hey, I have a car!

[macchiaz-o]

my hope is that the new developer program will eventually get to where there's a proper path for this stuff with granular permissions, etc. but having dealt with such things and regularly communicating with developers doing such things, I know that's a large effort.

I signed up for the old dev program and despite many requests, I never got access to the FordConnect API. The access request seemed to go to a black hole.

I signed up for the new dev program within the last two weeks... Now I can see the FordConnect API and it mentions that OAuth authentication is used, but there are zero instructions or examples or URLs or anything. I think they are still working on it, though it doesn't seem to say "in progress" unless I missed it.

Sponsored

 

[SnBGC]

Yup, lots of apps are pinging the car/server relentlessly. And while some say they are for charging metrics they are actually building huge databases of vehicle data and selling them

What do you mean by that? (I am admittedly ignorant of how cell phone apps work....)

When you say lots of apps are pinging the car and/or Ford servers.......are you saying that we have applications on our phone BESIDES FordPass that are trying to connect to our car or connect to the Ford servers? If so, what apps would that be and how did they get our user name and passwords to do something like that?

I haven't received this message (yet). Is there some way that we can accidentally be sharing our credentials without knowing it?

Or is this happening via the web based FordPass.com? Do we have the same issue there?

Is there a way to use FordPass and keep our information safe? I don't like the idea that other apps have my FordPass credentials.......pretty scary.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

What do you mean by that? (I am admittedly ignorant of how cell phone apps work....)

When you say lots of apps are pinging the car and/or Ford servers.......are you saying that we have applications on our phone BESIDES FordPass that are trying to connect to our car or connect to the Ford servers? If so, what apps would that be and how did they get our user name and passwords to do something like that?

I haven't received this message (yet). Is there some way that we can accidentally be sharing our credentials without knowing it?

Or is this happening via the web based FordPass.com? Do we have the same issue there?

Is there a way to use FordPass and keep our information safe? I don't like the idea that other apps have my FordPass credentials.......pretty scary.

That apps of concern are ones that require you to give them your Ford login information. If you haven't done that then you are ok

 

[SnBGC]

That apps of concern are ones that require you to give them your Ford login information. If you haven't done that then you are ok

Okay. Thank you.
I have never had another app ask for my FordPass login. That would seem like a giant red flag to me. Correct?

 

[Mach-Lee]

Okay. Thank you.
I have never had another app ask for my FordPass login. That would seem like a giant red flag to me. Correct?

You're maybe the exception, but a lot of people wouldn't think twice if an app they wanted to use (like Recurrent) asked for their Ford username and password while setting it up. Most people forget they even gave this info out.

No one should give their Ford credentials out to 3rd parts apps right now IMO, not until OAuth is supported by Ford and we can manage access.

 

[UnforAll]

Attached warning message about not sharing account info (credentials) popped up in FordPass this afternoon.

Also battery fault | phantom drain issue

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I haven't posted in my thread here for a little while. Nothing to report really... there was a road trip I almost wrote up, but ultimately there would be no new information I think.

Anyway, there's been talk about how easy it is to make Alexa go away. Here's the screen (I don't think I've seen a picture yet) when you first tap, showing the dismiss option as the third choice:

not that Alexa actually works for me

This was on my home wifi and on cell (solid AT&T coverage - posting this using it on my phone), and after a Sync reboot.

oh well.

 

[Vulnox]

I haven't posted in my thread here for a little while. Nothing to report really... there was a road trip I almost wrote up, but ultimately there would be no new information I think.

Anyway, there's been talk about how easy it is to make Alexa go away. Here's the screen (I don't think I've seen a picture yet) when you first tap, showing the dismiss option as the third choice:

not that Alexa actually works for me

This was on my home wifi and on cell (solid AT&T coverage - posting this using it on my phone), and after a Sync reboot.

oh well.

There is a $10/month streaming option under Connected Services that seems to be exclusively for Alexa. It looks like you get a month free with the car. I wonder if you get that message if you don't have it after the 30 day trial.

I set up Alexa in ours yesterday. I won't be paying $10/month, I don't like Alexa/Amazon, but figure I would at least play around with it for the 30 days.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

not that Alexa actually works for me

So, pretty much like Amazon in general then?

I haven't looked at the interface yet from Friday or Thursday or whenever it was that I unwilling received 3.5.3, so I'll be dismissing Ms. Alexa on Tuesday when I see the car again. Looks simple enough that even a pilot could make it go away.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Funny, my favorite in-home service has been available in my car since I picked him up in May. Nothing like having your dog with you to do stuff for you, like hit the hazard flasher button or switch from Sirius XM to CarPlay. Still working on opening the frunk. The only problem is the occasional nose print on the center display since he sometimes doesn’t use a paw.

Obviously, some of the “assistance“ happens without request since someone has a mind of his own…

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

So, pretty much like Amazon in general then?

I haven't looked at the interface yet from Friday or Thursday or whenever it was that I unwilling received 3.5.3, so I'll be dismissing Ms. Alexa on Tuesday when I see the car again. Looks simple enough that even a pilot could make it go away.

yeah, I'm not sure what's up with the setup. looks like my trial started with the Lightning based on the picture above but I still can't actually activate it.

pretty tempting to just dismiss it and forget about it, which I'm sure is not what either company wants.

 

[Gimme_my_MME]

Funny, my favorite in-home service has been available in my car since I picked him up in May. Nothing like having your dog with you to do stuff for you, like hit the hazard flasher button or switch from Sirius XM to CarPlay. Still working on opening the frunk. The only problem is the occasional nose print on the center display since he sometimes doesn’t use a paw.

Obviously, some of the “assistance“ happens without request since someone has a mind of his own…

I see we subscribe to the same service

 

[HuntingPudel]

I see we subscribe to the same service

Yeah, the one that costs kibble and sometimes my internet reputation.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Alexa is working now. No changes at my end that I know of, but anyway...

The process looks like this (my usual dirty screen and terrible pictures disclaimers apply):

1. "Get Started"

2. You get a standard Amazon device code sign in flow (the code is random and changes each time, so I'm not worried about showing it), which you'd use from whatever device... you can scan the QR Code or just do it directly from a browser on whatever device, either way:

3. You get prompted for Sync 4 to have permission; note that this consent dialog appears each time, even if you've done this before (e.g. I had done it on my Lightning already), which is vaguely stupid, but anyway:

4. You get prompted for location permission:

5. You get a success confirmation:

6. Back on the Sync 4a screen in the car, you are asked about enabling the wake word ("Alexa") - if you do this, you can wake the system up without the voice button. If you don't enable this, you talk to Alexa using the voice button on the steering wheel, then say "Alexa, [whatever]":

7. You're then asked about contacts access; these will come from the connected Bluetooth phone, and later in Settings you can see what phone is being used:

8. You then get a successful completion message (which really doesn't say you're successful, but anyway):

9. Settings will then show the active phone and Wake Word setting, as well as a "Sign Out" option:

10. "Things to Try" is a very long list of possible prompts - this is a partial list:

11. And this is what the experience is like - I didn't record until the display dialog automatically closes but it does after a while, 5 seconds maybe... I have the wake word disabled, so I used the voice button, which means I got the initial Sync voice prompt screen and tone when I pressed the wheel button: