# Smart Garage Door Opener and Tesla Screen Control



## m3_4_wifey (Jul 26, 2016)

I just got a Model Y and I'm looking at smart garage door solution short of spending the $300 for Tesla to install Homelink. What do people like?

I'd like geofencing to work with the car, but geofencing with the phone is probably good enough.
I've been caught outside doing yard work and wanting the garage door open, so pulling your phone out beats going into the house just to open the garage.

I'm looking at the MyQ model MYQ-G0401-ES, as it is compatible to upgarde my Genie garage door opener. For $30, you can't complain much about the lack of full features.









*myQ | Smart Home & Smart Garage*
Live simpler with myQ smart home technology. Explore the myQ app, smart garage products, services, integrations and partners for smarter home and garage access.
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EVEConnect works with Smart Garage controllers like MyQ, Wink, Insteon, Home Connect, etc.
The service will allow you to control the garage door right on the Tesla screen. Has anyone tried it and have an opinion if it's worth it?
It looks like there it is free initially and then there's a subscription fee once they have you hooked. 
http://teslaapps.net/en/eveconnect/


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

m3_4_wifey said:


> I've been caught outside doing yard work and wanting the garage door open, so pulling your phone out beats going into the house just to open the garage.


There's a simpler solution to that problem.


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## m3_4_wifey (Jul 26, 2016)

Yeah, I had that old school keypad solution at my parents. The price is about the same and so I think a smart phone solution is what I'm looking at.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

m3_4_wifey said:


> The service will allow you to control the garage door right on the Tesla screen. Has anyone tried it and have an opinion if it's worth it?
> It looks like there it is free initially and then there's a subscription fee


No I've not tried this but also curious if anyone has. My garage door connects to MyQ but there is no subscription cost. Perhaps it is old enough (about 10 years) that it is grandfathered in. Curious about the Tesla on-screen control (through the web browser?) and the geo-fencing.


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## m3_4_wifey (Jul 26, 2016)

Bigriver said:


> No I've not tried this but also curious if anyone has. My garage door connects to MyQ but there is no subscription cost. Perhaps it is old enough (about 10 years) that it is grandfathered in. Curious about the Tesla on-screen control (through the web browser?) and the geo-fencing.


The EVEConnect is linked to MyQ, but works with other smart garage openers as well. As a separate business, with teslaapps.net as it's website, it wants user to sign up for the premier service. Only the premier service includes the opening of the garage door via the Tesla screen, but at a cost of $4/month. I think it is free initially, but not sure how long that lasts. I'm not aware if the other apps they provide are worth it.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

I love internet of things but it seems everything is switching to ongoing subscriptions and quite honestly I have subscription fatigue. I'm with @garsh, an old-school keypad and remote in my car does the trick. I don't need to open my garage door from inside the house, besides my garage is detached anyhow...


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

Love to see MyQ continuing to advance and innovate (however I am also over and done with many of these monthly services wanting in your wallet). I don't know if Tesla makes much off of or cares about the Homelink device they sell and integrate to the car, but they could very easily integrate the MyQ front end into the SW and open close those doors just as easily as they do with Homelink. They integrate the front end - you enter your credentials in the set up in the car, and when your car hits the geofence they send the signal to open/close. I figure they must be making too much off of the Homelink to do this, but literally would be one of the simplest integrations they could do, if they would.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

I have Homelink in my car, but I also have one of the remotes inside the center console as a backup. I probably didn't even need Homelink, but it came with the 2018's.

Personally I don't trust MyQ enough to handle trying to open the garage while driving up to the house in the middle of a pouring thunderstorm. Then you have to get out and be soaked.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

JasonF said:


> I have Homelink in my car, but I also have one of the remotes inside the center console as a backup. I probably didn't even need Homelink, but it came with the 2018's.
> 
> Personally I don't trust MyQ enough to handle trying to open the garage while driving up to the house in the middle of a pouring thunderstorm. Then you have to get out and be soaked.


I've never had MyQ fail me from my phone in 4 years.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

GDN said:


> I've never had MyQ fail me from my phone in 4 years.


