Phone unlocks door but key card needed to drive

[Devils son]

What's wrong with a phone that lets the user decide how loud he can have a bluetooth speaker turned up without turning it down randomly because the phone thinks they are headphones, uses some arbitrary estimation of how loud it is based on the volume of the phone itself, and a company that has decided its users are too stupid to decide volume levels and has removed the option to disable the restriction?

Or what about the fact that iphone has decided that if you have your apple watch on, that your phone will not play a notification, and will not allow users to make that decision themselves?

Or what about apple deciding that you are not allowed to do audio splitting when the phone is connected to the Tesla? Like you can't connect the phone to the car, but then have the phone audio ring when you get a text while the car's spotify is playing.

I can go on and on... I wanted the iphone thing to work, but the software on the phones is just garbage, and if you're an iphone user, I'd implore you to consider trying an Android to see how many more things you can do with them that you can't with an iphone. I gave iphones a try because my mac's are awesome... Apparently that awesomeness doesn't carry over to the iphone

I have had Android. I consider it to be inferior. Never again.

But most importantly: I was clearly making a joke. Lighten up.

 

[mswlogo]

This has been happening with my wife's iPhone XR frequently for the past three firmware updates now. Even completely removing the Tesla app (and all associated files) from the phone, and then reinstalling the app and re-pairing it with the car doesn't help. Made sure she was running the current version of the Tesla phone app, too.

No issues with my iPhone XR, but hers has definitely become a problem.

Keep in mind “re-pairing” is for audio and has zero to do with phone as key. If you want to reset things. Remove the phone as key in the car. I forget where it is in the car settings. Same place you see key cards. And remove the app on the phone and start over. And make sure the settings are posted as posted in an earlier post. iOS will pop alerts asking do you want to continue always location, do you want background. You MUST SAY YES. Check it occasionally that everything is on as posted above.

 

[skygraff]

Location has no impact on an iPhone being able to work as a key. I never have my phone's location turned on unless I'm using summon or homelink (or tracking a bike ride) and my key works just fine; aside from the aforementioned body blocking.

 

[JCtx]

I was having the same 'issue', but turns out I didn't have the darn app active (not 'flipped' into the background). Are you sure it's not that??? Hope it is.

 

[Phlier]

Keep in mind “re-pairing” is for audio and has zero to do with phone as key. If you want to reset things. Remove the phone as key in the car. I forget where it is in the car settings. Same place you see key cards. And remove the app on the phone and start over. And make sure the settings are posted as posted in an earlier post. iOS will pop alerts asking do you want to continue always location, do you want background. You MUST SAY YES. Check it occasionally that everything is on as posted above.

Yup, that's exactly what I've been doing with her phone. I've had about five different iPhones setup with our Model 3 yet, and only her iPhone XR has been giving us problems... it just hasn't been the same after she dropped it and broke the screen (which I replaced). She got an iPhone 12 Pro for Christmas, and it has been rock solid.

She's so hard on phone screens (and phones in general) that I actually gritted my teeth (hard!) and paid for Apple Care for her new phone.

I've also put on glass screen protectors doubled up, encased it in rubber armor, and took out a rider on my home owner's insurance for it.

 

[jkdman123]

Always is not required. I have mine set as "While Using"

Interesting. I was instructed by the service center when I took delivery to have it set to ‘always’.

Also, I had an issue with keycards not working and when I submitted a service request, I got a text that they looked and I had a ‘firmware mismatch’. They pushed an update to the car and everything worked.

I’ve also heard that cars can get stuck in ‘transportation’ or ‘service’ mode and it’s not apparent. Again, they can remotely change modes for you.

 

[JCtx]

I have the app on 'while using' too, and no issues.

 

[windjunkie]

I'm happy to report the phone now allows switch into drive as it should. An unsolicited software update happened two days ago and it just started working afterward-- no reboots or disconnects required.

 

[hydro 481]

This is such an annoying issue that has plagued me since I've had my car. That's why I ended up getting a key fob.

 

[JCtx]

This just happened to my wife today... but turns out she had bluetooth off, so can't blame the car. Ha ha. But the weird thing is the car was showing her key in bold, but BT was off. How can that be? The screen was on and everything, but she couldn't engage R. She used the card, but after arriving at her destination, noticed BT was off. Turning it on resolved the issue. Hope we never have a real issue, like many here.

 

[Devils son]

What I found was that it helps to switch to the other Tesla and then switch it back. So the bug seems to be in the app. Maybe a reinstall of the app will do the trick. After switching I haven't had the problem again, so I hope that works, but otherwise I will try to remove the app and install again.

 

[KenC]

This just happened to my wife today... but turns out she had bluetooth off, so can't blame the car. Ha ha. But the weird thing is the car was showing her key in bold, but BT was off. How can that be? The screen was on and everything, but she couldn't engage R. She used the card, but after arriving at her destination, noticed BT was off. Turning it on resolved the issue. Hope we never have a real issue, like many here.

If I turn off BT, the Tesla app will send me a notification, like this:

 

[NKOTB]

Happens a decent amount of time to me

Cycle your phone radios by toggling Bluetooth/Airplane mode. Sometimes need to wait for Tesla app to request that BT needs to be turned back on - that’s when it’ll refresh the Car Key mode and allow you to change into Gear

This solved my wife's issue today -thanks holmgang!