Phone as a Key - Unlock doors upon Approach?

ChasingCoral

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I do want to be clear that I'm not assuming they did this consciously to mask issues. But I do think the valid situation of strict MDM controls of the phones created a blind spot in testing.

What horrifies me is the possibility that the testing of the feature used strict single use phones, never exposing real world phone use conditions. In most cases this wouldn't be an issue, but in this case there's a host of gotcha issues with Bluetooth that don't normally come into play.

I want to stress that I'm wearing my speculation hat with these posts and going only from my development experience (that is not auto related).
While I suspect the use of single-app could have caused reviewers to miss the issues, I expect engineer testers were using their own phones in most cases. I certainly hope so.
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agoldman

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Yeah, I'm afraid you are right. I'm declaring the PAAK dead on arrival unfortunately, as a useful feature. That's a shame. Something to be said for the Tesla credit card sized fob. I have really gotten used to not having to carry the typical brick FOB around.
 

ChasingCoral

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Yeah, I'm adraid you are right. I'm declaring the PAAK dead on arrival unfortunately, as a useful feature. That's a shame. Something to be said for the Tesla credit card sized fob.
I'll give Ford time to fix it in OTA. In the meantime, the B-pillar keypad has been reported to work flawlessly.
 

RonTCat

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I had a horrifying thought. I wonder if the review phones were set in Kiosk (Single App) Mode for FordPass. I have no proof of this, it's just a theory.
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agoldman

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Do we know if both Android and iphones are equally fussy about connecting here?
 


RonTCat

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Doesn't really work for me either, but I think it's just the issues with PaaK not working super well overall anyways. If I stand by the car long enough, it'll eventually recognize my phone and unlock, but it takes up to 30 seconds or more to do so.
Does the situation change if the FOB is in a Faraday bag?
 

methorian

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Does the situation change if the FOB is in a Faraday bag?
Don't have a bag, so can't say. I also haven't extensively tested PaaK - so YMMV.

I probably will do more "tests" at some point, but for now I just want to be in my car, so I take the easiest route available a the moment, heh.
 

JellyBelly

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Does the situation change if the FOB is in a Faraday bag?
Interesting but I assume if the FOB is in the house and the phone is next to the car - Fob should not be detected - we have seen issues reported with Fob left in the house and phone acting up as a key while not at home. definitely worth a faraday cage try as the phone as key also has range of something like 100 ft which may be interfering with the fob. Ford should/would have tested this though.
 

cmtaylor963

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I've had better luck holding the phone in my hand and setting it in the cupholder or tray. With it in my pocket, it seems to fail more often than not, and I end up entering the backup passcode. Bluetooth and CarPlay both connect immediately even when the car doesn't recognize PaaK. iPhone 12 here.
 

mylittlepony

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This is why I’ll order a second key fob once my car is enroute. One for each of us and as things get updated, I can start using PAAK.

I wonder if pocket location for your phone matters?
How much was that 2nd fob?
 

GoGoGadgetMachE

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You folks convinced me that I'm immediately buying a second fob and never using PaaK. My wife isn't tech saavy, and no way in hades and I going to sleep at night of the thought of her in a dark parking lot fiddling and staring at her phone restarting the damn thing to open her car door. This is completely unacceptable. I know you guys/gals are going to say, give it a try and OTA and all that jazz, but seriously think about this for a moment -- this needs to work FLAWLESSLY 100% of the time. Not 99.999% of the time, 100% of the time.
not to put too fine a point on it but you do know that key fobs have batteries that die, right?

having been through this with the gf - to say a fob will be flawless 100% of the time is just wrong.
 

mamejunkie

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I am a tech guy (works in tech, likes tech) but too old to want to worry about it working. I will also want a 2nd FOB. Can those that have/will get a 2nd FOB, please post details when available? (where it was purchased, instructions to setting it up) Thanks.
 

mamejunkie

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not to put too fine a point on it but you do know that key fobs have batteries that die, right?

having been through this with the gf - to say a fob will be flawless 100% of the time is just wrong.
I am more likely to drain by iPhone battery than for the Fob battery to die. Nothing is 100% like you said but Fob is still better and easier than Paak.
 

JellyBelly

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According to my dealer today the key FOB is not available for order yet
 

mamejunkie

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According to my dealer today the key FOB is not available for order yet
Do you know if the programming has to be done by the dealer or something we can do ourselves? IE buy a OEM key FOB?
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