# How to “Air Drop” a dashcam video to a mobile device.



## Mike (Apr 4, 2016)

While watching a YouTube channel called "Wham Baam Teslacam"…

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbMoDtZ6Ani-eyHzCvxeVCw
…the narrator mentioned that "(the driver) immediately airdropped the dashcam video to the local police…".

I have a May 2018 build TM3 and an old iPhone 6…can someone recommend how I could airdrop video from my car to, for example, the local constabulary in a timely fashion.

Assume I am a Luddite. Thanks. Cheers.


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

Maybe they had a raspberry pi (wifi transmitter) in the car?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

They probably plugged the USB drive into their iphone, then airdropped it from the phone to the police.


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

Airdrop - is that an iphone/apple thing only, or is it cross platform? Presumably you've got to get the video from the car to your phone (or device) to airdrop it - there are a number of ways of doing this, but without details, can't get specific about possible steps. There's no airdrop option directly from the car (currently, unless you have some high tech setup like a raspberry pi thing).


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

Air drop would be apple specific, but the term may have been used generically.


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## Mike (Apr 4, 2016)

So, my car has a Samsung (I think) large external hard drive for the dashcam.

My old iPhone 6 doesn’t have, to the best of my knowledge, a way to plug that (or any USB) unit into it as the Apple socket is a unique to Apple style.

Sigh.

So the way my brain works, I would have to pull the storage device out of my car, walk over to my Windows 7 laptop computer, plug the device into one of the USB ports, find the folder, find the film clip, copy it and email it…sound about right?

Signed, Fred Flintstone.

—————————-

You know, if Tesla would simply make these film clips exportable to my phone without the stone knives and bear skins routine, it would be great…


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Most people just do the easiest thing and take a video of the car's display with their phone. That's what they airdropped. There is no easy way to get the video from the USB drive to your phone for most people.


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## Mike (Apr 4, 2016)

JWardell said:


> Most people just do the easiest thing and take a video of the car's display with their phone. That's what they airdropped. There is no easy way to get the video from the USB drive to your phone for most people.


Thanks for that tip, I wouldn't have thought of that technique under duress.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

Yeah sadly there’s no easy way to pull video off the storage unit without dropping it into a computer. Hopefully Tesla will give us the ability to access it over wifi eventually. I mean, the latest update now can keep wifi on while driving so there’s hope!


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

JWardell said:


> Most people just do the easiest thing and take a video of the car's display with their phone. That's what they airdropped. There is no easy way to get the video from the USB drive to your phone for most people.


Huh? To get a video from my car to my phone I just unplug the USB drive from my Model 3 and plug it into my phone. Then the video shows up in a folder on my phone.

Maybe I misunderstood you?


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

PNWmisty said:


> Huh? To get a video from my car to my phone I just unplug the USB drive from my Model 3 and plug it into my phone. Then the video shows up in a folder on my phone.
> 
> Maybe I misunderstood you?


Since the OP used the term airdrop, I guess we should assume he has an iphone. And iphones don't have usb C jacks. Hence the problem.

There are readily available USB C to Lightning cables - has anyone tried one of those? I know you could probably access it with an older ipad, but i don't think an iphone has the same file capabilities.


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## Mike (Apr 4, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Huh? To get a video from my car to my phone I just unplug the USB drive from my Model 3 and plug it into my phone. Then the video shows up in a folder on my phone.
> 
> Maybe I misunderstood you?


I cannot plug a USB into my iPhone 6.


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## gary in NY (Dec 2, 2018)

I watched a few of these videos, and he does say in some cases that the owner videos the screen so that it can be sent to the police or victim. That’s the easy on the spot solution when you don’t have the needed cable or laptop handy.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Huh? To get a video from my car to my phone I just unplug the USB drive from my Model 3 and plug it into my phone. Then the video shows up in a folder on my phone.
> 
> Maybe I misunderstood you?


