Stories of your Model 3 phone-as-a-key FAILURES, give us a FOB, Tesla!!!

[iwannam3]

What is not normal is my phone working 100% of the time! Since the last update of the app and car my old 5.1.1 android has not failed! Weird because it was erratic and unreliable in the past. I often had to restart the phone to get the app to work. I assume after writing this it will immediately start to fail......

 

[ZooSean]

Looks like iPhone has less failures . I always carry the card together with my driver license, so if phone fails I can always used the card. So far my IPhone X works 99% of time.

 

[mekberg]

Pixel 2 XL here. I hope I don't jinx it, but mine has been flawless. App is set to allow background activity and not optimize for battery usage.

I always keep my phone either in my front pocket or in my hand.

Edit - I've had the car 3 weeks.

 

[timk225]

Do you think it is your app or the car that is "waking up"? The car will still need to wake up if you use the fob but you will not know it as the is no screen on the fob to let you know. You will just keep pressing the buttons expecting something to happen which it will not until the car is awake.

Definitely the phone app waking up, at the bottom right of my phone screen it just spins and spins, and eventually maybe it works without an airplane mode on/off cycle. My S5 phone is Android 6.0.1 .

My 2011 Challenger R/T never had this problem in 3 years with the key fob, I changed its battery once. Put keys with fob in my pocket at the start of the day, leave it there all day, take it out at the end of the day. Simple. Leave phone in car whenever I wanted to.

Model 3 phone-as-a-key? Got to have the phone available to open the car or manually unlock it, got to be ready to switch the phone to the other hand to dig into my pocket for the key card if needed, every time I stop at a store or other location, I HAVE to take the phone in with me so the car can lock, and even if the phone unlocks the door that does not mean I can start the car every time. It's okay when it works, but even when it works I still have to take the phone into stores and places with me to get the car locked, and I never had to do that before, and it is not convenient. So even under the best circumstances the phone-as-a-key is still a pain.

 

[chinnam3]

I just sent [email protected] some of what I go through because honestly, I'd say my phone works as a key maybe at most 10% of the time so I don't count on it at all anymore. I usually turn off Bluetooth now and just turn it on when walking to the car and that works better. Let's see if they come back with anything useful other than but a new phone ha.

Does anyone have a Oneplus 6 and can say how it works for them?

Thanks

I have S5, I have been doing same, turning on bluetooth and turning of everytime. This works most of the times. But if I forgot to turn off bluetooth, next time I reach the car it would not unlock, even after turning off and turning on again.

Last night I was in same situation as op. Came out of friends home, it was raining, it did not unlock, had to fumble with first unlocking the phone in rain while getting wet, and trying turn off/turn on bluetooth with no luck. Had to launch app, wait in the rain until it is connected and unlock the car to just get in. Good 2+ minutes in rain while myself and phone getting wet.

Even after all this, car wants key to start. I ended up using the card which itself is finicky and where we place it to recognize.

What is even more frustrating is, it happens for sure when I try to demo car to friends!!

 

[nvx1977]

Tesla does monitor this forum FYI.

even if that's true, common sense dictates that contacting them at [email protected], a channel they set up SPECIFICALLY for feedback is going to get more visibility than a enthusiast forum not officially sanctioned by the company with millions of posts, most of which have very little feedback value.

Unless a thread here gets high visibility, through reference by a high profile news article or something, most of these threads are going to be unseen by anyone at Tesla that has any influence to do something about it.

 

[Johnny Mac]

First of all I’m not trying to be mean but let me say this… You own a brand new Tesla and you have a galaxy S5 old ass phone come on man get a new phone.

 

[timk225]

I emailed Tesla a link to this forum topic and put some facts in the email along with it.

Johnny Mac - the key fob to my 2011 Challenger R/T was SEVEN years old, and it worked just fine....

 

[N5329K]

Unless you saw something more than I did, the CR complaints we're about the card and difficulty using it when valeting, not about phone key (un)reliability.

And their reporting on Musk's phone call comments about a solution didn't explicitly say anything about a fob. That prob the logical assumption tho.

