What kind of phone do you use?

[SDKoala]

Most likely it's the phone. Pixel 3 and 3XL seems to work flawlessly from what I've seen anecdotally here on the forums. @SDKoala and I tried to work through some of the Pixel's issues together. He recently moved on to a Pixel 3 and things just work. No changes on the car side. My theory is that the car is having a hard time "hearing" the phone's broadcasts, so it's hit or miss. If you're standing at the wrong corner of the car, or you're turned the wrong way, or you're wearing jeans, etc. the car can't tell how far away you are. But if you see that the phone is BT-connected, hitting the unlock button always works.

There are also edge cases where something about the phone-car connection gets corrupted, and then nothing works until you toggle BT or airplane mode, but I find that error condition to be quite rare these days. It's just proximity woes.

Just want to confirm that my Pixel 3 still works all the time. One failure in the past 6-7 months randomly that has not been reproducible.

 

[SDKoala]

I think you should still hold off for Pixel 4. The phone key issues can be annoying but not unbearable. I'm actually planning to hold out for Pixel 4 as well. With phone costs the way they are, it doesn't feel right to be upgrading so frequently anymore.

Better option might be to wait for Pixel 4 and get a Pixel 3 at a discount. I'm sure the 4 will have upgrades, but the 3 is great. Aside from the BLE working better, the camera is fantastic and everything runs silky smooth.

 

[gbrgbr]

I use a windows phone. obviously the tesla app is not supported on windows. therefore I have an android phone which has no sim card in it. it stays on my desk at home and functions purely as a remote control for my m3. I also use the tesla app through bluestacks on my windows computers. I was using the tesla keycard to get in/out of the car but the fob is far more convenient than the card. I've used android a lot and iphone some - I despise then both.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

I think you should still hold off for Pixel 4. The phone key issues can be annoying but not unbearable. I'm actually planning to hold out for Pixel 4 as well. With phone costs the way they are, it doesn't feel right to be upgrading so frequently anymore.

Except you are talking about waiting until around November when Google will probably start marking down the Pixel 4......

For example, I got my Pixel3XL just before Thanksgiving 2018 on a weird special deal from Google for a net effective price of probably $499. My wife got hers a couple of weeks later on a different weird special Google deal for $200 less.
Note: We use Google Fi, so both deals were from Google directly. The first included $400 of credits for Google Fi and the second included $700 in travel credits,

 

[nvx1977]

Except you are talking about waiting until around November when Google will probably start marking down the Pixel 4......

For example, I got my Pixel3XL just before Thanksgiving 2018 on a weird special deal from Google for a net effective price of probably $499. My wife got hers a couple of weeks later on a different weird special Google deal for $200 less.
Note: We use Google Fi, so both deals were from Google directly. The first included $400 of credits for Google Fi and the second included $700 in travel credits,

other thing to consider is that the money I've saved just being on Fi (compared to any of the big 4 carriers in the US) is worth a lot more than the one-time cost of a phone. Fi is amazing if your usage patterns align with being on wifi.

 

[RC2785]

Galaxy S9+. 90% of the time it works great. The other 10% for what ever reason it makes me unlock my phone before unlocking the doors. But I've never had to use the key card, so I'm fine with it.

 

[israndy]

All this talk about never failing as a key. I have noticed that when I move my phone from my pants to my shirt pocket I have had the phone fail to open the door. I now grab the phone instead of trying to open the door a second and third time if it doesn't open immediately. Same with my Kevo door lock. Very sensitive to where the phone is. I wonder if those who have complained about the phone key over the year have had issues with placement.

I do have a friend who always had issues and claims that moving from the 6 to the 8 has stopped his issues with the iPhone as key. So that's one data point.

-Randy

 

[David L]

OnePlus 6t works well as long as the Tesla app is on the battery non-optimized list. Unfortunately, it has a bug that randomly removes apps from the non-optimized list, so I can't recommend it until it's fixed.

 

[T34ME]

Hers: S8, 100%

His: Jelly Pro, 100% (but only if I take it out of my pocket)

Both run latest, up-to-date Android

 

[muleferg]

7+ Iphone

 

[Arizona Willie]

Some Iphonefans claimed Tesla owners would own far more Iphones and Android. Doesn't look that way.
At this point in the final afternoon of the poll it is rated 50=50 with 60 Android and 66 Iphones.

Pretty much a tie.

So would app developers please write for Android as well as Iphone?

 

[angelman]

I just moved from a Galaxy s7 to an s9. I bought the s9 on ebay for $330 for a brand new which seemed too good to be true. So far so good, car unlocks every time no issues at all. Had an issue with the s7 maybe 5% of the time or less though.

 

[SDKoala]

other thing to consider is that the money I've saved just being on Fi (compared to any of the big 4 carriers in the US) is worth a lot more than the one-time cost of a phone. Fi is amazing if your usage patterns align with being on wifi.

Getting off topic, but I tried Fi briefly and it was more expensive with my usage for much worse coverage/reliability. I have unlimited voice/text and 2GB data (just about exactly what I use) with Cricket for $30/mo. The same would be $40/mo with Fi and not work nearly as well. But in premise I agree--prepaid options are just so much cheaper than being on a contract. I guess it's different if you have to make payments on your phone, but I've never believed in that and always buy my phones outright.

 

[Runebane]

Some Iphonefans claimed Tesla owners would own far more Iphones and Android. Doesn't look that way.
At this point in the final afternoon of the poll it is rated 50=50 with 60 Android and 66 Iphones.

Pretty much a tie.

So would app developers please write for Android as well as Iphone?

The reason they normally don't is all the flavors of Android. While most here work, that doesn't mean the appcode would work for each of the androids depending on what each carrier as well as manufacturer did to the android OS. That's the nightmare that keeps app coders from coding fun stuff for us

 

[zhu-]

iPhone X. Failed twice in the first week or so of delivery but flawless since then.

 

[CNC1]

Pixel 2XL