Phone as key, who does it best?

[ChrisO]

I know how PAAK works. I believe I've been using it longer than you have. That's why you had me going when you said your mme unlocked without touching it. I thought maybe the 25 models had changed.

I think you were thinking of @T1328. I never said that the Mach-E unlocks without touching it.

I was just posting how PAAK works because in parts of this thread people were wondering about it and speculating about a "ping" and such.

BTW there is one way that you can unlock without touching the car and that is through the Ford app, but of course that isn't what anyone is talking about here. This about walking up to the car and it "getting ready" to unlock when you press the button.

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[T1328]

I think you were thinking of @T1328. I never said that the Mach-E unlocks without touching it.

I purposely fold my mirrors in prior to driving into my garage. So, when I approach my car, the puddle light and the Mustang logo light up, along with the lighting around the door open button. the mirrors don’t unfold (because I manually fold them before driving forward into my garage, and they remember that setting). Then, when I press the door open button, it opens with one press. To me that means it is unlocked. If I had to press the button twice or three times, then the first press would presumably unlock it, and the 2nd would open it.

So I still stand by my original statement. PaaK is doing exactly what it’s supposed to in my case. It worked the same way with the Tesla I had except no lighting turned on. I approached the car, and used the handle when I could find it, to open the door, and it opened. The only time I’ve had issues with this was when iOS 26 first came out and it had some Bluetooth issues the the low emissions Bluetooth also was inconsistent. But iOS 26.01 improved that, and 26.1 fixed it.

 

[ChrisO]

I purposely fold my mirrors in prior to driving into my garage. So, when I approach my car, the puddle light and the Mustang logo light up, along with the lighting around the door open button. the mirrors don’t unfold (because I manually fold them before driving forward into my garage, and they remember that setting). Then, when I press the door open button, it opens with one press. To me that means it is unlocked. If I had to press the button twice or three times, then the first press would presumably unlock it, and the 2nd would open it.

So I still stand by my original statement. PaaK is doing exactly what it’s supposed to in my case. It worked the same way with the Tesla I had except no lighting turned on. I approached the car, and used the handle when I could find it, to open the door, and it opened. The only time I’ve had issues with this was when iOS 26 first came out and it had some Bluetooth issues the the low emissions Bluetooth also was inconsistent. But iOS 26.01 improved that, and 26.1 fixed it.

If you fold your mirrors manually it certainly will behave that way, but even if you have them fold automatically, they don't unfold until you press the button.

It is a bit tricky to talk about "unlocking".

Say the car is locked, and you walk up to it with either PAAK or the FOB. The lights/puddle light comes on. At this point the car isn't unlocked. It is in a "pre-unlock state" waiting for the button press, and that is when the actual unlocking happens and the door opens. This is very evident if you have your mirrors auto folded. They do indicate locked/unlocked. And given the same situation they will be folded until you press the button. The point is that you can walk up to the car with the PAAK or FOB and then walk away without touching the door button, and at no time will the car actually be unlocked.

To further illustrate this, you can be far away from the car and use the Ford app to unlock the doors (if auto folded the mirrors will unfold at this point). You can leave the PAAK/FOB and then approach the car and hit the door button and the door will open.

 

[jav_eee]

I was just posting how PAAK works because in parts of this thread people were wondering about it and speculating about a "ping" and such.

I’ll see your copilot response to my “ping” comment and raise you a Gemini response about how iOS handles apps that use BLE, specifically with ford pass and PAAK. Sure seems like it’s waiting for a ping from the vehicle to me.

 

[ChrisO]

I’ll see your copilot response to my “ping” comment and raise you a Gemini response about how iOS handles apps that use BLE, specifically with ford pass and PAAK. Sure seems like it’s waiting for a ping from the vehicle to me.

It would just like Apple to do it differently.

 

[jav_eee]

It would just like Apple to do it differently.

they do it the same. The only difference is how the OS handles the suspending of the app.

 

[EasyPass]

There are potentially many variables that affect the performance of PaaK, and not all of them are on the vehicle side. I'm more than four years into MME ownership, but I've had three successive phones in that time. The first one, LGV20, was a terrible PaaK experience. The second one, Samsung S23+, was totally acceptable in general. My current phone is a Samsung S25+ with an outstanding performance record, comparatively speaking.

