Ford Pass 5.0 stabilized + Feature Requests

[MrLoganRoss]

Since the others threads are mostly about how the new app has issues, I thought it would be helpful to have a thread about things working, plus new feature requests.

I had a lot of problems with the app on Friday, but did not use the car that day. Yesterday I used the car and now everything is working properly. My car/charge info updates within a few seconds of opening the app. I am using the iPhone 14 Pro (latest Firmware)z

Feature Request: show lock, door, charge door, and window status when the app opens up.

Feature Request: notify me if I walk away and any of those things are open (except for charger door - only notify if NOT charging).

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[thecodingart]

It’s very important for people to know that most if not all of the statuses being requested for in posts like this are simply not possible in any reliable fashion with current vehicle hardware.

This is more of a straightforward answer, but those features won’t be added from physical vehicle hardware limitations.

There are vehicles that offer “some” of this, but that’s extraordinarily few far and between and there are a ton of unreliable edge cases in trying to display that data.

 

[Space_Pony]

Since the others threads are mostly about how the new app has issues, I thought it would be helpful to have a thread about things working, plus new feature requests.

I had a lot of problems with the app on Friday, but did not use the car that day. Yesterday I used the car and now everything is working properly. My car/charge info updates within a few seconds of opening the app.

Feature Request: show lock, door, charge door, and window status when the app opens up.

Feature Request: notify me if I walk away and any of those things are open (except for charger door - only notify if NOT charging).

It would also help if you stated what model of phone you're using.
Android phones running Android 14 seem to have issues.

 

[MrLoganRoss]

It’s very important for people to know that most if not all of the statuses being requested for in posts like this are simply not possible in any reliable fashion with current vehicle hardware.

This is more of a straightforward answer, but those features won’t be added from physical vehicle hardware limitations.

There are vehicles that offer “some” of this, but that’s extraordinarily few far and between and there are a ton of unreliable edge cases in trying to display that data.

Not sure I understand. Those datapoints Inlisted are absolutely available (they show up on the IPC, which means they are on the same bus as charging info and other things made available to sync. . Why do you think it is a HW issue?

 

[MrLoganRoss]

It would also help if you stated what model of phone you're using.
Android phones running Android 14 seem to have issues.

Done. I updated the original post.

 

[Mach-Lee]

It’s very important for people to know that most if not all of the statuses being requested for in posts like this are simply not possible in any reliable fashion with current vehicle hardware.

This is more of a straightforward answer, but those features won’t be added from physical vehicle hardware limitations.

There are vehicles that offer “some” of this, but that’s extraordinarily few far and between and there are a ton of unreliable edge cases in trying to display that data.

Yes, I'll also emphasize this. The software on the vehicle and what's reported to the cloud hasn't changed with the new 5.0 version. So the new app can only work with the existing features the car already has.

Status changes are particularly difficult because the car only updates the cloud while it's on, a remote lock or unlock request is sent, or when a status request is received to the cloud. If you walk up and open a door while it's parked in your garage, the car doesn't update that status with the cloud. So if FordPass were to show you door status, it would be wrong after you opened the door because it wouldn't update. And it's not easy to just add that kind of status updating because the car was never designed to do that. It would totally kill the 12V battery to be updating the door and window status all the time.

So that means a truly live status display will not be possible on the current vehicles. Ford will not hammer the 12V battery trying to do that like some of the 3rd party apps do. Also the vehicle does not have software to check the status of doors/windows being open as you walk away. If you left a door open and walked away, I don't think anything would happen. The cloud doesn't know the door open status because the vehicle is already turned off and the cellular modem shut down.

 

[Travlcub]

Since the others threads are mostly about how the new app has issues, I thought it would be helpful to have a thread about things working, plus new feature requests.

I had a lot of problems with the app on Friday, but did not use the car that day. Yesterday I used the car and now everything is working properly. My car/charge info updates within a few seconds of opening the app. I am using the iPhone 14 Pro (latest Firmware)z

Feature Request: show lock, door, charge door, and window status when the app opens up.

Feature Request: notify me if I walk away and any of those things are open (except for charger door - only notify if NOT charging).

Knock on wood I’ve not experienced any issues. I’ve seen my status more accurate when charging is complete.

 

[thecodingart]

Yes, I'll also emphasize this. The software on the vehicle and what's reported to the cloud hasn't changed with the new 5.0 version. So the new app can only work with the existing features the car already has.

Status changes are particularly difficult because the car only updates the cloud while it's on, a remote lock or unlock request is sent, or when a status request is received to the cloud. If you walk up and open a door while it's parked in your garage, the car doesn't update that status with the cloud. So if FordPass were to show you door status, it would be wrong after you opened the door because it wouldn't update. And it's not easy to just add that kind of status updating because the car was never designed to do that. It would totally kill the 12V battery to be updating the door and window status all the time.

So that means a truly live status display will not be possible on the current vehicles. Ford will not hammer the 12V battery trying to do that like some of the 3rd party apps do. Also the vehicle does not have software to check the status of doors/windows being open as you walk away. If you left a door open and walked away, I don't think anything would happen. The cloud doesn't know the door open status because the vehicle is already turned off and the cellular modem shut down.

And this is only part of the story!

 

[MrLoganRoss]

Thanks all. Much appreciated!

 

[JeffGo]

How about odometer reading on the opening page? We had that in 4.x (Vehicle) and now it's deeply buried. It even took me quite a long time to find it, and I was in the beta test.

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