Remote S: Tesla app for Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

[AllenWong]

Out of curiosity - where does 3D touch support fall on your TODO list? Can we expect that in the next couple of weeks? There's another pretty basic app out there now with that functionality, so I can't imagine it would be too difficult to support. I've been holding off buying that app hoping that it comes to yours soon. Thanks!

3D Touch support is one of the top priorities, because it's been requested several times before.

 

[simonog]

It's on my TODO list. It was a bug introduced by iOS 9, because I don't remember it doing that prior to iOS 9. I have a general idea of what's causing it, so I should be able to come up with a solution. When I find a fix, I'll update the app again.

I can confirm the instability arose with iOS 9.

The watch app often fails when opened, and works the second time if immediately retried. Again it happened since iOS 9.

 

[1NJ85D]

+1 on 3D Touch to turn on Climate Control. Thanks!

3D Touch support is one of the top priorities, because it's been requested several times before.

 

[gizmoboy]

He may well be fine either way. I just remember reading the posts about the patent troll, and how much that took out of Allen emotionally, and I believe financially too, and if there's a way to reduce the risk of something like that happening again, without really significantly impacting much of anything else, I'm a fan of taking that approach.

This is a fear-based approach to product development, which is a slippery slope.

If he might get sued over summon, perhaps he might get sued for keyless access as well. Or remote unlock. And what if someone uses remote start and their car happens to catch on fire?

At some point, you need to decide what your appetite for risk is and then live within it.

It sounds like Allen understands your point that each new feature adds risk, and perhaps summon adds more than others. The actions he takes from here on out are his informed decision.

At this point, it seems the the discussion has reached its fruitful end.

BTW Allen, I really enjoy the work you've done on Remote S, and would like to be able to support future enhancements. Have you considered modest IAPs for additional significant new features as a way of letting us recognize the added value in such features? (And on an unrelated note, 3.x's Apple Watch app is still iPhone-hosted, right? Not native?)

 

[panorman]

Question for Allen I guess..
I live in the UK. Will the summon feature in your remote S App work in the UK?

Keep up the good work!

 

[simonog]

Question for Allen I guess..
I live in the UK. Will the summon feature in your remote S App work in the UK?

Keep up the good work!

Not until the API enables it for the UK. It's currently only enabled for the US.

 

[AllenWong]

Question for Allen I guess..
I live in the UK. Will the summon feature in your remote S App work in the UK?

Keep up the good work!

I'm not sure, but I doubt that it would work, because to use it, you must first enable it in the Settings in your car. What I'm curious about is whether the HomeLink button would work for non-AP or non-US cars.

 

[gelden]

I'm not sure, but I doubt that it would work, because to use it, you must first enable it in the Settings in your car. What I'm curious about is whether the HomeLink button would work for non-AP or non-US cars.

I have a non AP and non US car. As posted before, homelink from the app does not work:

 

[Steve S]

Hello experts,

Not sure if this is a Remote S issue or not, so I'm posting it here as well as the Tesla owned forum.

This morning I tried to connect to the Remote S app and it conned fine and then crashed and closed a few times before being unresponsive. I tried opening the Remote S app and it did so, but all the readings read zero or were blank. I then tried to open the Tesla app and it said "cannot connect". I deleted both applications and reinstalled them and received the same message on the Tesla app, and could open the Remote S but again had zero readings. I logged out of the Remote S app and now can't log in. I just use these apps on my iPhone 6+. I don't have an Apple Watch etc. slacker still streams fine, and everything else with the car seems to be working fine.

What I've done so far that hasn't worked:

-Deleted applications and reinstalled.
-Logged out of applications and can't log back in.
-Changed passwords, logged out and tried logging back in with no results.
-Read about the calendar maybe being an issue so turned that off without any luck.
-Turned wifi off in car (it's in garage in wifi range) and that didn't work.
-Reset car and still not connecting to app.
-I also drove the car after having these issues so it wasn't in sleep mode etc.
-Mobile connection is on in the car.
-Tried using my iPad and Daughter's iPhone 6S and no luck either.

I called Tesla tech support and they were stumped. They said it may be a few days before I receive a call back as they try to figure it out. I'm also 2.5-3 hours away from my nearest service center.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[AllenWong]

Try resetting your MyTesla password and then trying to log into the apps again.