So, I place much of the blame about PaaK performance on the phone side of the pairing, however 90% of posters on this site complain about the MME in this regard. Of course its true that Ford owns the app software on the phone, but the platform its on has the last word in how it functionally operates. That said I still do get the multiple button press requirement to get the door open which I attribute to timing anomalies in the interaction between the two ends of the connection. While annoying sometimes, it is a minor inconvenience.

 

[Mach1E]

LOL yes it is. What the OP is describing is extremely normal. It’s been discussed here for YEARS and it’s never really gotten appreciably better. PAAK is just finicky. It “works” if you’re willing to wait a few seconds for the car to recognize it, but it’s never gonna work as well as the fob.

Not sure the fob is any better.

I always use both (fob and phone in my pockets) and it almost always takes multiple times pushing the button on the door to open.

 

[ChrisO]

Not sure the fob is any better.

I always use both (fob and phone in my pockets) and it almost always takes multiple times pushing the button on the door to open.

Is your phone setup as PAAK?

From what I was seeing the two don’t play nice together. It is the reason I don’t have PAAK enabled.

With just the FOB I have never had a problem.

I have always wondered if the reason I could never get PAAK to work properly is because at least starting out I would like to carry both.

 

[Mach1E]

Is your phone setup as PAAK?

From what I was seeing the two don’t play nice together. It is the reason I don’t have PAAK enabled.

With just the FOB I have never had a problem.

I have always wondered if the reason I could never get PAAK to work properly is because at least starting out I would like to carry both.

Yes.

I use both because I almost always have keys with me (for work key, home key etc). And I always have my phone with me.

I like to use PAAK sometimes when I go to the gym so I don’t have to carry my keys.

 

[Blue highway]

A couple of things... In my view most of the challenges today with PAAK come from the phone. There is a lot of variability in Android software between manufacturers because they all do customization and the hardware is different. That is a lot of variables to deal with.

Been using PAAK exclusively since 2021 with the MME. It was dicey the first 2 years (had to use the door and start code a few times) but since then its been really solid. (IOS on 5 hardware platforms 8,12,14,15,16) It takes 1-2 seconds to open when I push the door button but don't consider that a problem.

Been using PAAK exclusively on the Tesla since 2023. Only rejected opening once. Restarting the phone app fixed it. The Tesla opens immediately.

The Tesla is more stable but the Ford has make huge improvements since 2021 in terms of PAAK and the phone app.

 

[music_cities]

I would just like to say that you can be a lot happier if you just enter the door code sequence if the first press doesn't open the car. If you don't know whether the 2nd, or 3rd, or 4th press will unlock the car, it can cause anxiety. At least for me. Now I just enter the door code and don't worry about it.

Once in a while (very rarely) the PAAK is *still* not recognized when I want to start the car and drive away. I take this as a great opportunity to test the start password.

 

[Mach1E]

A couple of things... In my view most of the challenges today with PAAK come from the phone. There is a lot of variability in Android software between manufacturers because they all do customization and the hardware is different. That is a lot of variables to deal with.

Been using PAAK exclusively since 2021 with the MME. It was dicey the first 2 years (had to use the door and start code a few times) but since then its been really solid. (IOS on 5 hardware platforms 8,12,14,15,16) It takes 1-2 seconds to open when I push the door button but don't consider that a problem.

Been using PAAK exclusively on the Tesla since 2023. Only rejected opening once. Restarting the phone app fixed it. The Tesla opens immediately.

The Tesla is more stable but the Ford has make huge improvements since 2021 in terms of PAAK and the phone app.

It’s not a problem unless you’re in a hurry to get in the car because it’s raining.

 

[jav_eee]

It’s not a problem unless you’re in a hurry to get in the car because it’s raining.

Or trying to escape the wrath of Jason or Freddy Krueger.

 

[hedgehog99]

I did not mean to debate how Ford PAAK is supposed to work. I simply wanted to know what other carmakers are doing. I have now read about Kia/Hyundai and BMW. It seems that both android and iOS are moving forward with Digital Key with either NFC and UWB, which should (maybe?) provide a more uniform (perhaps better?) experience across the brands.

Of course I also wonder what the Chinese carmaker are doing since the non-legacy car companies seem to be better at implementing techie things.

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