# Dumb Question about the Tesla phone app



## JoeP (Sep 7, 2018)

My M3 lives in a detached garage (which has its own wifi so the car is always online). When i fire up the Tesla App on my phone in the house, it often takes a few tries before it can "connect" to the car. Once it does, everything works. (Phone is an iPhone7+) The phone is otherwise completely reliable when close to the car.

IS the phone always trying to use bluetooth to talk to the car, or can it talk to the car through wifi?

One odd thing is there is no cellular service at my house, my phone is on wifi 100% of the time unless i drive about 10 miles away or more, so the only connectivity options that are possible are wifi or bluetooth. I see the car on my wifi network transferring data etc. so that works fine. Its just the "wakeup time" thats an issue.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

As far as I know, the Tesla app talks to Tesla's server farm, which then talks to the car for you.


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## Love (Sep 13, 2017)

JoeP said:


> My M3 lives in a detached garage (which has its own wifi so the car is always online). When i fire up the Tesla App on my phone in the house, it often takes a few tries before it can "connect" to the car. Once it does, everything works. (Phone is an iPhone7+) The phone is otherwise completely reliable when close to the car.
> 
> IS the phone always trying to use bluetooth to talk to the car, or can it talk to the car through wifi?
> 
> One odd thing is there is no cellular service at my house, my phone is on wifi 100% of the time unless i drive about 10 miles away or more, so the only connectivity options that are possible are wifi or bluetooth. I see the car on my wifi network transferring data etc. so that works fine. Its just the "wakeup time" thats an issue.


If you're anything like me, you close every app and don't leave things running in the background. I've broken my own habit of that with the Tesla app and always leave it on. Not sure if that would solve the issues you're having but perhaps worth a shot?


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## JoeP (Sep 7, 2018)

Well if you use an iphone, it kind of does that for you. Apps dont "run in the background" unless you specifically allow that. I may try setting that for the Tesla app though to see if it stays connected to the car.

I doubt it though becuase when i monitor the car on wifi, it goes to sleep and drops its wifi connection for hours at a time. For some reason it wakes up at a random time each day, even if i never touch the car or the app, but i assume thats for updates. Its also awake and on the wifi network anytime its actively charging.


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## Love (Sep 13, 2017)

JoeP said:


> Well if you use an iphone, it kind of does that for you. Apps dont "run in the background" unless you specifically allow that. I may try setting that for the Tesla app though to see if it stays connected to the car.
> 
> I doubt it though becuase when i monitor the car on wifi, it goes to sleep and drops its wifi connection for hours at a time. For some reason it wakes up at a random time each day, even if i never touch the car or the app, but i assume thats for updates. Its also awake and on the wifi network anytime its actively charging.


I just checked mine within settings and either "background app refresh" is on by default or at some point I turned it on.

I think you're right though that it won't fix your issue, but I hope it does.


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## SoFlaModel3 (Apr 15, 2017)

JoeP said:


> My M3 lives in a detached garage (which has its own wifi so the car is always online). When i fire up the Tesla App on my phone in the house, it often takes a few tries before it can "connect" to the car. Once it does, everything works. (Phone is an iPhone7+) The phone is otherwise completely reliable when close to the car.
> 
> IS the phone always trying to use bluetooth to talk to the car, or can it talk to the car through wifi?
> 
> One odd thing is there is no cellular service at my house, my phone is on wifi 100% of the time unless i drive about 10 miles away or more, so the only connectivity options that are possible are wifi or bluetooth. I see the car on my wifi network transferring data etc. so that works fine. Its just the "wakeup time" thats an issue.


The car goes to sleep and can take some time to wake up whether you're on WiFi or not. When you're in range the app will be functional via Bluetooth for door locks and the basics, but you may notice its still connecting while that's going on.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

I would add that you want the car to go to sleep when it’s not being used. If it stays awake, the vampire drain is substantially higher. So I happily accept a bit of a delay for either the app or when I get in the car, as that means it was using less energy just sitting there. You could keep the app active and check in on the car often and have faster responsiveness, but that comes at a price.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

Lovesword said:


> I just checked mine within settings and either "background app refresh" is on by default or at some point I turned it on.
> 
> I think you're right though that it won't fix your issue, but I hope it does.


Does leaving the app "on" in the background cause the car to use additional energy?


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## Love (Sep 13, 2017)

FRC said:


> Does leaving the app "on" in the background cause the car to use additional energy?


I don't notice it. For a really obscure reference, I left my car at 80%, been traveling since Dec 20th, have checked on it occasionally via the app (including just now) and how 65% left.


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