# Does your Model 3 "wake up" when you walk up to it?



## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

One of the issues I reported when I took my car to the service center was that when the car is "asleep" it doesn't wake up when I walk up to it. If it's not already awake I'd have to open the app for it to wake up the car before the doors would unlock. I'm curious to see what they're able to do to fix that. Has anyone else had this problem and were able to get it fixed?

EDIT: FYI I have a Samsung Galaxy S8. Not sure if that makes a difference or if it has anything at all to do with the phone.


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## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

I was the only one having issues on this?


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## Maxx77 (Apr 5, 2018)

I haven't had that issue. I've noticed sometimes the screen doesn't come on immediately when I get into the car, but it still unlocks automatically when the phone is near, and I can still put it in Drive and go while it's still waking up.


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## Maevra (Oct 24, 2017)

ng0 said:


> I was the only one having issues on this?


iPhone user here, and I've experienced that a couple times before on the current firmware. Both times this happened it was because I ran out of the house first thing in the morning and had not opened the Tesla app since the night before. I'm thinking the car went into deep sleep so I had to wake it first.

I've also had times where I was next to the car, chatting with folks, and the car will lock itself after a minute or two. The car will not unlock unless I manually trigger it via the app- figured it was a security measure or some funny BT timeout thing.


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## Maxx77 (Apr 5, 2018)

Maevra said:


> I've also had times where I was next to the car, chatting with folks, and the car will lock itself after a minute or two. The car will then not unlock unless I manually unlock via the app- figured it was a security measure or some funny BT timeout thing.


Auto locking itself after a few minutes even if you're near the car seems to be normal. I'm also an iPhone user for what it's worth. I've seen my car lock itself when I'm right beside it in the garage and still have the phone in my pocket. It always unlocks as soon as I push on the door handle or rear trunk button though.

Something you both should probably try: look at the bluetooth settings on the phone when this happens. See if the phone is still connected to the car. Just because it's connected via the app doesn't mean they're communicating to each other on bluetooth. If it's saying Not Connected then that's part of the problem. It's then a matter of whether it's the bluetooh on the phone flaking out, or the car.


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## Maevra (Oct 24, 2017)

Maxx77 said:


> Something you both should probably try: look at the bluetooth settings on the phone when this happens. See if the phone is still connected to the car. Just because it's connected via the app doesn't mean they're communicating to each other on bluetooth. If it's saying Not Connected then that's part of the problem. It's then a matter of whether it's the bluetooh on the phone flaking out, or the car.


Thanks! I will observe this next time! I do tend to blame the BT/phone 99% of the time.. just because I'm biased that way.


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## John (Apr 16, 2016)

I've had a couple of times lately where the unlocking works fine but the car takes 5 seconds to wake up after pressing the brake pedal. Mostly at home, but it also happened last night outside a restaurant. My reaction was, "Was it really necessary for it to sleep during dinner?"

Anyway, I assume it's sleeping, not rebooting, because it seems faster than the time it takes to boot.


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## DWolvin (Mar 31, 2018)

For the last week~ish mine unlocks in the morning as I pull the handle, Bluetooth turned on right before I walk out of the house. But leaving work the same scenario only works about half the time. v20 (Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX; FWIW) . I don't really mind opening the car with the card but I'd like the phone work and be more consistent.


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## bstr (Sep 13, 2017)

ng0 said:


> One of the issues I reported when I took my car to the service center was that when the car is "asleep" it doesn't wake up when I walk up to it. If it's not already awake I'd have to open the app for it to wake up the car before the doors would unlock. I'm curious to see what they're able to do to fix that. Has anyone else had this problem and were able to get it fixed?
> 
> EDIT: FYI I have a Samsung Galaxy S8. Not sure if that makes a difference or if it has anything at all to do with the phone.


Hi, I may have found the solution. I have a Galaxy S8 also and have been dealing with this for 2+ months. Check this setting in your phone if you haven't already.

Settings
Apps
Tesla
at the bottom under Advanced, check the setting for 'Apps that can change system settings'. Turn it on to allow permission to turn bluetooth on/off.


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## Bernard (Aug 3, 2017)

ng0 said:


> I was the only one having issues on this?


