Downside to setting up PAAK?

[GreaseMonkey]

I always used a PaaK on both my old 22 and new 24. I have to say: it works more smoothly on 24 and we less frequent issues (I’ve experienced only one in four months).

so you are getting a mix of answers above with various vintage of vehicles. It is very freeing to not have a physical key, especially as bulky, heavy, and ugly as ours are. Ford can easily design one that is smaller and weighs much less and I’d be happy to add it to my keychain. It’s not like I’m going with no keys at all.

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[shark]

We have had our Mach E GT since October 2021. I have ONLY ever used PAAK as I already have one large key fob for my F150 and I don't want another on my keychain. Other than some minor hiccups that were corrected years ago in FordPass, I never have any issues. I have even changed iPhones since I first set it up. It's a no-brainer to set it up if you ask me.

 

[MikeGB]

I removed PAAK from my wife's phone. I'm the primary driver, too often she would leave her purse in the car with her phone, the doors did not auto lock after walking away.

 

[Jugnutts]

I have had PAAK set up for a few months now. For me, it is AWFUL. It has stranded me once - it just quit working and I didn't have the FOB with me. It inexplicably and randomly refuses to work, and then several days later or sometimes weeks later it inexplicably and randomly starts working again.

I'm wondering if this is an iOS vs Android thing. I'm using it on a Google Pixel phone. For the people who are having no problems, are you using an iPhone as your PAAK? I have a work iPhone and I use it as my PAAK on my BMX iX with zero issues.

I also have a Google Pixel and have nothing but problems. Sometimes its just slow other times it doesn't recognize the phone to let me start the car even though it detected it to let me in the car in the first place. Sometimes it refuses to do anything until i restart the phone or put it in and out of airplane mode for a second.

I have had these issues on and off with two different generations of Google Pixel phone. I did have a Samsung S24 for a little while and had none of these issues. It's definitely something specifically with The Pixel series.

I just carry the fob around with me now. Which really sucks because when I first got my Mach-e PAAK worked great. Its just been worse and worse as time goes on.

 

[jh2021]

I have had my MME for almost six months and have yet to set up PAAK. Am I missing anything? Are there any downsides to setting us PPAK? Thank you

I have used the paak exclusively for 4 years. Only real issue was when I forgot to take the key fob with me when dropping the car off for service.

 

[phil]

It's definitely something specifically with The Pixel series.

PaaK still works fine with my Pixel 8P.

 

[Jugnutts]

PaaK still works fine with my Pixel 9P.

Son of a....

 

[valfam]

As soon as I got my mme i used the paak and I loved it not having to carry the fob now the ugly, I used to get messages that something was draining my lvb and it was asking me to unplug any 12 volt accessories I have connected. I had none and most times walking up the car I needed to hit the door button a few times to open the door, other times I needed to take my phone out of my pocket for the car to open the door. I switched to the fob, no more issues with the battery drain and the door always opens now.

 

[nukeflyboy]

I have a 22 mme and gave up on the PAAK. Sometimes it took more than 5 lock/unlock or start commands before it decided to respond - did not inspire confidence. Don’t ever turn off phone bluetooth or it will frustrate you. If you work a lot in the vicinity of the car and carry your phone the activation will drive you nuts with the constant clicking. The fob always works first time.
Without PAAK you loose the ability to use the passcode to start the vehicle (but you can enter it - isn’t that stupid design) and you loose the Bluetooth functions.
My advice is to try it for a while. If it works for you then great. You can always delete it.

 

[BOBSOV]

As soon as I got my mme i used the paak and I loved it not having to carry the fob now the ugly, I used to get messages that something was draining my lvb and it was asking me to unplug any 12 volt accessories I have connected. I had none and most times walking up the car I needed to hit the door button a few times to open the door, other times I needed to take my phone out of my pocket for the car to open the door. I switched to the fob, no more issues with the battery drain and the door always opens now.

I set up PaaK a couple weeks ago and had the same experience you did. It worked perfectly for two days then on the third day had all the problems you had. Went back to the fob.

 

[jasn]

On the occasion PaaK doesn't work for me I think it may be following an update to my FordPass app.

 

[MetalCord]

After using PaaK for about 5 months and experiencing occassional minor connection delays as the only issue, today the car would not start with PaaK. Phone did not show a connection (so that's the problem). Fortunately, I keep a fob in a faraday pouch so I could still get to work on time. Toggled bluetooth, toggled airplane mode, rebooted the phone... it just refused to connect. I have a Google Pixel 6a.

***UPDATE*** I'm not sure when it happened but the app switched to "optimized" from "unrestricted" in the battery settings. Once I set it back to unrestricted, it immediately started working again.

For anyone else with this issue that wants to check this:
Settings > Apps > Ford Pass > App Battery Usage > you have to actually tap Allow background usage (NOT the toggle), then select unrestricted.

 

[TheRock]

All of you who has problem with Paak, have you disabled battery optimization for the app ?

 

[lwilliams0514]

I have had my MME for almost six months and have yet to set up PAAK. Am I missing anything? Are there any downsides to setting us PPAK? Thank you

I have been using PAAK since the beginning. The only issue I see is when you valet park. You need the key for that unless you want to give a stranger your emergency start password…..

 

[Snakebitten]

As the child of a Grand Master locksmith and a former pirate/hacker: Do not hide a key in your car. Thieves know more about hiding places than you do. They do this for a living. ??

I have no doubt that given enough time, and the necessary tenacity, a nefarious intentioned car thief would likely find my hidden battery-less Mach-E FOB. But that tiny percentage of the population is capable of taking what doesn't belong to them regardless of where my FOB is, right?

PAAK is just too much of a pleasure feature for me to self-deny for the sake of the what-ifs presented.

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