3 is different and takes a little getting used to, so just breathe and go with it for a little bit instead of fighting. It has not even been ONE day, so just chill.

You mention that you are checking on the car while charging and that it is opening and locking. That's a great indication that it is indeed recognizing the phone, and even while the phone may be inside, it is indeed connected. Look at the phone and see if it says connected.

For me, if my phone is asleep, I have to wake it up, that just means hitting the power switch, the car then opens.

When you get a new car, the car does indeed sometime disappear from the app for a little bit as the backend does something, it should reappear.

It really sounds as if you are moving through the learning experience with the Model 3 locking system. It can seem a little cantankerous at first, but for many it seems to just settle down. I would always suggest keeping the cad key on you, it is a fail-safe mechanism, especially if you lose/forget your phone.

Congrats

 

[neroden]

Well, the fob's coming, this is confirmed. So use the card key, and call Tesla every so often to see if the fob's ready yet.

 

[TeeEmCee]

My first recommendation is to just chill for a few days. The locking system on the Model 3 is different and takes a little getting used to, so just breathe and go with it for a little bit instead of fighting. It has not even been ONE day, so just chill.

You mention that you are checking on the car while charging and that it is opening and locking. That's a great indication that it is indeed recognizing the phone, and even while the phone may be inside, it is indeed connected. Look at the phone and see if it says connected.

For me, if my phone is asleep, I have to wake it up, that just means hitting the power switch, the car then opens.

When you get a new car, the car does indeed sometime disappear from the app for a little bit as the backend does something, it should reappear.

It really sounds as if you are moving through the learning experience with the Model 3 locking system. It can seem a little cantankerous at first, but for many it seems to just settle down. I would always suggest keeping the cad key on you, it is a fail-safe mechanism, especially if you lose/forget your phone.

Congrats

As part of modern life, we depend on a staggering amount of systems and subsystems that need to just work, without special attention or even understanding HOW they work. The mark of something well engineered is the user not even knowing it’s there.

 

[TeeEmCee]

Well, the fob's coming, this is confirmed. So use the card key, and call Tesla every so often to see if the fob's ready yet.

That being said, cars have radio tranponders for fobs. Do we know if the Model 3 has one already or are we to expect that to be a hardware retrofit?

 

[rdlink]

That being said, cars have radio tranponders for fobs. Do we know if the Model 3 has one already or are we to expect that to be a hardware retrofit?

Based on everything I've seen it's going to be BLE.

 

[nvx1977]

This is not complicated.

The fob was never intended for all of you reporting 100% success rate with your phone-as-key.

It's intended for a significant population of owners who don't have 100% success with their phones.

It's great that some people have zero issues with their phone. Continue to enjoy your experience, but try to accept that your experience isn't universal. And hope that your next phone is just as flawless. Tesla probably tried really hard to avoid having to create a fob, but they just couldn't get reliability to 100% for everyone, where it should be. That they are releasing a fob is proof that there's a serious problem with the existing solution for many people.

 

[DR61]

Just one data point: we have 900 miles on our car so far. We have iPhone 7's. Our opening/closing has been 100% reliable so far. We have not even tried the key card except to confirm function when we took delivery. The phones can be asleep in our pocket/purse and still there is 100% correct functioning without touching the phones.

The coming fob will still use Bluetooth as I understand it. I will probably get one for occasions when we loan the car to our sons.

 

[diamond.g]

Based on everything I've seen it's going to be BLE.

Yup, the FCC doc only show the 2400 MHz spectrum on it instead of the 315Mhz one other cars use.

This is not complicated.

The fob was never intended for all of you reporting 100% success rate with your phone-as-key.

It's intended for a significant population of owners who don't have 100% success with their phones.

It's great that some people have zero issues with their phone. Continue to enjoy your experience, but try to accept that your experience isn't universal. And hope that your next phone is just as flawless. Tesla probably tried really hard to avoid having to create a fob, but they just couldn't get reliability to 100% for everyone, where it should be. That they are releasing a fob is proof that there's a serious problem with the existing solution for many people.

I just hope that the BT fob doesn't have issues, not sure how folks will take it if it does.

 

[gtmotor]

I had some issues way back on 12.x software, then my car upgraded to 14.7 and it was better, after getting past version 18 I've never had a single issue. That means I've gone probably 3-4 months without a single failure to entry. I'm using a Google Pixel 2. I have zero interest in buying a fob right now, I've gotten so used to carrying one less item it's been great!

 

[nvx1977]

I just hope that the BT fob doesn't have issues, not sure how folks will take it if it does.

refreshed S/X uses BLE fobs. no issues. Or, to be more accurate, no statistically significant issues. you may have the one-off hardware problem, but nothing systemic like the fragmentation of smartphones.

 

[boiler81]

I had some initial trouble where my Samsung S7 Active would not open the door immediately, and I'd have to try multiple times before it would open (up to five second delay). The key card is carried in my wallet and has work flawless when used.

I don't know if my rebooting my phone helped, or the recent Tesla software updates, but now my phone opens on the first try.

I think its great that owners will have a choice of fob, phone, or key card, but for me the phone access is so liberating not having to carry any keys around. (I already have keyless home entry).

 

[goodlucktj]

Samsung Note 8 user and NEVER had one issue with the phone as a key ever. I can't speak for Apple devices, but I suspect most issues are a combination of permission issues and Bluetooth getting turned off by the phone's OS as a power saving feature.

I'm using the Note 9 - it won't work half the time unless I fully remove it from my back pocket and stand there for a minute, staring at my phone like I'm not just waiting for my damn car to unlock.

Having said that, I'm more than open to the idea that the app/phone isn't optimally set up. I don't need the pictures, but can you provide me with any tips, much like the user above provided for iOS users? I'm linking that portion of the chat to my wife, whose iPhone 6 no longer open/locks the car when my phone is around.