Nope. Same problem. I just whip out my phone and press the unlock icon. (It does work, but very rarely. I have an older phone -- Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo, it may be that its version of bluetooth is too far out of date for automatic detection.)


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## Bernard (Aug 3, 2017)

Bernard said:


> Nope. Same problem. I just whip out my phone and press the unlock icon. (It does work, but very rarely. I have an older phone -- Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo, it may be that its version of bluetooth is too far out of date for automatic detection.)


Right, forgot to mention that my phone disconnects from the car whenever I am 10ft away or more; it will reconnect automatically, but usually only after I enter the car... Don't want to replace it, though, because I have three non-negotiable requirements (replaceable battery, microSD card, water-resistant) that almost no contemporary phone can satisfy -- damn Apple for the first two!


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## AJ Barnert (Feb 24, 2018)

bstr said:


> Hi, I may have found the solution. I have a Galaxy S8 also and have been dealing with this for 2+ months. Check this setting in your phone if you haven't already.
> 
> Settings
> Apps
> ...


My Settings > Apps > Tesla doesn't HAVE an "Advanced" option. Bluetooth on BOTH iPhone SEs regularly die, but still the phone sometimes locks when you're 2' away (R front), sometimes unlocks when you open the door (not always), often locks on walk-away (but not always); usually does NOT re-connect by turning Bluetooth off & then on, often requires card to start the car even if it's unlocked it. Ain't life mysterious?


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## DWolvin (Mar 31, 2018)

Well, I solved my issue- the Bluetooth radio actually was going, and stopped entirely last week. New Essential Phone (PH1), and it's working much better now. It's still possible to confuse the car by walking away and returning quickly after it locks, but I think that's as good as we will get with Bluetooth.


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## breadfan35 (Jul 18, 2018)

So far I have had 99% success rate with the car unlocking as I walk up to it. The one time it didn't do it was right after I changed the app to "Use my location only when using the app". I changed it to allow the app to always use my location and it has worked every time since then. I'm not completely sure those two are related, but that's been my expereince.

Side note, my Wife does have the issue of it not opening right away at times with her phone, even with location always on. I use an iPhone X and she is on an iPhone 6S.


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## IPv6Freely (Aug 8, 2017)

breadfan35 said:


> So far I have had 99% success rate with the car unlocking as I walk up to it. The one time it didn't do it was right after I changed the app to "Use my location only when using the app". I changed it to allow the app to always use my location and it has worked every time since then. I'm not completely sure those two are related, but that's been my expereince.
> 
> Side note, my Wife does have the issue of it not opening right away at times with her phone, even with location always on. I use an iPhone X and she is on an iPhone 6S.


I would 100% see that as related. I'm also not surprised that older phone hardware would have difficulties.


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## kort677 (Sep 17, 2018)

I've had bouts with the bluetooth losing connectivity, I don't know if the issue is the car or the phone.


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## ng0 (Apr 11, 2017)

Been awhile since I looked at this thread, but just wanted to mention that my phone connects pretty close to perfectly now that they have added the background app feature where you see the app in the notification bar. Sometimes it takes a few seconds when I haven't opened the car for a bunch of hours, but its definitely a lot better. My biggest issue is that I have to open my front door before i open my backdoors or unlock my charger.


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## Bernard (Aug 3, 2017)

ng0 said:


> Been awhile since I looked at this thread, but just wanted to mention that my phone connects pretty close to perfectly now that they have added the background app feature where you see the app in the notification bar. Sometimes it takes a few seconds when I haven't opened the car for a bunch of hours, but its definitely a lot better. My biggest issue is that I have to open my front door before i open my backdoors or unlock my charger.


The phone connecting business was resolved for me in 32.2, but then broken again in 34.x releases, and now works again in 36.2. Great it's working for you as well.
The "unlock the front door" (actually, the driver's door, or at least it does not work for me with the front passenger door) before you can open the rear doors is common (I've experienced it over and over and there are lots of posts about it) and seems to depend on how long the car was left on its own.


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## JoeP (Sep 7, 2018)

i have an iphone7 and i have yet to have to use the card to unlock the car except one time when i left the phone in the tray inside the car and it timedout and locked while iwas outside of the car with the doors closed.