You're right in that CR's "issues" were with the card, not the phone app. Though plenty of owners here are forced to rely on the card because their phone app won't work reliably for them. Pretty clearly, Tesla needs to fix this problem stat.
EM says a fix is coming, and the CR reviewer describes that fix as a "normal key." Which I would guess means a fob. Hear it at 15:14 or so:

Robin

 

[william5543]

Definitely the phone app waking up, at the bottom right of my phone screen it just spins and spins, and eventually maybe it works without an airplane mode on/off cycle. My S5 phone is Android 6.0.1 .

My 2011 Challenger R/T never had this problem in 3 years with the key fob, I changed its battery once. Put keys with fob in my pocket at the start of the day, leave it there all day, take it out at the end of the day. Simple. Leave phone in car whenever I wanted to.

Model 3 phone-as-a-key? Got to have the phone available to open the car or manually unlock it, got to be ready to switch the phone to the other hand to dig into my pocket for the key card if needed, every time I stop at a store or other location, I HAVE to take the phone in with me so the car can lock, and even if the phone unlocks the door that does not mean I can start the car every time. It's okay when it works, but even when it works I still have to take the phone into stores and places with me to get the car locked, and I never had to do that before, and it is not convenient. So even under the best circumstances the phone-as-a-key is still a pain.

Same frustrations with our 10 day old Model 3. We have never had a problem using the fob with our 2016 Ford C-Max Energi. Fob in your pocket and everything just works. PLEASE give us a fob!

 

[Sandiegodoug]

I’ve had no issues with my iPhone X connection to my 3 since January. Works perfectly. Just had a fob failure in our model x!! Worked in morning dead in evening. Service replaced batteries, still dead. They asked if I exposed to static electricity.
Yea, right. I’ll take phone connection and no fob.

 

[davedavedave]

Only 3 weeks with the Model 3. My iPhone X failed to open once - and I realized it's because the Tesla app had been closed by a reboot. Darn kitty slid the phone off of the charging pad on my nightstand!

LPT: When your phone battery dies, always restart the Tesla app!

 

[DanH]

My iPhone 7 works 90% of the time. Whenever it fails, just need to close and restart the app. However, they should offer the FOB as an option for purchase. I wouldn’t buy one though.

 

[timk225]

Had another phone key problem today. It was actually working well today, but I was in the supermarket and I had to get my store discount card out to use it, but it was difficult because it was stuck under my phone in my pocket. And why? Because I have to take my phone into the store with me every single time, to get the car to lock, because phone-as-a-key SUCKS!!!!

 

[davedavedave]

Android? What mode and how old?
Any task manger or battery saver apps?

Had another phone key problem today. It was actually working well today, but I was in the supermarket and I had to get my store discount card out to use it, but it was difficult because it was stuck under my phone in my pocket. And why? Because I have to take my phone into the store with me every single time, to get the car to lock, because phone-as-a-key SUCKS!!!!

 

[Argyle]

Android? What mode and how old?
Any task manger or battery saver apps?

They are complaining because they want to leave their phone in the car for some reason.

I know, it makes no sense at all.

 

[timk225]

It's a Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0.1 . I haven't added any battery or task manager apps that I know of.

Reasons for leaving phone in car are simple. I don't like having to carry it around every single time I go in a building for 10 minutes, It's not comfortable to put it in a pocket or pull it out of a pocket and drag other stuff out with it, and my 2011 Challenger R/T NEVER made me have to haul the phone around everywhere once in 3 years!

Fobs are better.

 

[TexasEV]

It’s a 4 year old Android phone running an old version of the OS. No wonder it doesn’t always work. You can’t expect the Tesla Bluetooth key to be backwards compatible with all phones past the usual upgrade cycle.

 

[MXWing]

Tesla needs help with automobile gross margins. What’s willingness to pay for a fob?

 

[Big Dog]

They are complaining because they want to leave their phone in the car for some reason.

I know, it makes no sense at all.

Active runner. Don't want to carry a phone with me in a half marathon.

Don't want to carry phone on me when I go swimming in the ocean.

Plenty of other reasons. Just bcos the design geeks in Silicon Valley don't have a life outdoors (and outside of video game consoles), doesn't mean that others of us don't...