Tesla app refusing to connect to car despite phone being connected to car via Bluetooth

[zepisco83]

Hello,

New Tesla owner for 2 weeks and i am loving the car except the Tesla app that refuses to connect to the car and phone key doesn't work despite the phone being connected to the car via Bluetooth.

I have checked multiple forums and i can't seem to find the problem i am facing since i bought the car (new car), my phone is detected (BT) by the MY and i can use it to play music from my phone but the Tesla app just won't connect to the MY, the app just shows connecting but never connects unless i reboot my phone (S23) and i can't use it to unlock or start the car, odd thing is that Tessie stays connected and i can open the car.

I have already reinstalled the app and set up the phone key twice but the problem persists. The first time this happened i had left the key card inside the car but fortunately i was able to unlock the car with Tessie, this morning this happened again and had to unlock the car wih Tessie and start it with the card while i was waiting to my phone to reboot.

In 2 weeks this happened maybe 5 times and even after installing the last update yesterday i have the same issues and nothing is fixed. Can i use Tessie to start the car? I am new to the Tesla environement, it's my first EV and so far i am liking it but the app issues are becoming infuriating.

 

[Goobers]

Have you tried restarting the car? Press and hold both scroll wheels at the same time until the screen blanks out.

 

[zepisco83]

Have you tried restarting the car? Press and hold both scroll wheels at the same time until the screen blanks out.

I only did the last update yesterday but never restarted the car, it's only a 2 weeks old car, it's surprises me if i have to restar already but at this point i will try any suggestions.

 

[Goobers]

I only did the last update yesterday but never restarted the car, it's only a 2 weeks old car, it's surprises me if i have to restar already but at this point i will try any suggestions.

Its actually recommended (at least by some members of this forum) especially after an update to manually restart the car. It seems like after an update, it doesn't fully do a restart and sometimes random issues occur... it has for me a few times.

 

[arnolddeleon]

check the app permissions. Make sure it is not battery optimized, it must be allowed to run in the background. If memory serves, it also wants location services for phone as key.

 

[zepisco83]

check the app permissions. Make sure it is not battery optimized, it must be allowed to run in the background. If memory serves, it also wants location services for phone as key.

All settings are set to Tesla reccomendations.

 

[EVRider-FL]

All settings are set to Tesla reccomendations.

I wouldn’t count on that. Can you include a screenshot of the Tesla app settings in your phone OS? You didn’t say what kind of phone you have, but for iPhone, the settings would be those on the iOS Settings page for the Tesla app.

 

[jkdman123]

I only did the last update yesterday but never restarted the car, it's only a 2 weeks old car, it's surprises me if i have to restar already but at this point i will try any suggestions.

It's a giant computer on wheels. It needs to be rebooted once in a while. Being new doesn't have anything to do with it.

 

[zepisco83]

I wouldn’t count on that. Can you include a screenshot of the Tesla app settings in your phone OS? You didn’t say what kind of phone you have, but for iPhone, the settings would be those on the iOS Settings page for the Tesla app.

Hello, it's a Samsung S23 with android 14.0, i can't show you a screenshot of my phone settings but i granted all permissions even those unecessary and i turned off stop activity if not in use or in background (i don't have my phone in english) and there are no other options.

Location is always on, and the phone (BT) is detected by the MY, i don't have internet connection in my underground parking spot but that shouldn't be a problem to unlock and start the car.

I have changed a few BT settings in dev mode on the phone and stopped Tessie from access the car through BT and this morning the car unlocked and started noemally but it's too soon to tell if it's fixed.

 

[zepisco83]

Found something using Tessie to check previous problems in the car, i went to pick it up in february 2nd, while checking previous incidents there's an entry from december 7th with the title Degraded and Command timeouts on Next-Gen connectivity, the status shows resolved and the problem was "backend issue regarding command timeouts while using the Next-Gen connectivity settings."

I have no idea what this means but it bothers me that i went to pick up a brand new car that apparently it had already issues from 2 months ago. Should i call Tesla and ask about this?

 

[Goobers]

Seems to me that, rather than Tesla being an issue, it’s the Tessie app.

 

[kxg8]

same issue here on MY RWD Berlin.

Tessie app connects to the car just fine. Official app fails to connect except for charging cover, for everything i get command failed error. Did the restart and still the same issue.
iOS, background refresh is on and all settings as per Tesla.

I raised a ticket with Tesla and they called me and asked me to delete Tessie app to revoke API, they warned me , Tessie app will lead to battery issue as it keeps the car always connected. I deleted the tessie app, revoked api access by deleting the account. Reinstalled tesla app, re-paired the bluetooth key.

Still same issue of command failed and cannot connect to the car.

Car is born on 7th Jan and go delivery last week.

 

[brooknorton]

I got my M3 Highland about a week ago. iPhone key worked fine till today, and now I have all the symptoms as this thread describes. I just throw up my hands and use my entry card and hope it fixes itself someday.

 

[brooknorton]

Makes me wonder if dog mode is going to suddenly stop working when it is needed. Disappointed in the key unreliability.

 

[zepisco83]

Just an update, after revoking BT access from the Tessie app i no longer have issues unlocking and starting the car, it's been 2 weeks and not a single problem with the Tesla app but in the last 2 weeks i also installed 2 software updates, maybe it was the updates that fixed the issue.