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

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Hey regoapps.
Would be cool if your app told us that the servers appear down.
Also came up with a killer name.
Remotesla. Sweet!!! Take it! Or RemoTesla.
I'd have to figure out what their server response would say when it's down. It was never down for me, so I don't know how their server responds in that scenario. Most likely the connection fails, and that's the error message that I give: Connection failed.

I thought of Remotesla before. But it's just hard to pronounce. I also don't want "Tesla" in the name of the app, because I want to avoid trademark infringement.

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Please build a route planner and energy management tool into the app. All the info needed is there.
Do you mean that it's in the car? The API doesn't give me route planner info. I'd have to come up with my own route planner if I were to add it to the app.
 
I'd have to figure out what their server response would say when it's down. It was never down for me, so I don't know how their server responds in that scenario. Most likely the connection fails, and that's the error message that I give: Connection failed.

I thought of Remotesla before. But it's just hard to pronounce. I also don't want "Tesla" in the name of the app, because I want to avoid trademark infringement.

Darn it, I thought I was so creative...lol... Remote-Sla...OK I'll stop.

The popup from Remote S is that the internet connection appears down, but its not that, its that it cannot talk to the TM server. Not sure if you can change that popup to indicate that.
Anyway, if you could come up with a way to schedule a preconditioning, instead of the silly smart preconditioning...that would be huge.

BTW I used my wife's iWatch with your app, and its so great, that I decided to get a watch for myself. That is how cool your app is.
 
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Darn it, I thought I was so creative...lol... Remote-Sla...OK I'll stop.

The popup from Remote S is that the internet connection appears down, but its not that, its that it cannot talk to the TM server. Not sure if you can change that popup to indicate that.
Anyway, if you could come up with a way to schedule a preconditioning, instead of the silly smart preconditioning...that would be huge.

BTW I used my wife's iWatch with your app, and its so great, that I decided to get a watch for myself. That is how cool your app is.


Yeah it would be cool if the app could somehow tell you if you cannot connect because of your internet connection or if it was the Tesla server that was at fault. But I realize this may sound easier to suggest than to actually implement.
 
Just downloaded it. Really slick interface, well-done. Thanks for your hard work, and for engaging the community so rigorously here. Amazing that you did all this in a short time. Now I may need to get the Watch.....
 
Happy to read all the posts here. High ranking, contacted by Tesla and all that. I re-posted about it in our local groups in Hong Kong, and the word is spreading.

For Hong Kong, the main saving grace is the ability to open the pano roof from the app: If you are locked in, because of other cars parked next to you, Remote S will allow you from enter top down (if ... you have the pano roof, anyway).

Time to go and rate the app in the App Store, maybe write a review if I can figure out how to :)

Keep up the good work!
 
Paste works on iPad

It would be great if the app accepted pasted input in the password field. I store my Tesla password in 1Password. It's very long and very complex. Entering it from the keyboard is very painful. Thanks for taking suggestions!

Installed on my iPad and found that I could paste in my password. Didn't work on my iPhone.

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Feature idea: put Tesla locations (service centers, chargers, & Superchargers) on the background map.
 
Having used the app a little more has only confirmed how awesome the app is. I'll say the Watch UI you've built is damn good. I think the iOS app could use some sprucing up, even with retaining the 1 page dashboard concept. The Watch app is near perfect, given all that can be done with the Apple Watch SDK currently. Don't take this as any criticism at all. For a v1.0 release, it's amazing. I'll use this analogy. What Tesla was able to do on a first release, from a new company with the Model S. It's hard to get things so right on the first try. But you've managed that!
 
Like was said in the other thread: the icons for the pano roof should be inverted (greyed out for non-selected modes and bright/white for the selected mode).


I don't have a sunroof so it would be nice if i don't have the two buttons on my Apple watch. I would rather have the option to open the trunk and frunk.

Any way you could bring back the all window open feature? I miss it so much.
 