Maybe not the app, but sometimes the garage door opener just doesn't feel like it, or the internet isn't strong enough, or MyQ is doing maintenance.


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## TomT (Apr 1, 2019)

GDN said:


> I've never had MyQ fail me from my phone in 4 years.


I have MyQ (and Homelink in my M3) and have had MyQ fail me on three different occasions on my phone over the years...


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## myq (10 mo ago)

m3_4_wifey said:


> I just got a Model Y and I'm looking at smart garage door solution short of spending the $300 for Tesla to install Homelink. What do people like?
> 
> I'd like geofencing to work with the car, but geofencing with the phone is probably good enough.
> I've been caught outside doing yard work and wanting the garage door open, so pulling your phone out beats going into the house just to open the garage.
> ...


We might be a little biased, but you can't go wrong with upgrading your garage door opener with myQ. While we don't condone using you phone when driving, with myQ you can control, secure and monitor you garage door from the myQ app - anytime, from anywhere.

The good news is, we have already started offering in-dash garage control features within select vehicle brands, with more to come on the horizon! Thank you for your consideration...and please stay tuned for myQ updates that drivers like you have been asking for!


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## NR4P (Jul 14, 2018)

myq said:


> We might be a little biased, but you can't go wrong with upgrading your garage door opener with myQ. While we don't condone using you phone when driving, with myQ you can control, secure and monitor you garage door from the myQ app - anytime, from anywhere.
> 
> The good news is, we have already started offering in-dash garage control features within select vehicle brands, with more to come on the horizon! Thank you for your consideration...and please stay tuned for myQ updates that drivers like you have been asking for!


What I like about Tesla's Homelink implementation.

-When I pull up within 30 feet of the garage, it opens with no interaction on my part.
-When I pull up within 30-150 feet of the garage, I have the option on the Touchscreen to SKIP opening, if I see the door open (or it will close being an older Genie)
-When I back out of the garage I can tap close, or leave the door up, I know my spouse is leaving shortly. No messing with the phone.
-My phone is normally connected to the car via BT, so will the MYQ run a parallel BT session if music is streaming while I approach the garage door?

Can the myQ meet all these operational requirements should I get another Tesla without Homelink?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

myq said:


> We might be a little biased, but you can't go wrong with upgrading your garage door opener with myQ. While we don't condone using you phone when driving, with myQ you can control, secure and monitor you garage door from the myQ app - anytime, from anywhere.


Don't get me wrong, I do have MyQ enabled and I've used it to accept deliveries securely when I'm not home. But its place in my opinion is using it when you're very meticulous and patient so you don't make mistakes.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

People buy Teslas for a variety of reasons: save on gas, save on maintenance, superior performance, ongoing updates, self-driving features, etc. My wife bought her Tesla for one reason only-Homelink functionality. I'm just glad Tesla didn't decide to include Homelink with the FSD package. I would've hated to have to spend 12K for Homelink!


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## Klaus-rf (Mar 6, 2019)

My 2018 M3 has Homelink and I've never used it.


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## m3_4_wifey (Jul 26, 2016)

Thanks for all the thoughts and opinions everyone. I've decided to spend the $22 on MyQ and see how good the integration is for myself. At the very least, it will give my parents access to our house when we are not at home. I'd like to see Tesla follow through with Wifi garage door integration to a future UI, but I'm not going to wait for that to happen.

I'm still probably going to use the remote to open and close the garage if the geofence features require a paid subscription. We have a 2018 Model 3 with Homelink included and it is so so. The Homelink range is not as good as the remote that comes with our garage door opener, so I'm not wanting to pay $300 for our new Tesla at this time. I think adding MyQ to my older Genie garage door opener is a no brainer.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

m3_4_wifey said:


> I'd like to see Tesla follow through with Wifi garage door integration to a future UI, but I'm not going to wait for that to happen.


But... but... Elon promised that it will be coming SOON....


__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247411179569287169


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

garsh said:


> But... but... Elon promised that it will be coming SOON....
> 
> 
> __ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1247411179569287169


Nice to know that 2 years still falls into Elon's definition of "soon".