Then i couldnt push on the door handle and have it unlocked, i had to hold my wallet against the b pillar to unlock it with the tesla card. But thats only one time so far. (and i understand it, it seems reasonable since the phone wa sin the car and probably asleep)


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## MDEVFan (Oct 6, 2018)

I'm very frustrated as my newly arrived car doesn't "wake up" when I approach. I have a Samsung Galaxy 7. I have to either use the card or unlock via app. 

Today's upgrade didn't fix problem. Neither did the suggestion to turn airplane mode on/off or to check the "Apps that can change system settings." Other suggestions?!?

At this point, just give me a key fob - please!


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## MelindaV (Apr 2, 2016)

MDEVFan said:


> I'm very frustrated as my newly arrived car doesn't "wake up" when I approach. I have a Samsung Galaxy 7. I have to either use the card or unlock via app.
> 
> Today's upgrade didn't fix problem. Neither did the suggestion to turn airplane mode on/off or to check the "Apps that can change system settings." Other suggestions?!?
> 
> At this point, just give me a key fob - please!


there are some extensive Android specific threads.
This is one seems to have the most info included
https://teslaownersonline.com/threads/is-android-as-car-key-ever-going-to-actually-work.7007/


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## Rich M (Jul 28, 2017)

MDEVFan said:


> I'm very frustrated as my newly arrived car doesn't "wake up" when I approach.


It's not supposed to. You need to walk up and pull the handle. The car should show no outward signs until you do.


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## DWolvin (Mar 31, 2018)

I've noticed that I connect while walking up 100% if I reboot my phone in the morning, but it fails if I don't...


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## Cintoman (May 3, 2016)

AJ Barnert said:


> My Settings > Apps > Tesla doesn't HAVE an "Advanced" option. Bluetooth on BOTH iPhone SEs regularly die, but still the phone sometimes locks when you're 2' away (R front), sometimes unlocks when you open the door (not always), often locks on walk-away (but not always); usually does NOT re-connect by turning Bluetooth off & then on, often requires card to start the car even if it's unlocked it. Ain't life mysterious?


Sounds exactly like the issues I'm having with my phone and app:

Been having constant issues with the phone app getting "connection error" or "server error" after the car's been asleep for a few days or so. Also having tons of issues with my Phone Key being "disconnected". Only way to fix the phone key is to turn airplane mode on/off, and then it'll show "connected". But not much afterwards, it'll go back to "disconnected" status again. Quite annoying that, as I walk up to the car, I have to fool around with the airplane mode settings in order to get my phone key connected. Also, there are times where there phone app shows the Phone Key as "connected", yet when I get in and try to start the car, it asks me to place my keycard on the center console.

--Cintoman


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## breadfan35 (Jul 18, 2018)

So, after having almost 100% success with the phone unlocking the car on approach I am now having issues with it out of the blue. The last few days most times when I walk up the car is locked. I have to wait and then it opens up. :-/

I will say that after getting V9 I have been having bluetooth connection issues when playing media, but that has been a problem since getting V9 (a few weeks ago). The phone key issue just started happening a yesterday.


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## Mad Hungarian (May 20, 2016)

breadfan35 said:


> So, after having almost 100% success with the phone unlocking the car on approach I am now having issues with it out of the blue. The last few days most times when I walk up the car is locked. I have to wait and then it opens up. :-/
> 
> I will say that after getting V9 I have been having bluetooth connection issues when playing media, but that has been a problem since getting V9 (a few weeks ago). The phone key issue just started happening a yesterday.


Interesting. So far issues with iPhones seem rare, which is exactly why I switched to one a few weeks ago (XS max) and it's been flawless.
Killed me as I loved Android, but my Galaxy SUCKED at this and I've just read too many similar stories with the rest of them, I had about a 1 in 4 success rate of it ever unlocking on approach and that was when I had made sure the app was fully woken up and front-and-center on top.

Have you tried the old log-out-log-back-in?


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## SoCalWine (Oct 1, 2018)

For me, the issue is where my phone is relative to the pillar. I usually keep it in my back pocket. I often have to turn my body to ensure the phone is closer to the pillar for the car to recognize. Never had problem with phone in hand. Samsung Galaxy S8


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