This is an outstanding app. Well done! I am absolutely loving it on my Apple Watch. I actually just got back from the gym and decided to leave my key behind - one less thing to carry, store, and potentially lose at the gym while exercising.

With the app and my handy Apple Watch I was able to unlock the door and enable keyless driving - which works MUCH faster than the official Tesla app BTW. Just for kicks, in the gym parking lot, I walked off towards the entrance, left the pano roof open, and used the app to close the pano roof just before heading in. It's really great doing this from the Apple Watch and not having to fumble with my phone.

I think this is a really polished and impressive 1.0. Some early feedback:

1. I added the app to my Glances screen on the Apple Watch for easier access. However, the info in the glances screen is out of date - i.e., an outdated SOC level is displayed and it says the car is charging (presumably residual data from yesterday), when in reality the car was fully charged at a higher SOC and not charging at all. If you could somehow get the Glances screen to show more recent data or indicate it is updating, that would be more useful (and less confusing). Also, from the Glances screen, a harder press on the Force Touch screen doesn't seem to do anything. I didn't realize I had to tap the screen to get the full app to come up. Is that by design? Can you make it respond to both a tap and harder press?

2. It would be nice if you could display charging rate via amperage or miles/hour - or be able to toggle between the two.

3. I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but the unlock icon is confusing - looks like the front passenger door is open.

4. The pano roof icons are a bit confusing as well.

5. On the Watch app, what is the difference been "HVAC On" from the main screen/1st screen to "HVAC On" on the 3rd screen?

Very well done, overall, and again I'm very impressed. Keep up the great work!

EDIT: Okay, never mind - RE: the harder press on the Glances screen. I just re-watched the Apple Watch intro video - looks like tapping from the Glances screen to launch the full app is the way Apple programmed it.
 
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In the other thread there was this exchange:

Not to derail the thread, but is there any chance of an Android version in the future?

Depends on how well the iOS version does and whether Tesla sues me or not.

From reading this thread it is readily apparent that the iOS version is doing incredibly well. Congratulations! It also appears that Tesla has no immediate plans to sue you, since they reached out to you to gauge your interest in working on their app.

So, as an android user who just spent about an hour reading all fifteen pages of this thread while trying hard not to drool on his keyboard, what would you now say the chances are that you'll also bring this to the android platform? (After your health issues are resolved, of course. Best of luck with that!)

If you should need any additional motivation, let me point to the following survey thread, which seems to support the fact that there are at least as many Tesla android phone users as iPhone users, (if not more.)

2015 Poll for all owners - Android or iPhone?

Android iOS Survey.jpg


And finally let me add that I think it is pretty well understood that the android app from Tesla has lagged well behind the iOS Tesla app. This means android users should embrace your app even more than the iOS users have!

In short, please bring this to android!
 
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It would be great if the app accepted pasted input in the password field. I store my Tesla password in 1Password. It's very long and very complex. Entering it from the keyboard is very painful. Thanks for taking suggestions!

Agree. 1Password support for version 2 of the app or maybe a later version would be nice.

Can always cut and paste out of the app though. Only takes a few extra steps. No need to have to actually type out your password.

Installed on my iPad and found that I could paste in my password. Didn't work on my iPhone.

- - - Updated - - -

Feature idea: put Tesla locations (service centers, chargers, & Superchargers) on the background map.

Pasting text into the password field does work on the iPhone. It's just a bit weird to get it to appear. You have to sometimes double tap the right side of the password field or press and hold there. Sometimes it works on the left side as well, but sometimes not. This seems like an Apple OS bug, because I'm not doing anything special to disable pasting. The code on the iPad is identical to the code on the iPhone. Are you on iOS 8.3 on the iPhone?

image.jpg
 
The app only communicates with the Tesla servers directly. None of your login information is sent to me. I have no interest in people's login information, and I welcome anyone to sniff the packets sent by the app. This is also easy to do if you have a wifi router that logs the IP addresses that your devices uses. You'll see that the IP addresses it contacts are only Tesla's IP addresses. Your password is stored in the app for the Apple Watch Start Car feature and/or Touch ID feature. If you don't want the app to store any passwords, just don't turn them on. The only reason why I have to store the password is because to start the car, Tesla's API requires the password. Since the Apple Watch doesn't need a password and the Touch ID doesn't have a password input, the app needs the password to send to Tesla's servers. However, nobody has access to that password except for the app, since apps are sandboxed and inaccessible by other apps.