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

TrevP said:


> …everything is switching to ongoing subscriptions and quite honestly I have subscription fatigue.


^^^ This, definitely.


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

Another testament: we had MyQ installed as part of our security system, and we can control it through that system, an iPhone app, etc. We also have an outdoor keypad on the garage door frame, and we have two remote controls for each garage door. No excuse to not get the doors open or closed. Our 2018 Model 3 came with Homelink installed and that works well too. Today, if I were to buy a non-Homelink-equipped Tesla, I would likely not get the Tesla-installed unit at all and honestly just carry the remote and use the geofencing of my iPhone. The built-in convenience is just that a convenience, but for me a minor one at best.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

SalisburySam said:


> No excuse to not get the doors open or closed.


Hopefully your openers also have battery-backup to deal with power outages too.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

garsh said:


> Hopefully your openers also have battery-backup to deal with power outages too.


I actually have one that has wifi, MyQ, and a battery backup all built in. It was clearance priced at Lowes, and I installed it myself, so it wasn't terribly expensive.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

I wish the Tesla homelink would show the myQ garage door status on the Tesla Screen. For the most part it works well. but sometimes it gets out of sync. Many times it’s my fault when I park outside my garage and then leave without thinking, it opens my garage and I don’t know till I return or check the app.

I don’t know why the AI and cameras can’t determine if a garage door is open or closed?

for $300 I should have a sophisticated home link page with links to my hue lights Thermostats etc. geofencing for home and away thermostat settings. There’s can’t be any profit for Tesla since the chip cost more than my garage door opener


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

garsh said:


> Hopefully your openers also have battery-backup to deal with power outages too.


They don't. But there is a walk-through door to gain entrance to the garage. From there, each main door can be quickly disconnected from the opener track and opened/closed manually. There are separately slide locks to manually engage holes in the door tracks to lock from the inside, then exit the garage through the lockable walk-through door.

In our previous home near Columbus Ohio, we had decent but intermittently flaky power, so we installed a whole-house generator completely solving the problem. Here in North Carolina, we've had very, very few and only short outages so we've skipped the house genset. And the weather's better.


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## canadian.bacon (10 mo ago)

garsh said:


> Hopefully your openers also have battery-backup to deal with power outages too.


my Myq is about 3-4 years old and it has a backup battery. My YLR will be here soon and I am not planning on spending the $400 to open the garage door.
I can use the clicker that came with the unit, maybe not 100% elegant as it will be stuck to the sun visor or via Siri on my phone.


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

canadian.bacon said:


> my Myq is about 3-4 years old and it has a backup battery. My YLR will be here soon and I am not planning on spending the $400 to open the garage door.
> I can use the clicker that came with the unit, maybe not 100% elegant as it will be stuck to the sun visor or via Siri on my phone.


Er, maybe I misunderstood @garsh comment; I thought he was talking about backups to operate the openers, not just the MyQ devices. Not sure what good a battery backup is for just the MyQ device. If the power is out you still need a backup for the opener motors themselves. No?


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## canadian.bacon (10 mo ago)

@SalisburySam 
The battery pack is part of the device itself and powers the motor for a few open close cycles in case of a major power failure. 
As for the clicker, it takes 9v batteries I think or 2xAA for the smaller versions. I only had to replace a single 9v in 20 years, even parked outside at -30C.


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

canadian.bacon said:


> @SalisburySam
> The battery pack is part of the device itself and powers the motor for a few open close cycles in case of a major power failure.
> As for the clicker, it takes 9v batteries I think or 2xAA for the smaller versions. I only had to replace a single 9v in 20 years, even parked outside at -30C.


Aaaah, got it. No, don't have those. Sounds handy though as replacements for when the existing openers decide to go South.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

The remote keypads are also handy for guests or service people. At least the new models make it easy to change temporary code.


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## lance.bailey (Apr 1, 2019)

Madmolecule said:


> The remote keypads are also handy for guests or service people. At least the new models make it easy to change temporary code.


my remote keypad (a 13 year old chamberlain) has a "limited usage" code ability. So I can set a code and then have it only good for 3 opens, or 1, or 1000.

