Phone Key always connected at Home

[dennisvab]

I live in a side by side duplex where the driveway runs the full length of the house. The other night I went outside without my phone and noticed that I could get into the car. The phone was in the house the entire time.

I came to realize that most if not all of the home is within reach of the Bluetooth signal, meaning the phone is always connected as the key.

For the folks that are in a similar position as I, take a look at this as the car is not secure when parked at all. A solution would be to disable Bluetooth every night, which will not be convenient. I am using an iPhone 8.

 

[srs5694]

I did some testing of this when I first got my car, and I was not able to enter my car when the phone was in my kitchen, about four feet from the car in my driveway. I suspect this is a difference in the RF characteristics of our houses' walls and/or the strength of the Bluetooth signals from our phones. It's also possible that your car was not locking when you walked away from it; or maybe my path into my house is more convoluted and so brought me far enough away that the car locked, but the signal strength didn't rise enough to unlock it once I was inside and physically closer to the car. IIRC, the lock-as-you-walk-away feature can be disabled, too, even when using the phone as a key.

 

[Uncle Don]

That's not true for me. When I'm in my kitchen my car is about 3 feet away on the other side of a wall. If my phone is in the house I can't open the car. When I get about 3 feet from the car it beeps, locks and the mirrors fold. I would go into your house from the car and check the app to see if it shows the car unlocked. If it is i would check walk away lock in the car.

 

[ngogas]

Same can’t open the car. You have to be next to it with your phone. Called proximity. Lol

 

[Leafdriver333]

I suspect OP's car didn't lock to begin with.

 

[jdcollins5]

Same here with phone showing connected when in house. I cannot unlock the car without the phone with me.

 

[sixela]

The trouble I have in similar circumstances is not that the car doesn't lock (when you go and click on your connected key's info icon it will display signal strength, and the car is not unlocked unless the phone is really close).

But if the phone stays in range the phantom drain from the car while it keeps trying to figure out if you are moving closer is appreciable.

The (practical) choices I have to avoid that are either:
-Disable Bluetooth on the phone (which takes a flick and a tap)
-Go in the app, tap on the info icon next to the key, and forget the vehicle. Setting up the phone as a key from the app again just takes a couple of seconds for a phone that was paired earlier, and does not require the key card.

 

[Tha_Reaper]

My phone is also anyways connected to the car when it's parked at home, but I'm not able to open the car, even when my phone is only 2 meters from the car and only a glass window is separating them. I also don't have any problems with phantom drain. Car will go to sleep, and stay asleep when I expect it to, resulting in 5-6 km drain (+-3 miles?) Per day.
I've tested with disabling Bluetooth, but that didn't put the car to sleep faster or decrease the drain in any noticeable way

 

[dennisvab]

I tried to reproduce this just now with no luck. I’m fairly certain that the car was locked. I didn’t add this in the original post, but I was able to turn the car on, that means I could have drove it away with the phone still in the house. I’ll attempt this again later in the evening when the kids are down.

 

[sixela]

Pin to drive is your friend ;-).

 

[dennisvab]

Pin to drive is your friend ;-).

Pin to drive won’t prevent an intruder from entering your car.

 

[Uncle Don]

Checking that the car is locked from the app inside your house will.

 

[dennisvab]

Checking that the car is locked from the app inside your house will.

Do you check your app every time after you leave the car?

Reason for this post is to give a heads up that my car unlocked (possibly was never locked) and started and was ready for me to drive when I came up to it without my phone. My phone was in the house.

 

[Uncle Don]

No but I do listen for the beeps every time I go in my house. If I don't hear the beeps I check the app.

 

[sixela]

Pin to drive won’t prevent an intruder from entering your car.

Nor prevent anyone from smashing it. Which, given I rarely leave anything of value in it, is probably more of a worry to me (at an infinitesimally low level).

It's fairly obvious I responded to "I could have driven it etc.", so I fail to see the relevance here.

If a method of opening/closing a car does not have the level of security you care for, don't use it. If you want to make sure the phone key cannot be seen as connected, disconnect it (as I said, I often do if I want to use BT for something else). Or don't use a phone key at all.

 

[sixela]

Do you check your app every time after you leave the car?

I usually wait to see the rear view mirrors fold in. But then that's not "waiting" since I usually fumble with keys for longer than that ;-).

You're right, though, that while the phone key needs to be very close for the car to unlock, it also takes a lot more distance for the phone key to lock the car. I consider that quite convenient after shopping, or while loading/unloading a lot of telescope gear.

 

[dennisvab]

No but I do listen for the beeps every time I go in my house. If I don't hear the beeps I check the app.

I lost the beep after I got 2019.16.2

I guess by default it’s off, just turned it back on. It’s nice to hear it locking.

 

[smithrukami]

a related question is if i walk away from my 3 and forget my phone inside even for 2-3 minutes can someone immediately enter and drive away? sorry if this is an old question. there’s no proper key fob so phone or card key are only options correct?

 

[JBT66]

My can’t get into my car if my phone is in my left pocket instead of my right. I have to shift my hips and try the door again.
My iPhone will still say it’s connected when the car is in the drive way.

 

[ChrisH]

So, is this not the same for everyone?

If my Tesla app is not open I cannot open the locked car door.

Are you all saying you don’t have to have the app open to open the locked door? I just open the app when I get ready in the morning, put the phone in my pocket and then go out to the car (it is garaged or I would open the app later). I close the app when I park my car and confirm that the car locked as I walk away from its parking spot.