Phone as Key Issues

[DanL3]

Well yesterday my iPhone SE failed for the first time after probably 100 times being successful. Then it failed again?? so two in one day. Clearly something changed to cause this. I did 2 changes. First, I had put a cover onto the phone. Second, I had been using the Tesla app to preheat the interior of the car with the phone moving from Wifi connection to Wifi connection.

I changed the cover but expect it is really the preheat process messing up the phone's communication processes.

I am still very happy with the change to an iPhone.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Need]

I switched from LG G4 to Pixel 3 XL this week. So far the phone as key was working perfectly out of the box. On the G4, I installed Bluetooth AutoConnect app and it was working about 90% of the time. Once in a while I had to put the phone in airplane mode and switch back.

 

[crackers8199]

quick note on the airplane mode toggle - i had set up a nightly tasker profile to flip airplane mode on and off, thinking that would help (having a regular toggle on it at night while i'm not using the phone). it does not appear to work that way...more failures have happened since i did that than did previously. i'm thinking (or what it appears anyway) that the phone cannot reconnect the phone key after an airplane mode toggle if the car is asleep. even opening the app won't work - the app will say disconnected and the car will not unlock. toggling airplane mode once while the car was awake (after i used the key card to unlock it) worked to fix this, the phone key connected.

just some food for thought...

 

[SMAlset]

Agreed. Widgets one of the best parts of Android. One of the many reasons that I'll never have an iPhone.

Plus, you can link them to gestures & I read and article that you can call them with the Google assistant. Haven't tried it yet. I'll look for that article at some point. It'd be great to just say "OK Google, open the frunk". I carry my phone in a belt holster & it can hear me without taking it out.

The iPhone has a widget for Tesla BTW (swipe to right on phone and widgets at the bottom). Easy to use to turn on fan, open frunk or unlock/lock car. Touching widget screen brings you to the Tesla app quickly and there you can switch between your cars and/or remotely access other functions on the Tesla app. Works well.

 

[rmfpdx]

We took delivery of a new Model 3 yesterday. We had no problem connecting both of our iPhones up as "keys" to accommodate keyless entry and start.

Overall, the functionality seemed great, until we realized the app always needs to be running and then this morning my wife's phone/app showed "disconnected" under the "Phone as a key" setting in the app and it stopped working as a key. This wouldn't be a huge deal, except the "card keys" really suck. The card keys are like going back in time to a physical car key, except these card keys are hard to hold, easy to lose, and try opening the door with one in your hand and a bag of groceries in another with the funky handles. I'd pay another $1000 for a regular old keyfob with basic remote.

On the "phone as a key" disconnect issue. We tried everything to resolve with Tesla. Checked versions of iOS. Rebooted the console. deleted the app and re-added the app. Unpaired the phone from the car (forget/forget). We were able to get it back to a point to set it up again, but when we tried to setup again, it fails every time with "unable to connect to your vehicle", which is ironic, because the same exact app at the same time on the same phone can honk the horn, blink the lights, and do everything else "connecting to the car", except set-up "phone as key". An hour later with Tesla and all we got was a logged issue.

Any other new owners have issues with "Phone as Key" disconnecting and/or unable to set up?

On firmware 81. - 48.15

Today is my 3rd week with the 3. The app on my iPhone X worked fine until this last week. Now, half the time it won't unlock my car and I've had to use the key card. It also won't connect the app to the car when I want to see my charging status while I'm waiting for a supercharger to finish its job. My husband's phone, also an iPhone X, never has this problem with the app failing to connect to the 3. It works exactly as it should. I wish there were a simple way to fix this.

 

[Reeler]

Today is my 3rd week with the 3. The app on my iPhone X worked fine until this last week. Now, half the time it won't unlock my car and I've had to use the key card. It also won't connect the app to the car when I want to see my charging status while I'm waiting for a supercharger to finish its job. My husband's phone, also an iPhone X, never has this problem with the app failing to connect to the 3. It works exactly as it should. I wish there were a simple way to fix this.

Stock price is down so they are trying to sell more $150 fobs. Probably the highest margin item Tesla sells.

 

[srjinatl]

Today is my 3rd week with the 3. The app on my iPhone X worked fine until this last week. Now, half the time it won't unlock my car and I've had to use the key card. It also won't connect the app to the car when I want to see my charging status while I'm waiting for a supercharger to finish its job. My husband's phone, also an iPhone X, never has this problem with the app failing to connect to the 3. It works exactly as it should. I wish there were a simple way to fix this.

