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Phone key doesn’t work unless phone is unlocked
- Thread starter musicjohnny
- Start date
I should have specified there, I mean just having the phone open/unlocked, not having the Tesla app itself onscreen.
My wife’s phone works perfectly; she just approaches the car with her phone in her pocket and it opens as soon as she walks up. Mine does that sometimes… but more often than not I have to unlock the phone for it to work.
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Interesting. My wife’s phone works like that (same model as mine) but mine needs to be unlocked probably 9/10 times.
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Happens to me. So annoying. Never had an issue until I got a new iPhone.
I know what you mean, you have to open your phone. it's a PITA. Only happens sometimes but regularly.
Only thing I haven't done is delete and reinstall the app- but will try that next.
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Didn't work for me. Both on my M3 and the MY the car unlocks when I walk up and try to open the doors about 60% of the time. Sometimes it seems like it just takes a second for it to register the phone, sometimes, like the OP, I need to unlock the phone for it to work.
Weirdly enough, if I walk up and try to open the trunk before I even go near the doors, it works about 95% of the time. Same thing with pressing and holding the button on the handle of the charging cord to wakeup/unlock the car. I hardly ever have a problem with either of these two scenarios. And like I said, this behavior was the same on my old M3.
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I just posted something similar in a similar thread - so might as well put it here as well.
Your phone, while in your pocket, can only wakeup and look for bluetooth devices every so often and this is similar on both iOS and Android devices and designed to protect your battery (limits are imposed by the OS). If you have a modern device (iphone11 and newer, for instance), and you take your phone out of your pocket, and launch the Tesla App (into the foreground), these limits are removed and you should be able to unlock your vehicle within 1-3 seconds.
This is also the reason that a few Tesla app updates ago, they added the 'Improve Phone Key' option on iOS with directions to enable 'always' for location permissions as with this permission, the App is granted permission for region monitoring even when the app is in the background (in your pocket)...but this will drain your battery noticeably faster. I don't use Android so I can't tell you whether something similar exists in the Android version of the Tesla App.
The reason for the variability is due to how an app on your phone finds a bluetooth device. Without getting into deep details, the transmitter has to be transmitting at the same time that the receiver has woken up to look for it and this adds a layer of randomness to the equation. The speed at which you approach the vehicle also matters. If you approach the vehicle from a distance and by walking up to it (carrying groceries out from the store is a good example), you're in range of the vehicle for a shorter period of time and it's more likely not to 'unlock'. If you're near the vehicle, say, mulling about in your garage before entering your vehicle, you've been closer for longer and it's more likely to unlock without the perceived 'delay'.
On iOS, if you set Location Services permissions for the Tesla App to 'Always' (instead of the typical 'while using'), this will help but it will drain your battery.
An interesting side note, while looking at Tesla's FCC filing, they've got an UWB (Ultra-wide band) module in one of their latest B-Pillar filings. While not in-use presently, this will allow use of Apple's Nearby API and would afford a future version of the Tesla App to be able to know the direction to the vehicle where GPS was unavailable -- say, a parking garage with Tesla Superchargers.... vs just how close it is (roughly) as it knows today...and which powers the walk-away lock feature.
Your phone, while in your pocket, can only wakeup and look for bluetooth devices every so often and this is similar on both iOS and Android devices and designed to protect your battery (limits are imposed by the OS). If you have a modern device (iphone11 and newer, for instance), and you take your phone out of your pocket, and launch the Tesla App (into the foreground), these limits are removed and you should be able to unlock your vehicle within 1-3 seconds.
This is also the reason that a few Tesla app updates ago, they added the 'Improve Phone Key' option on iOS with directions to enable 'always' for location permissions as with this permission, the App is granted permission for region monitoring even when the app is in the background (in your pocket)...but this will drain your battery noticeably faster. I don't use Android so I can't tell you whether something similar exists in the Android version of the Tesla App.
The reason for the variability is due to how an app on your phone finds a bluetooth device. Without getting into deep details, the transmitter has to be transmitting at the same time that the receiver has woken up to look for it and this adds a layer of randomness to the equation. The speed at which you approach the vehicle also matters. If you approach the vehicle from a distance and by walking up to it (carrying groceries out from the store is a good example), you're in range of the vehicle for a shorter period of time and it's more likely not to 'unlock'. If you're near the vehicle, say, mulling about in your garage before entering your vehicle, you've been closer for longer and it's more likely to unlock without the perceived 'delay'.
On iOS, if you set Location Services permissions for the Tesla App to 'Always' (instead of the typical 'while using'), this will help but it will drain your battery.
An interesting side note, while looking at Tesla's FCC filing, they've got an UWB (Ultra-wide band) module in one of their latest B-Pillar filings. While not in-use presently, this will allow use of Apple's Nearby API and would afford a future version of the Tesla App to be able to know the direction to the vehicle where GPS was unavailable -- say, a parking garage with Tesla Superchargers.... vs just how close it is (roughly) as it knows today...and which powers the walk-away lock feature.
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My unlock works maybe 80% of the time. When it doesn’t work like was mentioned above by @sdbonez , it will after a few seconds when I get to the door. Slightly annoying. Especially coming from an X that worked flawlessly opening the door. Still catch myself stepping on the brake and expecting the door to close. Sigh.
Not to hijack the thread but another related problem is that when I leave the Y the volume on my iPhone ringer is all the way down, essentially muted. Is there a setting I should be looking at? Thanks
Not to hijack the thread but another related problem is that when I leave the Y the volume on my iPhone ringer is all the way down, essentially muted. Is there a setting I should be looking at? Thanks
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WIth the last couple Tesla updates, my phone connection has been great. The only time I have a delay is when the car has been on the charger all night, I go to unplug in the morning and no response for a good 10 sec. Then the Tesla "wakes up" and unlocks the charger.
I really think it's the car, not the iphone.
I really think it's the car, not the iphone.
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3 years, 49k miles...this characteristic occurs frequently with my 2021 MYLR.
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The phone model definitely matters. Apple has significantly improved bluetooth (and their antennas - especially for airtags and the other bluetooth use cases they support) in iPhones in the last 5 years or so. Android's bluetooth stack has always suffered and when you add the extra fragmentation due to multiple OEMs building the phones, there's no level of consistency to be found for use cases like this though Samsung has generally been better than the rest.
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