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

[TeeEmCee]

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.

 

[Msjulie]

Unofficial information gathering here: what kind of phone do you have? I just responded in another thread about the key fob that I must be in the minority as mine works perfectly. iPhone 8 with iOS 12 fwiw

 

[TT97]

Thank god someone finally started a thread about the phone as a key.

 

[bpjod]

I cant believe the apologists. Guys, face it, it’s crap.

My first few weeks I had a few failures. Then came an update and mine has been flawless the last few months. Lowly iPhone 6 here...

 

[Tam]

...Does it even have an alarm?...

Yes. From the outside, I reached inside the car to open the door and the alarm was Really Loud!

Did you turn it on in one of those screens?

 

[trigoe]

No problems here with using phone as Key. iPhone 7.

 

[ebmcs03]

The phone needs some tending to. I always open the app and watch it as i walk to the car to make sure it says connected as i get close, before reaching for the door. If it doesn’t say connected then I put it in airplane mode and off again. That has almost always forced the phone to connect to the car and then the key works fine.

Is it annoying? Ya. But it’s the only way to ensure I can get in my car without my cussing.

 

[jschwefel]

I had problems early on. Then I learned to make sure the Tesla app was open and on the Model 3, not my Model S. It also works best with the phone in my hand or in my front pocket. This combination yielded zero failures. I have an iPhone 6.

 

[Mxbzz]

I have a 0% success rate with my iPhone X in my back pocket, and about a 90% success rate with it in my front pocket. I had it fail on me today while my phone was in my hand. It really makes you look stupid when you pull the handle and the car doesn't open. Fortunately, it opened up after the second attempt. I will definitely be requesting a keyfob if/when it becomes available.

 

[MXWing]

I can totally imagine Tesla getting blamed when some new phone device doesn’t work with their car. It’s not just hardware..
But hardware, firmware, middleware, software. Some of these cross over but it’s an illustration on all the things that can screw up the vision.

In the IT space we have something called hardware compatibilitity lists.

If the iPhone XS And/OR iOS 12 build 1.146 is not on the HCL - tough *sugar*, you can call an Uber or walk home. Or stick with a validated iPhone 8 running iOS 11.

Obviously the SOL solution is not going to be acceptable to the consumer so that fob is going to have to fix the hubris the phone / keycard created.

Or Apple decides to get smart and buy a 25% stake in Tesla. Replace the Tesla pad with an iPad Pro, bring an App Store and let the watch remote view the 9 cameras or whatever there is on the Model 3.

I bet that watch would be a sweet key. Have a designated dock to charge while driving.

I have an XS Max as well but my 3 is being worked on so no idea how that will function.

The iPhone X was silly. Open car no problem. Couldn’t drive though unless phone was unlocked. *rage*

 

[Mo City]

I've had zero problem with my LG G6 as a key. Don't want a key fob.

 

[eprosenx]

FWIW, my iPhone 8 has been nearly flawless. Though it seems to have gotten a bit worse lately. Maybe with the last software update.

On occasion I have to push the door handle a couple of times to get it to unlock. It works great though if I have my phone unlocked it would seem. Perhaps that puts the phone into an "awake" state.

I have never had to fall back to the card I keep in my wallet.

My wife on the other hand has worse experiences with her Google phone (though she keeps her bluetooth off due to battery issues and issues with her Highlander). So hard to say.

With that all being said, I welcome the key fob being available and I will make sure to get a couple. Not sure if I will end up carrying it with me all the time or not. Will have to see how it works. (I kind of wonder if it will be a hack since they may have implemented it via Bluetooth rather than some proprietary protocol?)

 

[MikeATL]

Model 3 owner for 24 hours. iPhone XS owner for 48 hours.

No problems locking/unlocking the car with the phone by proximity ....after I found and turned on that option, of course. Turned ON the horn honk notification at least to start out.

One time I approached the car from the passenger side and needed to pull the phone out of my pocket.

 

[Tezlah]

If you have an iPhone and your phone is in “Low Power Mode,” the Bluetooth doesn’t stay on and connect to the car.

It took me a while to figure this out and now that I avoid using “Low Power Mode” on my iPhone 7, I haven’t had a single issue using my phone as the key.

 

[MikeATL]

Make sure you give the App maximum permissions.

On iPhone:

 

[KenF]

Make sure you give the App maximum permissions.

This + No Low Power Mode = 100% success rate on an iPhone XS

 

[b_ack51]

Never had a problem with the iPhone X.

Admit it guys, it works.

 

[TeeEmCee]

Make sure you give the App maximum permissions.

On iPhone:

View attachment 337676

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.
This got me thinking, if it does any location validation in order to unlock (I thought Tesla said this was bluetooth-based) then it might explain the failures. If it indeed runs any location validation to unlock, then that’s yet another one of those clever things that sounds great in a geeky meeting but it’s insufficiently reliable in the real world. Aside from that, it automatically comes at the price of allowing Tesla to track my whereabouts at all times (otherwise one would have to explicitly open the app to unlock). There was a time when Google was Not Evil (TM) ...

I’d say the replies above from people either trying to be helpful or just giving me the eye roll reinforce the point I was trying to make: As a secondary input method for lock/unlock authentication, the phone and card are great. As a primary method, they come with unacceptable shortcomings though. 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.

 

[GPinzone]

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.

 

[M0DEL³]

iPhoine SE here. Since configuring properly has worked 100% of the time.