Poll: Model 3 Phone Key Failure Rate

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Are there any equivalent setting for Android? I'm on Marshmallow (6.0.1) and looked around settings numerous times (whenever I see posts like this) and have never found an app setting that looked like it would adjust how the Tesla app uses location.

Settings->Apps.
Hit gear/menu in top right
Select App Permissions.
Select Location.
Look for the Tesla app.

Don't know about Marshmallow (I don't have a Marshmallow device), but in Nougat, you can go via the App itself
Settings->Apps
Find the Tesla App. Tap to get to the details.
Scroll down to Permissions. Tap to see permissions for the App.
Find Location and make sure that it's turned on.

 

[apacheguy]

Damn. Pretty pathetic. More than 60% of respondents have had trouble. I can’t think of any other new vehicle where there is a problem just to enter the vehicle. Bring back the FOB, Tesla...

 

[ahagge]

My phone has had about a 2% success rate (Moto G5+, Android 7.0). Specifically, if I reboot the phone, it connects for an hour or two. Once it disconnects, nothing works to get it to reconnect but rebooting the phone. Specifically, turning Bluetooth off and on does not good whatsoever. So it's basically dead to me. I use the card key every time.

OTOH, my wife's phone (1st gen Moto G, Android 5.1) shows "Connected" virtually every time I open the app. That said, it's still not reliable at actually opening the door when it's locked. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Probably 65% working.

Providing a fob wouldn't prevent anyone who prefers the phone key from using it that way. NOT providing a fob FORCES people who hate troubleshooting malfunctioning technology to deal with it.

Definitely +1. PLEASE give us key fob, Tesla! My wife's about ready to disown the Model 3 and me for buying it!

 

[Kipp]

ettings->Apps.
Hit gear/menu in top right
Select App Permissions.
Select Location.
Look for the Tesla app.

This worked on Marshmallow. Unfortunately I already had location turned on for the Tesla app.

Thanks anyway.

I'm still having relatively poor success rate on first try. It is still almost 100% if I start the app and it shows connected.

PS: I really don't want another key fob on my, already too big, key ring. I'm willing to work through the phone issues.

 

[MrEd57]

There’s a known issue where the Model 3 needs to be selected in the app. Might want to see if it got switched to the X.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the problem. But it seems like it's less trouble to pull out the card then open the app and make sure it's on the 3.

 

[jsmay311]

After 143 votes, here are the results so far comparing iPhone and Android:

 

[smak]

So yesterday I walk up to my door, and it doesn't open. I hear the noises, but nada. Then on the screen it shows the put your card here to open screen.

Then after that I tried to open it again and it worked.

The screen didn't mean anything, it just took that long for the door to unlock. Maybe 10-12 seconds to unlock. I'm wondering if they should go back to the unlock from 20 feet away setting.

I'm wondering how many of these instances would actually eventually work, but people just pull out their key card after 5 seconds.

 

[cellogig]

Found this on another thread. Thank you Feli for writing this.


Tesla should provide an optional FOB for model 3.

The issue here is NOT Tesla's SW or bluetooth. It is about how the bluetooth implementation works on both Android and iPhones. The phone needs to save power, so they do NOT have the bluetooth radio advertising all the time its presence. It is dynamically managed by the OS in the phone and it decides when to broadcast the bluetooth services of the phone that are to be received by any other BT device. The car's BT radio is always on scanning to see if a known BT advertiser (your phone) is around and then unlock the car.

This varies from phone to phone and from OS to OS on both Android and iOS, to give you an example sometimes on iOS there can be lapses of 30s or more with the BT radio not advertising its ID making it impossible for the car to detect the presence.

I have developed bluetooth proximity applications in the past and i am familiar with the power policies of BT in the phones and how it impacts ANY BT proximity applications, it is documented on both Android and iOS developer guides.

As the battery of your phone gets lower the power management policies become more aggressive and bluetooth is not advertising for longer periods of time. (the same behavior is seen on BT door locks for example)

Tesla knows this, and still they chose to use this as the primary method to unlock the vehicle due to conveniency.

From an App development perspective you can't override the phone OS bluetooth power policy when the App enters background. When it is on the foreground (app open) your car will unlock easier (because the App now has full control of the BT radio on the phone and can start BT advertising right away) but when the phone is in your pocket (App in background mode) the phone OS takes control of the BT radio and has to arbitrate the use of the BT advertising of all the services requested by all BT apps in your phone (Tesla app being just one of them). This is how phone OSs work so you do not burn battery as BT will be advertising its ID too often.

So, give us the option of an FOB like in the model S. Also heard phone auto unlock is coming on Model S at some point, hopefully the other way around comes first

 

[WileyTheMan]

I had my first issue with the phone key. It flat-out stopped working. I had to remove the phone key reference from the car and forget the car from my phone and reattach it. Started working after that. Not sure if my iPhone 6 Plus had anything to do with it, but there ya go.