Have you tried turning bluetooth off and then back on ? Have you tried shutting down and rebooting your phone?

 

[ninpb]

I've noticed lately (since fart update) that pulling the door handle isn't instant to unlock but if you keep holding the handle open for half a second longer them it does unlock.

Now I'm wondering if before when I thought I had issues with phone/unlock if I just instantly let go of the handle instead of holding it open longer.

 

[Lifeinabox]

The iPhone has a widget for Tesla BTW (swipe to right on phone and widgets at the bottom). Easy to use to turn on fan, open frunk or unlock/lock car. Touching widget screen brings you to the Tesla app quickly and there you can switch between your cars and/or remotely access other functions on the Tesla app. Works well.

View attachment 363996

Thanks for posting. Didn’t know about the widget. Do you find this helps the responsiveness or do you still need to access the app for reliable use?

 

[Bruinfan]

Bump for update:

Thought I'd stop in to say that I can't remember the last time my phone as key (S9) did not work. It's been about 4 months maybe.

Well, twice, I had the wrong car displayed on my app.
and once or twice, the phone is in my pocket, and for some reason, it doesn't read it... so i just shift my hip so the phone is closer to the door, and it works.

So, after months and months of uncertainty (Feb 2018) (worked for weeks, then no work, reset BT, worked for weeks, etc) , I've forgotten about the anxiety...something good has happened with the Bluetooth phone as key reliability... at least for me.

/knocking on wood

 

[chronopc]

Bump for update:

Thought I'd stop in to say that I can't remember the last time my phone as key (S9) did not work. It's been about 4 months maybe.

Well, twice, I had the wrong car displayed on my app.
and once or twice, the phone is in my pocket, and for some reason, it doesn't read it... so i just shift my hip so the phone is closer to the door, and it works.

So, after months and months of uncertainty (Feb 2018) (worked for weeks, then no work, reset BT, worked for weeks, etc) , I've forgotten about the anxiety...something good has happened with the Bluetooth phone as key reliability... at least for me.

/knocking on wood

Mine has been working since I got the car. It's a great feature. Seeing as how you're the first post in months, I'm guessing the problem has mostly been fixed.

 

[BioSehnsucht]

Mine has been working since I got the car. It's a great feature. Seeing as how you're the first post in months, I'm guessing the problem has mostly been fixed.

I can tell you mine (HTC One m9) fails on a near daily basis.

The experience has never improved in my experience and I suspect anyone with an older device such as mine will have the same story. We just got collectively tired of bitching about it because it doesn't solve anything...

Even approaching the car with my phone out of my pocket, and awake, does not guarantee it works immediately. Not even if I have woken the car up by activating the climate control via the app before coming outside.

Probably more and more people have newer phones which work better, and/or have upgraded phones, or just never became a member of TMC (as we're well past the in-the-know early adopter phase of buyers who would be more likely to be members of TMC, at least in the US). So the number of complaints has dropped, but not because it's fixed across the board. It might have improved for some but for myself and others it's still just as bad as day one.

 

[Reeler]

The Chevy Bolt has the same BT proximity unlock feature in its app. I never got it working on my Android phone, but it is rock solid on my iPhone. The fob has proximity too so that stays in my pocket as a backup.

I never have had to dig around for a key card to place it on the center console or B pillar like some dork when the Model 3 is being finicky. Tesla should have had the card key and app BT things be options for the extreme minimalist while still selling the modern proximity fob we all expect for a keyless ignition.

 

[chronopc]

I can tell you mine (HTC One m9) fails on a near daily basis.

The experience has never improved in my experience and I suspect anyone with an older device such as mine will have the same story. We just got collectively tired of bitching about it because it doesn't solve anything...

Even approaching the car with my phone out of my pocket, and awake, does not guarantee it works immediately. Not even if I have woken the car up by activating the climate control via the app before coming outside.

Probably more and more people have newer phones which work better, and/or have upgraded phones, or just never became a member of TMC (as we're well past the in-the-know early adopter phase of buyers who would be more likely to be members of TMC, at least in the US). So the number of complaints has dropped, but not because it's fixed across the board. It might have improved for some but for myself and others it's still just as bad as day one.

My phone is 3 years old. Both my GF and I have a Galaxy S7 Edge and we've never had any issues. The times when it "failed" for her, she just forgot to turn on BT.

 

[BioSehnsucht]

My phone is 3 years old. Both my GF and I have a Galaxy S7 Edge and we've never had any issues. The times when it "failed" for her, she just forgot to turn on BT.

