PaaK Phone Performance

[HuntingPudel]

Formerly iPhone X now an iPhone 13 Pro. Very few issues with PaaK once Ford solved the login server issues. ?‍? Side note: I was firmly against using PaaK when I first bought the car. ??

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[Reality Check]

Motorola G Power (Android) … works fine most of the time. Sometimes it takes more than one or two door button pushes. Starting the FordPass app always seems to make it work.

I never carry the bulky fob because I know I can always use my personal keypad unlock code and start password in case the phone goes dead or is lost or stolen.

 

[JohnnyForensic]

iPhone 14 Pro Max. Works 95% of the time on the first shot, then about 3% of the time I have to move the phone closer to the door pillar (it’s usually in my away-side front pants pocket), and then the remaining 2% I need to try multiple times before it ”catches.” Maybe 1 out of 100 times I need to kill the Fordpass app and restart it to get it to recognize.

 

[stmache]

After months of not being able to re-set PAAK, I tried again after an update a couple of weeks ago.

This time the FordPass app (ver. 4.29.1) asked me if I wanted to clear out an older setup (key?) which I said Yes to. Then the screen popped up to copy in the Bluetooth code and it set up! Tested fine in my driveway. I was thrilled.

However, I sure was not going to trust it. I put my key fob in a Faraday bag and carried it with me. PAAK worked great for a few days and then the car stopped responding to it but I could open the doors with the app. But the car could not find it. Ugh! Took the fob out of the Faraday bag to get home.

PAAK seems to be working at times as I do get a message the car locked as I walked away even with the key fob present. Just can not trust it.

 

[Vulnox]

iPhone 13 Pro Max, works 95-98% of the time on first try, sometimes a second button press needed (on the door). I keep a slim wallet in the same pocket and notice the times I usually have to press more than once is when the wallet is between the phone and car, so I suspect it doesn't help. I have never had to press the actual "Start" button in the car more than once with PaaK.

I also keep it running full time in the background. I just pulled up my 10 day battery history on my phone and 2% of the battery over that 10 days has gone to FordPass. Not worth closing, launching the app a few times per week likely consumes as much or more than just letting it do background work, at least on iOS.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Is this poll/post #47 asking this same question?

 

[TheVirtualTim]

iPhone 13 Pro with iOS 16.

It is a lot more reliable than it was in the early days -- but still isn't rock solid. It takes longer to connect to the car than the fob. So I might have to wait 10 or 15 seconds (or if I use FordPass to hold the door-unlock it will immediately wake up). I usually open the phone app and check to see if the main screen in FordPass shows it "connected" to the car.

Inside the car I sometimes still get the "no key detected" message. That's a bug and there was an update pushed to fix it ... but didn't really fix it. It's temporary though ... in a few moments it will eventually find the key again.

In the early days I had experiences where the phone would not connect to the car at all. I could try three things and one of them always eventually fixed the problem:

1 - kill and restart FordPass app

2 - go into phone settings and turn off Bluetooth ... wait a few seconds ... then turn Bluetooth back on. This basically "reboots" the Bluetooth protocol stack. Just note that if you have an iPhone DO NOT disable Bluetooth in the "Control Center" (swipe down from top-right corner) as this is not the same as turning off Bluetooth and doesn't actually restart the Bluetooth stack when you re-enable it.

3 - reboot the phone.

One of those three things always let me back into the car. But I haven't needed to do any of those things in a very long time -- so I think (hope) those days are over.

It is still slow to connect ... not as fast as a physical key-fob. Press and hold the door-unlock icon in FordPass will usually wake it up immediately. You aren't supposed to need to do that.

A couple of months ago there was a glitch where my additional driver had their FordPass app kicked out of the account and couldn't get it re-connected ... and eventually about a week later ... it started working again. But the phone wouldn't even show the car anymore and the car wouldn't let us re-add the phone. I'm pretty sure that was a server side glitch.

 

[jmatero]

Other than having to press the button several times to get it to open the door... if it's lit at all... my biggest beef with PAAK and my iPhone is the long distance it takes walking away from the car for it to auto-lock vs. the fob. I can walk clear across a parking lot before I hear the honk. In that time anyone can open my doors and take what they want. With the fob, I walk 25 feet and it auto-locks every time.

 

[dtbaker61]

Other than having to press the button several times to get it to open the door... if it's lit at all... my biggest beef with PAAK and my iPhone is the long distance it takes walking away from the car for it to auto-lock vs. the fob. I can walk clear across a parking lot before I hear the honk. In that time anyone can open my doors and take what they want. With the fob, I walk 25 feet and it auto-locks every time.

I don't trust auto-lock..... I don't like it to beep, and my mirrors don't fold for verification, so....

I lock via interior button, or door pillar, as I exit.

 

[BMT1071]

Galaxy S22 Ultra here. I selected option two in the poll. Occasional multiple button presses to open the door. Extremely infrequently I need to take my phone out and wake the screen to get connected. I've been 100% PaaK since day one and have no regrets.

 

[Blue highway]

Iphone 12 - 100% PAAK for 2 years now. It works well.

I do keep the modules up to date every ~4 months with FDRS, which I think helps.

 

[J Duce]

I'm using Samsung S10. For about a week, i could not use PAAK at all. However, since i reset PAAK a few weeks ago, it seems to be far more responsive. It seems to engage quickly within 10 feet of approach.

I voted occasional because that was my experience over past 2.5 years and i mostly used my keyfob.

 

[tomthetenacious]

I don't trust auto-lock..... I don't like it to beep, and my mirrors don't fold for verification, so....

I lock via interior button, or door pillar, as I exit.

Do you use the FordPass Walk Away Lock notification for this purpose? If you have notifications turned on, the vehicle should send you a notification when you leave the vehicle vicinity. Granted the phone might be in your pocket at the time. But just curious if you're aware of it.

 

[dtbaker61]

Do you use the FordPass Walk Away Lock notification for this purpose? If you have notifications turned on, the vehicle should send you a notification when you leave the vehicle vicinity. Granted the phone might be in your pocket at the time. But just curious if you're aware of it.

I do not use walk-away lock OR notification.... many times I am parking where there is no wifi, and sometimes no decent cell service. delivery of notification is not 'for sure', so I can't depend on it.

I am happy to lock vehicle manually as I exit. It's what I've done for 40+ years.

I am happy with PAAK as long as it senses my return upon approach for unlock, opens the door on the first push (since the door pillar code is hard to see in the sun and often requires several swipes to show up), and allows me to Start the car on the first push without delay.

 

[yeee707]

iPhone 14 Pro, most of the time I have to take the phone out of my pocket and hold it up to the passenger doors for the door button to light up to unlock. If the phone is in my pocket pressing the door button multiple times does nothing. Driver door walk up with phone in pocket seems to be more reliable, still doesn't work like 30% of the time. My biggest complaint with the Mach E, it should just unlock walking up to passenger doors too, when its pouring rain and you're holding a toddler in one arm and bags of stuff in the other I shouldn't have to pull the phone out of my pocket and bring it a couple inches closer to the door...

Also, once every so often, car will say key not detected and I have to restart bluetooth on my phone for it to connect.

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