I was power washing the driveway last night. a wet process by definition. I had the garage door open (to get stuff) and closed (to protect cars from other stuff flying about). open-close. open-close.....

I would not have wanted my phone in a pocket getting wet. I was more than happy to use the remote keypad.


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## NR4P (Jul 14, 2018)

Madmolecule said:


> I wish the Tesla homelink would show the myQ garage door status on the Tesla Screen. For the most part it works well. but sometimes it gets out of sync. Many times it's my fault when I park outside my garage and then leave without thinking, it opens my garage and I don't know till I return or check the app.
> 
> I don't know why the AI and cameras can't determine if a garage door is open or closed?
> 
> for $300 I should have a sophisticated home link page with links to my hue lights Thermostats etc. geofencing for home and away thermostat settings. There's can't be any profit for Tesla since the chip cost more than my garage door opener


Roost has a garage door position sensor. Easy to install but yet another App. We are all App fatigued.

Luckily my home security system has full integration of garage doors, lights, thermostats, and cameras in one App. But Homelink works well and when activated, my home security system knows it with a door open or door close notification.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

My garage door has the same type of sensor. My home is fully integrated with homelink. My comment was that the Tesla interface seems to be just one way, and doesn’t show the status of the garage door on the display. (also the $300 homelink interface from Tesla is only for the garage door and not other devices) Sometimes it thinks it’s opening it when it’s actually closing it, and vice versa.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Homelink is basically 1980's technology, it's as non-smart as possible.


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## canadian.bacon (10 mo ago)

JasonF said:


> Homelink is basically 1980's technology, it's as non-smart as possible.


I am using HomeBridge on a RPI4 and made it AppleHomeKit friendly, so it works with Siri and geofencing. Geofencing is hit and miss as I walk with my phone and it opens the garage door when I get back from my walks too...


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

JasonF said:


> Homelink is basically 1980's technology, it's as non-smart as possible.


I agree, but the apps on my phones somehow are able to have two way communication with my Homelink devices, wherever I am. The app on my phone clearly shows my garage door position. I know, because I have to use it many times to shut my garage door after my Tesla has opened it. I'm not trying to claim that the MyQ is premium connectivity worth 10 bucks a month like future Tesla game changing connectivity. The existing version is so sophisticated you can actually talk on the phone and navigate at the same time, mind blown. I was hoping the camera and the sophisticated AI would be able to recognize if my garage door was open or closed.

Also, when I stopped for curbside pick up I tried to watch some YouTube. It took forever to load, also when I exited it took a very long time for the cameras to become active, so I had to revert to mirrors, but of course my side ones were folded. It makes it almost unusable, I don't know why the graphics engine can't load in the background, so that when you need to access them they come up virtually instantly. If tesla is too cheap to use their premium bandwidth, it should at least refresh everything and update all apps when you're connected to Wi-Fi.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Madmolecule said:


> I agree, but the apps on my phones somehow are able to have two way communication with my Homelink devices, wherever I am. The app on my phone clearly shows my garage door position. I know, because I have to use it many times to shut my garage door after my Tesla has opened it. I'm not trying to claim that the MyQ is premium connectivity worth 10 bucks a month like future Tesla game changing connectivity. The existing version is so sophisticated you can actually talk on the phone and navigate at the same time, mind blown. I was hoping the camera and the sophisticated AI would be able to recognize if my garage door was open or closed.


Homelink itself is no more complex than those universal remotes that used to learn from your existing remote - like I said, 80's technology. It just happens to have 3 of them for up to 3 garage doors.

The MyQ add-on works by keeping a count of open/close cycles and guessing where the door is based on that. An opener with MyQ in it is a little bit nicer, because it uses the opener's last direction of travel to tell if it's open or closed.


