# When multiple cars share the App



## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

My wife and I each drive a Model 3 and both cars are accessible on her app and on mine. We one of us leaves the house, the other invariably keeps an eye on their travels. The frustration comes when I later go to drive my car not realizing that my phone is still set to her car. I'll get the "phone not connected" notification before I realize that I'm on the wrong car. Then I have to reopen the app and change to my car before I can drive. I know this is a minor issue, but it's a frustrating one.

Other than me being less scatterbrained, is there currently a work-around for this; or is this a software update that I'll have to hope for?

@GDN


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

I'm with you, this is likely my number 1 daily complaint about the cars. I don't have many complaints, but this one is annoying. We are in the same boat, both cars are on one account, and we both drive both cars. I would like and prefer both to respond (unlock and drive) to either of us walking up to it regardless of which car is selected in the app. If this were to work then I would rarely need to open the app when going somewhere. It is almost a daily occurrence however with one of us being forced to open the app and change cars so that we can get in and go. 

I have yet to know of or find anyway around this. 

Along with this, one of my top requests is still that we have "roaming" car profiles. My settings should follow me to any Tesla I have access to. I don't care how many times I've tried I can not get the seat to the same adjustments in both cars.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Stop spying on your wife?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

If you have an Android phone, create a "work" profile, and have the app remain on her car in that profile. Use that profile's Tesla app instance for your wife's car.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

GDN said:


> I'm with you, this is likely my number 1 daily complaint about the cars. I don't have many complaints, but this one is annoying. We are in the same boat, both cars are on one account, and we both drive both cars. I would like and prefer both to respond (unlock and drive) to either of us walking up to it regardless of which car is selected in the app. If this were to work then I would rarely need to open the app when going somewhere. It is almost a daily occurrence however with one of us being forced to open the app and change cars so that we can get in and go.
> 
> I have yet to know of or find anyway around this.
> 
> Along with this, one of my top requests is still that we have "roaming" car profiles. My settings should follow me to any Tesla I have access to. I don't care how many times I've tried I can not get the seat to the same adjustments in both cars.


I "liked" your reply because it's the polite thing to do, but I don't really like it. I was hoping your response would be along the lines of: "How stupid can you be! All you have to do is..." Perhaps, someday, Tesla will come to appreciate those of us who own more than one!


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

FRC said:


> My wife and I each drive a Model 3 and both cars are accessible on her app and on mine. We one of us leaves the house, the other invariably keeps an eye on their travels. The frustration comes when I later go to drive my car not realizing that my phone is still set to her car. I'll get the "phone not connected" notification before I realize that I'm on the wrong car. Then I have to reopen the app and change to my car before I can drive. I know this is a minor issue, but it's a frustrating one.
> 
> Other than me being less scatterbrained, is there currently a work-around for this; or is this a software update that I'll have to hope for?
> 
> @GDN


What would you expect it to do? Unlock both cars? Wouldn't people complain about that as well?

I don't really have that problem with my two cars. But then again I have a work phone and a personal phone, one stays on one car, the other on the other car.

I'll go with the don't spy on her though.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

I would like it to allow me, when sitting in either car, with either of our phones, to drive the car I'm in regardless of which car is selected in my app. And my wife and I keep an eye on each other with consent out of concern for each other, thanks.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

Ed Woodrick said:


> What would you expect it to do? Unlock both cars? Wouldn't people complain about that as well?


This is what it would have done with the behavior of the car when it was first released. The car would unlock when you were within bluetooth range. This proved to be a bad idea as cars would lock and unlock in the garage, while you were in the house using your phone and other times you didn't really want the car to unlock.

Once this was changed you have to pull the handle to complete the unlock process. So I have both cars sitting next to each other and the other car will not unlock, unless of course someone pulls on the handle, which we don't do, but there is on occasion we want to grab something out of one car as we get in the other one to leave, so yes I'm OK with both cars still unlocking like that.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

+1 for being annoyed with this limitation. No Androids here so can’t attempt to implement @Garsh’s suggestion.


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## FRC (Aug 4, 2018)

Bigriver said:


> +1 for being annoyed with this limitation. No Androids here so can't attempt to implement @Garsh's suggestion.


And shouldn't have to!!