 

[slipnslider]

I had my first issue with the phone key. It flat-out stopped working. I had to remove the phone key reference from the car and forget the car from my phone and reattach it. Started working after that. Not sure if my iPhone 6 Plus had anything to do with it, but there ya go.

I cannot express how much I absolutely HATE doing crap like that. Uninstalling, reinstalling, downloading, googling, updating, troubleshooting, calling tech support. And putting the key in your phone means that every user will have to deal with this crap at some point. Techie types, engineers, and phoneosexuals don't mind doing this stuff, but tesla is going to really piss off a lot of owners who aren't those types of people. I already hate helping my mom figure out why her laptop isn't working, now I'm going to have to help her figure out why her phone key isn't working too? Tesla is SHRINKING their customer base with crap like this.

 

[jsmay311]

Techie types, engineers, and phoneosexuals don't mind doing this stuff, but tesla is going to really piss off a lot of owners who aren't those types of people.

Please don't slander engineers.

I know lots of engineers, and the vast majority would prefer a low-tech/proven, reliable solution over a high-tech/novel, unreliable solution.

 

[ServerDude]

So I would vote but I cannot because my vote choice is not listed.
I cannot use the phone as a key fob. I have an iphone 4S. It is not supported as a key fob. If I could vote, I would vote 'Cannot use phone as key'. However, it can use the App and can unlock the car using the cellular network and the Tesla account.

I suspect many problems people are having have to do with the car having gone to sleep.
I find sometimes in the car has gone to sleep so even the key card won't work until I've pressed the handles in. Then the car wakes up and then the key card works. I suspect the same thing happens with the phone as a key bluetooth connection - if the car is deeply enough asleep it will not unlock even with the phone key. I do not know how to test this hypothesis widely though.

 

[napabill]

I cannot express how much I absolutely HATE doing crap like that. Uninstalling, reinstalling, downloading, googling, updating, troubleshooting, calling tech support. And putting the key in your phone means that every user will have to deal with this crap at some point. Techie types, engineers, and phoneosexuals don't mind doing this stuff, but tesla is going to really piss off a lot of owners who aren't those types of people. I already hate helping my mom figure out why her laptop isn't working, now I'm going to have to help her figure out why her phone key isn't working too? Tesla is SHRINKING their customer base with crap like this.

You seem to be in "whine" industry.

 

[slipnslider]

You seem to be in "whine" industry.

Maybe to a blind fanboy.

 

[mrsandman]

I also experienced my first problem opening the car. Phone didn’t work so I went to unlock the car with the app. Then I realized I live in a city with horrible cell service (very hilly) and that didn’t work either. Luckily I had my credit card key and resorted to that. Took about 30 seconds to get into the car while fumbling with everything. Pretty frustrating. Question. Does everyone here have 4 devices in their Bluetooth stack? Or am I the only one? I’m using an iPhone 7.

 

[Coeus]

I also experienced my first problem opening the car. Phone didn’t work so I went to unlock the car with the app. Then I realized I live in a city with horrible cell service (very hilly) and that didn’t work either. Luckily I had my credit card key and resorted to that. Took about 30 seconds to get into the car while fumbling with everything. Pretty frustrating. Question. Does everyone here have 4 devices in their Bluetooth stack? Or am I the only one? I’m using an iPhone 7.

I've been told the other devices are for triangulating your phone to know if it's in the car or just near the car.

 

[jsmay311]

I've been told the other devices are for triangulating your phone to know if it's in the car or just near the car.

That brings up another interesting point which I haven't seen discussed much: just how poor the location accuracy is when the car attempts to physically locate the phone keys.

Consumer Reports did a test on a Model 3 and they were able to start the car and drive away with the phone outside the car and as far away as 5 feet from the driver's door. And after driving away without the phone in the car, the car never alerted the driver that the phone was missing, which could turn into a big problem if you drive far from home and don't have the key card with you.

 

[daveruns]

You could have this same problem with the fob on the Model S or any keyless entry car.

I have a Nexus 6 and the phone key works about 50% of the time. Never in the morning and I have to reboot the phone to connect. After the morning reboot, it will work for most of the day. But If I don't try again until the end of the workday, it will require another reboot.

I bought an "renewed" iPhone 6 on line and am going to try that to see if it solves the problem.

 

[slipnslider]

You could have this same problem with the fob on the Model S or any keyless entry car.

I have a Nexus 6 and the phone key works about 50% of the time. Never in the morning and I have to reboot the phone to connect. After the morning reboot, it will work for most of the day. But If I don't try again until the end of the workday, it will require another reboot.

I bought an "renewed" iPhone 6 on line and am going to try that to see if it solves the problem.

Tesla. The first car company to determine what kind of phone you can have. How innovative.

 

[BozieBeMe2]

should add as a postscript,, YMMV /)