Phone Key range to big?

[mo.dilwar]

I park my M3 in my driveway about a meter outside my front door. I have Phone Key setup on my iPhone 11 and was shocked to find out last night that I could unlock the car doors while my phone was still in the house.

I’ve tested this morning and noticed that I could unlock the car with the phone 5/6 meters (16-20ft) away from the car. I turned off Wi-Fi connection in the car and I could still open the car doors with the phone 3/4 meters (10-13ft) inside my house.

This is really concerning, as I was under the impression the car would only passively unlock doors when phone is within 3ft.

I know the iPhone 11 has a new U1 chip for enhanced Bluetooth, but not sure if that’s the issue.

Will call Tesla CS tomorrow, but wondering if anyone else has had similar experience, and if so with which phone.

 

[afadeev]

I park my M3 in my driveway about a meter outside my front door. I have Phone Key setup on my iPhone 11 and was shocked to find out last night that I could unlock the car doors while my phone was still in the house.

I’ve tested this morning and noticed that I could unlock the car with the phone 5/6 meters (16-20ft) away from the car. I turned off Wi-Fi connection in the car and I could still open the car doors with the phone 3/4 meters (10-13ft) inside my house.

This is really concerning, as I was under the impression the car would only passively unlock doors when phone is within 3ft.

Phones will unlock the car as long as:
- Phone is within Bluetooth (BT) range of the car
- Tesla app is running on the phone

BT range is way longer than 3 ft, usually around 30 feet / 10 meter for most phones.
Thus things are as you've discovered.


a

 

[mo.dilwar]

Phones will unlock the car as long as:
- Phone is within Bluetooth (BT) range of the car
- Tesla app is running on the phone

BT range is way longer than 3 ft, usually around 30 feet / 10 meter for most phones.
Thus things are as you've discovered.


a

I am aware about BT connection range on modern smart phones, but it was my understanding that the M3 has some tech to use BT signal strength to limit the unlock features to roughly 3 feet. I can’t find where I read or saw this. I find it alarming if Tesla thinks it’s fine for the car to be opened while phone key is inside owners homes.

 

[ewoodrick]

Leave phone at door and then see if you can get in car

 

[Joshan]

I feel like something else is in play here. I cannot even open my car door if my phone is in my back pocket.

I can however unplug the charging cable at full Bluetooth range.

 

[mo.dilwar]

Steps to reproduce
1. Locked the car with app (also locked using Walk Away lock mode). Both ways mirrors closed and car beeped to notify locking.
2. Took phone deep into the house about 15m/50ft and left it there.
3. Walked back to car without the phone or key cards.
4. Pulled door handles and door did not open.
5. Got the Mrs to bring the phone gradually closer, few meters/feet at a time.
6. Pulled door handles while phone was still in the house as it was slowly brought closer.
7. Door opened when phone was still in the house but around 5m/16ft from car.


FYI my M3 SR+ is on the latest 2019.36.2.1 software version. I hadn’t tested this on the previous version.

 

[MrG_NY]

My M3 locks when I walk away a couple of feet. If the phone is in the house just on the other side of the door the car will not unlock unless I have the phone with me. I am using an iPhone 11,

 

[afadeev]

I am aware about BT connection range on modern smart phones, but it was my understanding that the M3 has some tech to use BT signal strength to limit the unlock features to roughly 3 feet.

Why?
If you can't find a reference for such a limitation in the TM3 manual, then it doesn't exist.
https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf

I find it alarming if Tesla thinks it’s fine for the car to be opened while phone key is inside owners homes.

I don't.
If anything, I hate finding my cars locked, so I disabled "walk away door lock" setting.

If you live in an area where car break-ins are "a thing", either:
a). Move
b). Don't use phone as a key. Use the key card or key fob instead.

a

 

[Fadiawesome]

hmm, when i go to the other side of my car, with my phone in my pocket, the car won't unlock. It's very strange that yours does.

 

[mo.dilwar]

Thanks for sharing your experiences @Joshan @MrG_NY and @Fadiawesome

Clearly there is something going on with my car that is not quite right. @MrG_NY has the same model phone as me, so I would’ve expected same passive unlocking range. I’ll post an update once I’ve spoken to Tesla CS.

 

[srs5694]

I did some fairly careful testing of this issue when I got my Model 3. I park outside in my driveway, with the Bluetooth receiver in the car's driver-side mirror between 4 and 40 feet from where I leave my phone, depending on exactly where I park. (It's a long driveway that runs from the front of my house to well past the back end of the house.) I found that my phone, a OnePlus 5t, would not unlock my car when it was inside my house, even with the car parked as close as possible to the phone's normal resting place.

I just did some more tests, in case Tesla might have made some changes with a recent software version. (My Tesla is on version 2019.36.2.1.) My car happens to be parked further from the phone's normal location right now, so I took the phone outside and tried at several locations, ranging from about 20 feet to about 5 feet from the car's antenna. These were in direct line of sight, unlike the normal case, in which there's an intervening wall. The car would not unlock in any of these cases; I had to have the phone on my person before the car would unlock. Thus, I don't think Tesla has changed anything on this score recently -- or if they have, it was a change with an effect that's too subtle for me to have noticed.