Fantastic app, Allen! I love it!

But I found a security "flaw" you might want to mitigate. I did some testing with a MITM proxy set up with SSL inspection and installed my own certificate on the iPhone.

Unlike the official Tesla app, Remote S works fine as long as the SSL certificate is approved by the iPhone. The official Tesla app only allows communication with a pre-approved SSL certificate issued by Tesla Motors.

This allows me to read (and alter) the communication, and also hijack the autentication info.

It works with Remote S
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But not with the official app
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Screenshot of the request
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Screenshot of the response
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This allows for some fun!

New speed record for P85D! 467 km/h, 290 mi/h.
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It got pretty hot, though: 99°C (210°F) inside temperature
frrfBv8l.png

Edit: It's not really a flaw, hence I added the quotation marks. It's more of an extra layer of security. Most other apps works the same way yours do. This suggestion only adds another layer of security.
 
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Happy to read all the posts here. High ranking, contacted by Tesla and all that. I re-posted about it in our local groups in Hong Kong, and the word is spreading.

For Hong Kong, the main saving grace is the ability to open the pano roof from the app: If you are locked in, because of other cars parked next to you, Remote S will allow you from enter top down (if ... you have the pano roof, anyway).
Very cool. My family is from Hong Kong. Entering through the pano roof when locked in by other cars was a feature I didn't think of. Do people in Hong Kong get locked in by other cars often?

Having used the app a little more has only confirmed how awesome the app is. I'll say the Watch UI you've built is damn good. I think the iOS app could use some sprucing up, even with retaining the 1 page dashboard concept. The Watch app is near perfect, given all that can be done with the Apple Watch SDK currently. Don't take this as any criticism at all. For a v1.0 release, it's amazing. I'll use this analogy. What Tesla was able to do on a first release, from a new company with the Model S. It's hard to get things so right on the first try. But you've managed that!
I don't mind the criticism. Constructive criticism is how I learn and adapt. Many of my skills wouldn't have improved without it. While others take offense to criticism, I embrace it. I'm actually my own harshest critic as well as I'm bit of a completionist. The thing was that I was very pressed for time to get the Apple Watch app out that I didn't have time to fully polish the iOS app. I figured that instead of making people wait, I'd push it out sooner and then work on tweaking the UI based on feedback. I received my Apple Watch on April 28th. I finished most of the Apple Watch by May 1st, and uploaded the video. I basically spent 90+ hours straight with little to no sleep to get the Apple Watch app done in those four days. I had a more normal sleep schedule that weekend on May 2nd and 3rd, and started work on the iOS app. I had three different doctors appointments that week. One for my complete physical. And two for my major surgery next month. But even while waiting for the doctor, I was coding and testing my app. One of the doctor's appointment was 3 hours away from my house in another city early in the morning, and I had another doctor's appointment near the same area the afternoon before. That was a great opportunity to sleep in my car and test out camp mode instead of driving 3 hours back home and then driving 3 hours to come back the next morning. I submitted the app by early May 8th. So the app you see before you was the work of less than 10 days. Now that I have more feedback and more time, I can polish out a better app as time progresses.

This a app is great! It gave a fun idea for a skit in my Apple Watch review video.
The scene where you call your Tesla and it drives up to you... Let's just say that you may not have to wait much longer before it becomes reality ;)

I don't have a sunroof so it would be nice if i don't have the two buttons on my Apple watch. I would rather have the option to open the trunk and frunk.