Mine's a tad older (late 2015 I think), and I think it's partially the phone's fault, as it fails less if the phone itself has the screen awake (I suspect the interval that it's broadcasting BT beacons or however it's supposed to work must be too low when screen is asleep). But it still fails even when awake, just less.

I can approach the car, with the Tesla app open, show "Connected" in the phone key state in the app, walk up to the car, press the door handle, and still get the "use card" prompt on the screen. If I keep trying perhaps after a few seconds I hear some clunks and other noises from the car and then the car unlocks for me. I've tried forgetting and re-linking the phone as a key with no discernible difference.

Other times everything works fine.

It's also annoying that at home, when I leave, I almost never can simply release the charging connector with the button on the handle, I must first reach over to the back door and push on the handle enough to wake the car, then it responds to the button on the charge handle to release it. It's plugged into power, why can't it at least be awake enough for that to work without effort? Clearly the car knew it should be unlocked as soon as it woke up (though, also, sometimes I must wait and/or fiddle with the phone, but this part seems to be more reliable than normal walk up unlock...)

 

[RTPEV]

My phone key has been working pretty well lately (enough that I am no longer clamoring for a key fob--although if the fob worked the way I think it should I would probably still get one). Once the app update came out with the persistent notification (which I immediately disabled anyway), it seems to have worked quite reliably. The one exception is that occasionally I will approach the car with the phone in my (front) pocket and it will fail to register, but once I take the phone out of my pocket it seems to register after a few seconds. I almost always have the phone in my hand as I approach the car since I'm going to set it on the console anyway, but occasionally my hands are full and I don't.

The Chevy Bolt has the same BT proximity unlock feature in its app. I never got it working on my Android phone, but it is rock solid on my iPhone. The fob has proximity too so that stays in my pocket as a backup.

My wife finally get her Bolt to recognize her phone. She says it always locks automatically, but never unlocks. That's particularly annoying to her because it always locks at home when she doesn't want it to!

 

[RTPEV]

It's also annoying that at home, when I leave, I almost never can simply release the charging connector with the button on the handle, I must first reach over to the back door and push on the handle enough to wake the car, then it responds to the button on the charge handle to release it. It's plugged into power, why can't it at least be awake enough for that to work without effort? Clearly the car knew it should be unlocked as soon as it woke up (though, also, sometimes I must wait and/or fiddle with the phone, but this part seems to be more reliable than normal walk up unlock...)

Well, it's not really "plugged" in. The contactors that connect the charge port to the battery (through the converter) are open when the car is not actively charging. So it is not technically connected to live power. But your point is still somewhat valid. When plugged in it could go into a less deep sleep and just top off if it needed to, although I suspect some people would be upset if it drew too much power while in this state and had to occasionally activate a charge. I agree with you though...it is quite annoying to not be able to release the charging connector without either waking the car up or opening a door.

 

[SDKoala]

Probably more and more people have newer phones which work better, and/or have upgraded phones, or just never became a member of TMC (as we're well past the in-the-know early adopter phase of buyers who would be more likely to be members of TMC, at least in the US). So the number of complaints has dropped, but not because it's fixed across the board. It might have improved for some but for myself and others it's still just as bad as day one.

I was really vocal earlier on in this thread and having a painful time for the first 6 months of ownership when my Pixel 1 would consistently fail and drive me crazy. Then the Pixel 3 came out and I rationalized spending $1000 on the day it was unveiled just for the chance of having something that would work better as the key. Since then, the phone key has just worked and I no longer have reason to complain.

It's really life changing because gone are the annoyances every time I go to get in the car 2+ times per day. The phone just works all the time without fail. (Disclaimer: it has failed exactly once when something else weird happened with my car in the wake-up process that also caused my wall connector to fail to detach and required pulling the release lever manually.) It convinced me that it's not just a software problem that can be debugged and optimized, but Bluetooth hardware problem with some phones that simply can't be fixed. The only real solution is a new phone.

 

[vickh]

Does this issue happen with Model S as well?

smartwatches/ generic fobs that can used instead?

 

[Reeler]

Does this issue happen with Model S as well?

smartwatches/ generic fobs that can used instead?

Until the Model S/X get their interior update to match the Model 3 design language, they have a traditional fob that has passive entry in it. The generic Model 3 fob doesn't have passive entry.

FWIW, my Chevy Bolt has the phone as a key feature and it is flawless and it includes a passive entry fob too.