 

[Steve S]

Try resetting your MyTesla password and then trying to log into the apps again.

Hi Allen, I tried that as well, and just tried again with the same results.

Allen, I'm not sure if it's your app, but I haven't ever had a connection problem before. I just downloaded your app the other day and it worked great. Then there was an update, so I did that, and when I clicked by the climate to where the driver and passenger climate could be adjusted, that's when the app crashed on me. It did this two or three times before I couldn't get into either app again. Very strange.

 

[Steve S]

Try resetting your MyTesla password and then trying to log into the apps again.

Ok, it's resolved. I tried everything I could think of, including the wifi in the car, but didn't try it with the wifi off of my phone like a knucklehead. Turned the wifi off the phone and it worked fine. It seems my ASUS has all of a sudden the seen the App as an intrusion or something. Maybe it started when the Remote S app began crashing and it set an alarm off? Anyways, I reset the router and it's working fine. Thanks for the help.

 

[LetsGoFast]

Not sure I've seen it reported here, but the reverse bug is corrected in the last update. I blocked one of my employees from leaving the parking lot today with it.

 

[AllenWong]

Ok, it's resolved. I tried everything I could think of, including the wifi in the car, but didn't try it with the wifi off of my phone like a knucklehead. Turned the wifi off the phone and it worked fine. It seems my ASUS has all of a sudden the seen the App as an intrusion or something. Maybe it started when the Remote S app began crashing and it set an alarm off? Anyways, I reset the router and it's working fine. Thanks for the help.

Glad that you figured it out. It's more likely that the app crashed as a result of the internet being blocked, so most likely the router blocked Remote S first. If the app crashed, then the router wouldn't know that it crashed, because the app wouldn't be using the internet.

Not sure I've seen it reported here, but the reverse bug is corrected in the last update. I blocked one of my employees from leaving the parking lot today with it.

With great power comes great responsibility.

 

[AWDtsla]

Allen, there's still a rounding bug in the latest. When battery current is -0.4, the app displays -1.4

 

[AllenWong]

Allen, there's still a rounding bug in the latest. When battery current is -0.4, the app displays -1.4

Alright, I'll fix it in the next update. Hopefully none of the other values have rounding errors anymore, right? Thanks for the bug reports.

 

[Steve S]

Glad that you figured it out. It's more likely that the app crashed as a result of the internet being blocked, so most likely the router blocked Remote S first. If the app crashed, then the router wouldn't know that it crashed, because the app wouldn't be using the internet.

Thanks Allen.

 

[mkmia]

Hi

I am new to the forum. I have just purchased the Remote S app and I am very security conscious.

I have noticed that the advance settings is going to a non SSL page (http) - information is sent in plain text non encrypted. Is it possible to change it to use an SSL URL (https)?

Also, where is the my.tesla cookie store, on my iphone or on the Remote S app servers?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dithermaster]

Allen, thanks for selling this app. I use it a few times a week, and it is my default glance. I wish the Apple Watch either allow interactions on glances or was quicker to launch the full app because it takes a long time after tapping on the glance to get the full UI (plus you have to wait for the first update before issuing a command).

I have a UI improvement I'd like to suggest (apologies for the duplication if this came up already and the 160 pages and I missed it!): Please change the "unlock" icon so the U-shaped portion of the lock is rotated off to the side (like the Model S shows at the top of the 17" screen) instead of just showing a tiny gap and changing the color. This would make it much more distinct from the lock state and would prevent confusion.

 

[gizmoboy]

I recommend watching what Elon said in this video from 16:32 to 17:09
GTC 2015: NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Interviews Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk (part 9) - YouTube

He talks about mass hacking without having direct access to a car. To me it looks like Tesla's implementation of summon without key fob was carefully considered. With Tesla's app you can summon the car without the key fob but only if the phone and the car are in the same GPS location. This way somebody can't do a mass hacking from another country. Allen said he removed this requirement. Therefore Remote S seems a high risk app. Let's say somebody hacked a website like VisibleTesla, TeslaLog etc and stole a bunch of Tesla passwords. The first thing they would do is summon the cars using Remote S. I have a feeling that we will hear more about this issue in the future but not in a good way.

Tesla's API permits the very actions that Remote S is using (since it uses only the Tesla API).