My suspicion is that there's either something wrong with @mo.dilwar's car or that the Model 3 is reacting differently to the iPhone 11 than to my OnePlus 5t. (Perhaps the iPhone 11 has an unusually strong Bluetooth signal?) If you've got access to another phone, @mo.dilwar (even the phone of a friend who'd be willing to help out), you might want to try pairing that other phone and set it up as a key to do some tests. That'll help you narrow down the source of the problem. If your Model 3 unlocks for any model of distant phone, then there's something wrong with your car and it should be serviced. If another model phone unlocks the car only when the phone is very close, then it may be that there's something quirky about the iPhone 11. That might eventually be fixed in a software update, but it probably wouldn't qualify as a defect in either the car or the phone, and you'll need to either hope (and wait) for a software update or switch to another phone. Reporting the problem to Tesla is certainly worthwhile in the latter case, but I wouldn't expect a visit to a service center would do any good.

 

[Need]

It must be an iPhone 11 thing. My Pixel 3XL can't unlock the car when it is sitting about 15 foot away on the garage table (car is just outside garage door). I can open the App and see that Car Key is "Connected", but the doors won't unlock. I think the car is looking at BT strength. So yeah, maybe the "Unusually strong BT" on the iPhone 11 tricked the car to think the phone is really close?

It is probably similar to the Unusually weak Samsung S9 BT strength. My friends with S9 can't unlock the cars when the phones are in their back pockets.

 

[mo.dilwar]

@srs5694 I’ll be testing out a different phone and will report back. But as I mentioned above looks like @MrG_NY has said he has the same phone as me (iPhone 11) but is unable to unlock his car when phone is indoors.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I park my M3 in my driveway about a meter outside my front door. I have Phone Key setup on my iPhone 11 and was shocked to find out last night that I could unlock the car doors while my phone was still in the house.

I’ve tested this morning and noticed that I could unlock the car with the phone 5/6 meters (16-20ft) away from the car. I turned off Wi-Fi connection in the car and I could still open the car doors with the phone 3/4 meters (10-13ft) inside my house.

This is really concerning, as I was under the impression the car would only passively unlock doors when phone is within 3ft.

I know the iPhone 11 has a new U1 chip for enhanced Bluetooth, but not sure if that’s the issue.

Will call Tesla CS tomorrow, but wondering if anyone else has had similar experience, and if so with which phone.

Get a case for your phone.

Metal case.

 

[Tigermad]

I have this problem. I sit around 12ft from my car at work. If my phone is near the window at work anyone can open the door!. Even though it does lock when I walk away (well the door mirrors go in). I have an Iphone 12 Pro.

 

[jjrandorin]

I have this problem. I sit around 12ft from my car at work. If my phone is near the window at work anyone can open the door!. Even though it does lock when I walk away (well the door mirrors go in). I have an Iphone 12 Pro.

Then I suggest you not use phone as key... although If I take my phone to the garage where my car is parked, it can be on a small table 2 feet from the front of the car, and its not possible to open the door.

 

[KenC]

I have this problem. I sit around 12ft from my car at work. If my phone is near the window at work anyone can open the door!. Even though it does lock when I walk away (well the door mirrors go in). I have an Iphone 12 Pro.

Uhm, don't stand near the window? Maybe try to setup an automation to turn off BT when you get to work? You could tell Siri to turn BT off. Or maybe a geofenced way to turn off BT, or use an NFC sticker to run an automation, when you get to work. Something along those lines. Of course, you would lose your ability to use BT headphones, etc.

 

[Tigermad]

Uhm, don't stand near the window? Maybe try to setup an automation to turn off BT when you get to work? You could tell Siri to turn BT off. Or maybe a geofenced way to turn off BT, or use an NFC sticker to run an automation, when you get to work. Something along those lines. Of course, you would lose your ability to use BT headphones, etc.

Thanks for the reply. Im not standing by the window. My desk is there so I have no choice . I have turned off my BT now so it is a pain not using my AirPods. I don’t believe there is a geofence way on an iPhone. I did consider nfc tags. Will have to try them. Forgot to turn my BT back on tonight so had to mess around with my phone whilst trying to get in the car.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks for the reply. Im not standing by the window. My desk is there so I have no choice . I have turned off my BT now so it is a pain not using my AirPods. I don’t believe there is a geofence way on an iPhone. I did consider nfc tags. Will have to try them. Forgot to turn my BT back on tonight so had to mess around with my phone whilst trying to get in the car.

It seems that, in your specific instance, it would be much (much) easier to simply not use phone as key, and use the keycard to drive. You are likely aware of this, but just in case you are not, phone as key has nothing to do with the "regular" bluetooth connection to the car, so you can have your phone paired to your car for phone calls, music, calendar, etc, and NOT use the phone as key function.

if I was in your circumstance, I just would not use phone as key. Buying a keyfob would have the same experience, unless you got one of the old non passive entry ones like I have. The newer passive entry ones would likely behave similar to phone as key.

Just use the keycard only, and your issue is solved.

 

[Tigermad]

It seems that, in your specific instance, it would be much (much) easier to simply not use phone as key, and use the keycard to drive. You are likely aware of this, but just in case you are not, phone as key has nothing to do with the "regular" bluetooth connection to the car, so you can have your phone paired to your car for phone calls, music, calendar, etc, and NOT use the phone as key function.

if I was in your circumstance, I just would not use phone as key. Buying a keyfob would have the same experience, unless you got one of the old non passive entry ones like I have. The newer passive entry ones would likely behave similar to phone as key.

Just use the keycard only, and your issue is solved.

Thanks but phone works great everywhere else. Seems silly not to use the phone just for 2 times a day at weekdays. Will do what I’m doing now and if it becomes an annoyance will try something else. It’s not door opening part I would miss because I can press the unlock icon on the watch app for Tesla on my Apple Watch for that. It would be an annoyance having to use the card every time I want to drive once I get in the car.