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## SalisburySam (Jun 6, 2018)

Unless you have Homelink 5 with a compatible garage door opener (rare in the wild), the Homelink protocol is a toggle with no recognition of position…it just sends a signal and the garage door activates. MyQ adds a bit of sophistication by counting cycles and triggering whatever is the next one. Trusting none of this, I installed a camera in the garage pointed so the garage doors are visible. The cameras are connected to the home security system accessible from anywhere. The camera is independent verification of each door’s actual position so no opening a closed door at home at night by mistake while in the middle of, say, Mozambique.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

You might be right on my homelink. I just checked and it was my previous, I think liftmaster that had a position switch mounted on the garage door to detect its position. This is just a Chamberlain with myq built in. Because it is part of the opener it should be able to get a detect the position of the door. Even if they're using AI to determine the position it has never been wrong where my tesla obviously has no clue.

I did have the myQ camera in my garage previously but I've moved it to my friends garage. I do have a nest or Google home camera in there, mainly for Amazon deliveries. Amazon seems to be able to tell if my garage is not functioning, even remotely.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

SalisburySam said:


> Unless you have Homelink 5 with a compatible garage door opener (rare in the wild), the Homelink protocol is a toggle with no recognition of position…it just sends a signal and the garage door activates. MyQ adds a bit of sophistication by counting cycles and triggering whatever is the next one. Trusting none of this, I installed a camera in the garage pointed so the garage doors are visible. The cameras are connected to the home security system accessible from anywhere. The camera is independent verification of each door's actual position so no opening a closed door at home at night by mistake while in the middle of, say, Mozambique.


I wish we had AI and cameras on our vehicles that could Spot a closed garage door. I have stated it before but Elon should come up with Tesla tape that we can use for our garage to make our vehicles smarter. Advanced summon might actually work, even in reverse.


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## SR22pilot (Aug 16, 2018)

I have a 2018 with Homelink. My garage has MyQ but I don’t use the subscription service. My car controls the garage just fine. I leave and it closes it. I arrive and it opens the garage.


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## Luvtordrive (7 mo ago)

JasonF said:


> I have Homelink in my car, but I also have one of the remotes inside the center console as a backup. I probably didn't even need Homelink, but it came with the 2018's.
> 
> Personally I don't trust MyQ enough to handle trying to open the garage while driving up to the house in the middle of a pouring thunderstorm. Then you have to get out and be soaked.


What’s not to “trust”? I’ve been using MyQ for 3 years and have never had an issue with it working. At about $30 and to easily install yourself it is an inexpensive, elegant solution to remote garage door opening. The fact that it’s not integrated into my Tesla does not bother me at all.


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## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

Luvtordrive said:


> What’s not to “trust”? I’ve been using MyQ for 3 years and have never had an issue with it working. At about $30 and to easily install yourself it is an inexpensive, elegant solution to remote garage door opening. The fact that it’s not integrated into my Tesla does not bother me at all.


This is an excellent point. How do they sell the MyQ adapters for $30? Don’t they also use the patents that are causing the high prices? If not, then why couldn’t Tesla built a MyQ equivalent device inside each vehicle?


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Luvtordrive said:


> What’s not to “trust”? I’ve been using MyQ for 3 years and have never had an issue with it working. At about $30 and to easily install yourself it is an inexpensive, elegant solution to remote garage door opening. The fact that it’s not integrated into my Tesla does not bother me at all.


Oh I have it installed (opener has it built in), but it gets moody sometimes and doesn’t want to work. Then again, so does Homelink.


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## Luvtordrive (7 mo ago)

shareef777 said:


> This is an excellent point. How do they sell the MyQ adapters for $30? Don’t they also use the patents that are causing the high prices? If not, then why couldn’t Tesla built a MyQ equivalent device inside each vehicle?


Its curious, which 3rd party apps Tesla makes "native" to their eco-system, such as Tidal and Spotify. I'm sure there are big bucks involved for carrying those on the streaming screen. 



JasonF said:


> Oh I have it installed (opener has it built in), but it gets moody sometimes and doesn’t want to work. Then again, so does Homelink.


Maybe you have a wi-fi issue in your home that is causing the "moodiness" of the MyQ. Or it could just be spotty reception of your phone to cell service there at times. I also like the notification feature of MyQ that lets me know if the garage door remains open for a certain length of time. Does Homelink do that?


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