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## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

I had similar issues when I was swapping between my 3 and an X. Took me a few times to realize it wasn’t a BT issue but the car ”chosen” in the app. My solution for when we eventually get the Y is to get the passive key fob for my wife and I. It’s relatively small, so not too inconvenient.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

FRC said:


> And my wife and I keep an eye on each other with consent out of concern for each other, thanks.


I assumed as much. My first reply was solely for the LOLs. We do the same thing in our household. 

Another possible workaround - use an old phone for watching the other car. I have a couple of old phones in the house that I use for various non-phone purposes - mostly as TV remotes for controlling Chromecasts.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

shareef777 said:


> I had similar issues when I was swapping between my 3 and an X. Took me a few times to realize it wasn't a BT issue but the car "chosen" in the app. My solution for when we eventually get the Y is to get the passive key fob for my wife and I. It's relatively small, so not too inconvenient.


As our situation is with an X with a key fob and a 3 with car as key, I can tell you that the fob may help, but will not completely eliminate the problem. Although the key fob can be your main way to enter the car, there are a host of reasons that you end up checking the app about the car. About half the time I remember to immediately change the app back to the model 3, which BTW means that I needlessly wake it up. The other half of the time leads to a DUH at some point in the future as I try to get into the model 3.


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

If you have Android you can activate NFC and just hold the phone to the b pillar. That unlocks the car and works surprisingly well.


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## Needsdecaf (Dec 27, 2018)

FRC said:


> I would like it to allow me, when sitting in either car, with either of our phones, to drive the car I'm in regardless of which car is selected in my app. And my wife and I keep an eye on each other with consent out of concern for each other, thanks.


Use the Life360 App (or another) to keep an eye on your wife. We have it for our family so I can see where my kids are, it works well although the "trip" feature is laggy and skips a bunch of stops. Bonus, it will also track when she is not in the car.

Leave the Tesla app set to your car.


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## shareef777 (Mar 10, 2019)

Bigriver said:


> As our situation is with an X with a key fob and a 3 with car as key, I can tell you that the fob may help, but will not completely eliminate the problem. Although the key fob can be your main way to enter the car, there are a host of reasons that you end up checking the app about the car. About half the time I remember to immediately change the app back to the model 3, which BTW means that I needlessly wake it up. The other half of the time leads to a DUH at some point in the future as I try to get into the model 3.


Well this was specifically about getting into the car. Though thinking about it, and how driver profiles are tied to individual key fobs, it would mean I'd need to get 2 Model3 and 2 ModelY fobs so my wife and I can grab which ever one we're getting into and have it auto-adjust the seat.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

Needsdecaf said:


> Use the Life360 App (or another)


We just use Google Location Sharing - completely free.
Google Maps: Share your real-time location with others


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

Needsdecaf said:


> Use the Life360 App





garsh said:


> We just use Google Location Sharing


We use Apple's Find Friends. But it is much more laggy and non-precise than the Tesla app.


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> If you have Android you can activate NFC and just hold the phone to the b pillar. That unlocks the car and works surprisingly well.


The problem with this is that you also have to lock the car, which you can easily forget to do if you are used to walk-away locking.


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

SimonMatthews said:


> The problem with this is that you also have to lock the car, which you can easily forget to do if you are used to walk-away locking.


It doesn't auto lock on walk away?


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

davidviolin said:


> It doesn't auto lock on walk away?


This isn't the exact example you are referring to, but on iOS if I unlock one car in the garage to get something out and then switch cars in the app and unlock the second car, when I walk away only the second car is going to lock with Walk Away Lock. It doesn't know where I am or that I've walked away for the first car because I changed it in the app. This is definitely another reason this needs some different logic.


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## Bigriver (Jan 26, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> It doesn't auto lock on walk away?


I don't know anything about the NFC technology. Is it emulating the key card? If so, walk away lock doesn't work with the key card. And taking off on another permutation of @GDN's example, if I hang around the vicinity of the car too long after arriving home, walk away lock doesn't work when I finally do walk away.


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> It doesn't auto lock on walk away?


Not if you unlocked it using NFC.


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

Weird. I just tried on my car. Turned off BT, unlocked the car with NFC, started the car w NFC. Then turned on Bluetooth and let car connect to phone while driving. Car locked itself when I walked away.