Any way you could bring back the all window open feature? I miss it so much.
There's a Open Trunk and Frunk button hidden by Force Touch in the roof control page of the Apple Watch. Problem is that the API currently accepts the commands but doesn't do anything with them (yet). There's also no API command to open all windows, but if I work for Tesla, I could probably relay this suggestion to them.

And finally let me add that I think it is pretty well understood that the android app from Tesla has lagged well behind the iOS Tesla app. This means android users should embrace your app even more than the iOS users have!
It's only been 2 days, so I can't really tell yet if this is a successful app or not. The debut has been stellar, and more than I imagined, though. If this app becomes a steady source of income for me, then I would have no problems with working on an Android version. I will not know for another few weeks of sales. In the meantime, I need to polish up the iOS app anyway, and it would be to have a polished app design to work from when starting the Android project.

This is an outstanding app. Well done! I am absolutely loving it on my Apple Watch. I actually just got back from the gym and decided to leave my key behind - one less thing to carry, store, and potentially lose at the gym while exercising.

With the app and my handy Apple Watch I was able to unlock the door and enable keyless driving - which works MUCH faster than the official Tesla app BTW. Just for kicks, in the gym parking lot, I walked off towards the entrance, left the pano roof open, and used the app to close the pano roof just before heading in. It's really great doing this from the Apple Watch and not having to fumble with my phone.

I think this is a really polished and impressive 1.0. Some early feedback:

1. I added the app to my Glances screen on the Apple Watch for easier access. However, the info in the glances screen is out of date - i.e., an outdated SOC level is displayed and it says the car is charging (presumably residual data from yesterday), when in reality the car was fully charged at a higher SOC and not charging at all. If you could somehow get the Glances screen to show more recent data or indicate it is updating, that would be more useful (and less confusing). Also, from the Glances screen, a harder press on the Force Touch screen doesn't seem to do anything. I didn't realize I had to tap the screen to get the full app to come up. Is that by design? Can you make it respond to both a tap and harder press?

2. It would be nice if you could display charging rate via amperage or miles/hour - or be able to toggle between the two.

3. I think it was mentioned earlier in the thread, but the unlock icon is confusing - looks like the front passenger door is open.

4. The pano roof icons are a bit confusing as well.

5. On the Watch app, what is the difference been "HVAC On" from the main screen/1st screen to "HVAC On" on the 3rd screen?

Very well done, overall, and again I'm very impressed. Keep up the great work!

EDIT: Okay, never mind - RE: the harder press on the Glances screen. I just re-watched the Apple Watch intro video - looks like tapping from the Glances screen to launch the full app is the way Apple programmed it.

1. The more you use the app, the more updated the Glance screen will be. There's something called a background fetch with my app, and it's controlled by Apple's system. Apple devices learn how often you use the app, and automatically update the content in the background accordingly. The more you use the app, the more often Apple allows the app to fetch up-to-date data. I've been using the app for 3 weeks now, and my glance is almost always up-to-date. Apple doesn't let apps work in the background, and background fetch is the only work around for it. The problem with Glances is that when you look at the screen, it shows you outdated info (it'll say when it was last updated on the bottom). It then tries to fetch new data, but usually users stop looking at the glance before it finishes. The work around is to look at the glance maybe 15 seconds later to see the updated info. In my next update (version 1.1), I reduce this time to much less than that. It should start updating almost immediately.

2. I have plans on adding that in version 2.0.

3. I have plans on creating graphics for all scenarios to make it less confusing about which door is open and which is not.

4. Do you mean the Apple Watch app roof icons or the iPhone app? The Apple Watch app icons have labels under them, so it shouldn't be that confusing. I'll probably be adding labels underneath the iPhone version when revision 2.0 comes out.

5. No difference. It was originally in the 3rd screen (climate screen), but people wanted a shortcut to it in the first screen. So I added it to the first screen as well. I felt that it belonged in the climate screen as well, so I left it there.
 
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