Question about Remote S with Apple Watch

[Cfinck]

Hey TMC,

So I am interested in getting the Remote S app to control my Tesla with the Apple Watch. Why solely for that purpose? Well, as an avid surfer, I find myself always looking for sneaky spots to put my key.

So I have a generation 1 Apple Watch and wanted to know if I can leave my iPhone in the car without a key nearby.

1. Will the Apple Watch be able to unlock/lock/start the car without an iPhone or key? I assume this would be via a bluetooth connection as the generation 1 AW does not have cellular.

2. OR could I leave my phone in the car and then hopefully my Apple Watch will connect to it from the outside of the vehicle to then send an unlock command.

Appreciate your feedback ahead of time!

 

[AAARSINIC]

Hey TMC,

So I am interested in getting the Remote S app to control my Tesla with the Apple Watch. Why solely for that purpose? Well, as an avid surfer, I find myself always looking for sneaky spots to put my key.

So I have a generation 1 Apple Watch and wanted to know if I can leave my iPhone in the car without a key nearby.

1. Will the Apple Watch be able to unlock/lock/start the car without an iPhone or key? I assume this would be via a bluetooth connection as the generation 1 AW does not have cellular.

2. OR could I leave my phone in the car and then hopefully my Apple Watch will connect to it from the outside of the vehicle to then send an unlock command.

Appreciate your feedback ahead of time!

#2 should work. But occasionally I get an error on my watch saying to open the app on my phone for it to function. My new series 3 with LTE works great since it doesn’t require the phones data to function.

 

[BrettS]

Remote S only communicates to the car through the internet... the same way the Tesla app communicates to the car. So not only would the watch need to have an active internet connection, but the car does too. For the gen1 Apple Watch this means that your phone needs an active data connection and the watch needs to be connected to the phone. With a gen3 watch with LTE it doesn’t need the phone and can use it’s own LTE connection.

However, like I said above, the car also needs a data connection, so if you park the car in a place where the car has no signal then you could be locked out of the car with no way to get in.

 

[boaterva]

Gen 1 watches use Wifi and Bluetooth. If it could talk to the phone it may work. But lots of cases where you need to access the phone.

The ‘real’ support thread for the app is on the Tesla Forum, Allen may have tried this scenario or someone else could have experience with the older watches. Me, I’d not depend on anything except the current version.

 

[Cfinck]

Gen 1 watches use Wifi and Bluetooth. If it could talk to the phone it may work. But lots of cases where you need to access the phone.

The ‘real’ support thread for the app is on the Tesla Forum, Allen may have tried this scenario or someone else could have experience with the older watches. Me, I’d not depend on anything except the current version.

Its looking like my best move would be to upgrade to a gen 3 Apple Watch. There are really only two places that I would ever need this scenario and that would be going to surf and then also snowboarding I guess. Both of which I know there is full LTE connectivity. Ill test it this weekend and let you guys know. Thanks for the input!

 

[BrettS]

Its looking like my best move would be to upgrade to a gen 3 Apple Watch. There are really only two places that I would ever need this scenario and that would be going to surf and then also snowboarding I guess. Both of which I know there is full LTE connectivity. Ill test it this weekend and let you guys know. Thanks for the input!

If you’re going to be leaving your phone behind the LTE watch is a great device. I’ve used it when I’ve been swimming at hotel pools where it allowed me to keep in touch and get calls and emails and texts (and even send short replies) whereas in the past I would have needed to leave my phone by the side of the pool with our clothes and towels (and when I do that I always worry that it may be taken). I also used it while I was skiing a few weeks ago, and again I could stay in touch without having to worry about having my phone with me.

However, I’ve been very nervous about using my phone or watch as a key. Given that cellular connectivity isn’t guaranteed it always scares me that I might wind up in a place without connectivity and be stranded. I did try it once while I was at a large resort hotel and it worked great in that case. We had just arrived and unloaded our luggage at our room, but I needed to move the car to the spot where the hotel had power to charge it. The chargers were near the pool and we planned on swimming right after we moved the car, so I didn’t want to take the key fob and need to deal with it at the pool, so I used my phone as a key to move the car leaving the key fob in the hotel room (This we before the LTE Apple Watch existed). In this case I figured the risk was pretty minimal because I was only moving the car a short distance. If I got stranded for some reason it would have just been a bit of a walk back to the hotel room to get the real key fob.

I guess you could always bring the key fob with you and then leave it locked in the car after you verify that the car and your phone/watch does have cellular connectivity where you parked. (Although if you leave the fob in the car remember to wrap it in metal so the car can’t detect it... Even if you try to lock the car with the app if the fob is detected in the car the car won’t stay locked and anyone could walk up and enter the car and drive off with it). In that case even if something happened and you couldn’t unlock the car with your phone or watch the worst you would need is a locksmith to get into the the car so you can get the fob.

 

[f-stop]

Hey TMC,

So I am interested in getting the Remote S app to control my Tesla with the Apple Watch. Why solely for that purpose? Well, as an avid surfer, I find myself always looking for sneaky spots to put my key.

So I have a generation 1 Apple Watch and wanted to know if I can leave my iPhone in the car without a key nearby.

1. Will the Apple Watch be able to unlock/lock/start the car without an iPhone or key? I assume this would be via a bluetooth connection as the generation 1 AW does not have cellular.

2. OR could I leave my phone in the car and then hopefully my Apple Watch will connect to it from the outside of the vehicle to then send an unlock command.

Appreciate your feedback ahead of time!

I have a gen1 Apple Watch and I use Remote S.
#2 will work as long as your iPhone (left in the car) is connected to the internet ie via cellular or WiFi (just did a quick test for you). The gen1 Apple Watch connects to the iPhone via Bluetooth, so that of course also has to be enabled on your phone.
So yes if you can guarantee LTE connectivity to both your car and iPhone in the only places you'd want to do this, then this should work for you.

note: my gen1 Apple Watch is sometimes slow to connect to the car via Remote S, but I assume that's due to the fact that I normally have my car set to Always Connected = Off and therefore it takes a minute or two to wake up if the car has gone to sleep. no big deal for my purposes - usually just to start the HVAC before I get back to my car