Like I said... *MOST* people. And yes, Airdrop means iPhone. So very few people have the hardware need to read a USB drive with their iPhone.

In fact, that's why for the first year of Sentry cam I used a sandisk wifi drive, so I could connect to it with the clunky app and download to my iPhone.
And that's why I replaced that with a Roadie, which a nicer app and other features, which again lets me download video to my iPhone.
Because quite often, the time you need sentry video the most, is right after an accident or other event where you are not home, and you are on the road or parking lot with nothing but your phone, and maybe need to give the video to police ASAP. It's why I still suffer with Roadie's slow speeds and bugs, and don't switch to an SSD.

That's why you see sooo many sentry videos on reddit and youtube and facebook that were recorded with the phone camera, of the on-screen player, because lots of people don't even know how to get the original files out of there, and many more people don't have the time to do it, if they even are near a laptop.

Maybe some day Tesla can add a dead easy way to get the video. One button upload video to your tesla account, or one tap to email to your inbox.

(And the still non-perfect reliability of sentry and USB is why I still run a real dashcam as well)


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

JWardell said:


> Like I said... *MOST* people. And yes, Airdrop means iPhone. So very few people have the hardware need to read a USB drive with their iPhone.
> 
> In fact, that's why for the first year of Sentry cam I used a sandisk wifi drive, so I could connect to it with the clunky app and download to my iPhone.
> And that's why I replaced that with a Roadie, which a nicer app and other features, which again lets me download video to my iPhone.
> ...


Thanks for explaining that - we've never had an iPhone in this house. Isn't there an adapter plug so you can plug the USB SSD into whatever kind of data port the iPhone comes with? You know, like a TeslaTap so people can charge their GM Bolt with a Tesla destination charger?


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## sduck (Nov 23, 2017)

PNWmisty said:


> Isn't there an adapter plug so you can plug the USB SSD into whatever kind of data port the iPhone comes with?


Sure there is, see some of the other posts above. But, most people aren't going to buy and carry around some random spare adapter cable just for emergency use, at least until after they actually need it for the first time. And, just taking a phone video of the screen is going to work well enough for a lot of people in these emergencies.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

PNWmisty said:


> Thanks for explaining that - we've never had an iPhone in this house. Isn't there an adapter plug so you can plug the USB SSD into whatever kind of data port the iPhone comes with? You know, like a TeslaTap so people can charge their GM Bolt with a Tesla destination charger?


You would need the Lightning to USB adapter, something very very few people have, and the drive must not draw more than 100mA or somehow figure out how to power the drive separately. And then go into the Files app to navigate the drive. So it's certainly possible, but it's a bit above the level of most people, especially those who like things that "just work."


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## PNWmisty (Aug 19, 2017)

JWardell said:


> You would need the Lightning to USB adapter, something very very few people have, and the drive must not draw more than 100mA or somehow figure out how to power the drive separately. And then go into the Files app to navigate the drive. So it's certainly possible, but it's a bit above the level of most people, especially those who like things that "just work."


I see. I think that might explain why there were so many people who thought an Apple Car was a good idea (increase the size of their Apple ecosystem). Before I couldn't understand the number of people that thought Apple had the engineering chops to build a good EV. People under-estimate what goes into designing and producing a practical, cost-effective, safe, legal motor vehicle at breakeven or better.

Our Samsung T5 SSD's are rated at .38 watts idle and a whopping 3.43 watts peak draw. And I notice USB 2.0 is only rated to provide 2.5 Watts. Since they have been working without issue in our 2018 Model 3's, I'm guessing they were equipped with USB 3.0 ports (rated at 4.5 watts). I didn't even consider power consumption before I plugged them in.


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## lance.bailey (Apr 1, 2019)

i seem to remember a USB storage device that worked as dashcam storage but allowed a connection by the phone to play and manage videos. Darned if I can remember fore than that and being Sunday night with whiskey downstairs, I don't have the gumption to use the search box


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