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## GDN (Oct 30, 2017)

davidviolin said:


> Weird. I just tried on my car. Turned off BT, unlocked the car with NFC, started the car w NFC. Then turned on Bluetooth and let car connect to phone while driving. Car locked itself when I walked away.


I'm not sure what is weird about this - it had communication with your Bluetooth - you got out of the car - it knew no one was inside and you walked away. This is how it should work, it won't matter how it was unlocked.

The same is true on the opposite side, walk up and unlock with your bluetooth and then turn your bluetooth off. When you park, get out and walk away, your car will not lock.

The unlock and lock are not related.


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> Weird. I just tried on my car. Turned off BT, unlocked the car with NFC, started the car w NFC. Then turned on Bluetooth and let car connect to phone while driving. Car locked itself when I walked away.


That wasn't my experience. I'll have to try again.


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

GDN said:


> I'm not sure what is weird about this - it had communication with your Bluetooth - you got out of the car - it knew no one was inside and you walked away. This is how it should work, it won't matter how it was unlocked.
> 
> The same is true on the opposite side, walk up and unlock with your bluetooth and then turn your bluetooth off. When you park, get out and walk away, your car will not lock.
> 
> The unlock and lock are not related.


I agree. "Weird" was response to simons message about it not working. Maybe he doesn't have "walk away lock" enabled in the car?


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## Achooo (Oct 20, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> Weird. I just tried on my car. Turned off BT, unlocked the car with NFC, started the car w NFC. Then turned on Bluetooth and let car connect to phone while driving. Car locked itself when I walked away.


Does my iPhone 12 Pro Max have this NFC capability that you speak of, and if so, can I use it in the same way?

Edit: Reason I ask: It would be wonderful to be able to lock/unlock one car with NFC while the other car is selected in the app.


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## 3V Pilot (Sep 15, 2017)

garsh said:


> If you have an Android phone, create a "work" profile, and have the app remain on her car in that profile. Use that profile's Tesla app instance for your wife's car.


Thanks @garsh for this AMAZING solution. Even when I was attempting to set this up I didn't think it could possibly work. Now I never have to swap cars on the app to move them around the driveway or jump back and forth! Best hack solution ever! You rock man!!!!

For those (like me) who are not sure how to set this up here is a quick set of instructions:

On your Android phone:

Go to settings, search for "Profiles"

Setup a new profile, call it "Work" or "Tesla" or any name you want.

It will take several minutes and several "yes" clicks but just wait for it.

On the new profile, install the Tesla app.

Login with your info and setup the phone key for at least one car. (I had to play with it a bit, turned on airplane mode, then off, before I could get this to work in the 2nd profile.)

The last step can also be tricky if you have 2 factor authentication turned on but it can be done. If you have trouble then turn off 2FA and turn it back on after setup.

Go back to your original profile and select the other car in your account. Now your phone is always active as the key to both cars!

LOVE IT!!!!


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

Achooo said:


> Does my iPhone 12 Pro Max have this NFC capability that you speak of, and if so, can I use it in the same way?
> 
> Edit: Reason I ask: It would be wonderful to be able to lock/unlock one car with NFC while the other car is selected in the app.


Apple does not have NFC unfortunately.


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

davidviolin said:


> Apple does not have NFC unfortunately.


That's not true. They have NFC, it's just not as open to use as Android is.


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## davidviolin (Jan 18, 2019)

iChris93 said:


> That's not true. They have NFC, it's just not as open to use as Android is.


You are correct, I was wrong. Thanks! Didn't know they implemented it finally. When I used iPhone (few years ago now) it didn't have NFC. Glad they have it now!


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## SimonMatthews (Apr 20, 2018)

davidviolin said:


> I agree. "Weird" was response to simons message about it not working. Maybe he doesn't have "walk away lock" enabled in the car?


I do have this enabled. It works if I unlocked the car via the normal walk-up Bluetooth method (but this frequently requires me to disable and enable Bluetooth on my phone).


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## littlD (Apr 17, 2016)

As for us, my wife doesn't drive and I have Middie and Middy, so I'm kinda stuck with selecting the car in the app.

1st world problems for us multiple Tesla owners I think!


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