PSA - DO NOT UPDATE to 3.35.0 on Android if using PaaK without a FOB

[DevSecOps]

Bravo Ford...

You replied to all the Android negative reviews and even referenced this forum as to the solution.

I think a lot of us find your actions throughout this thread to be a massive step in the right direction.

I think we can be thankful for your attentiveness and response. Keep it up.

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[dsuyang]

Thank y

Bravo Ford...

You replied to all the Android negative reviews and even referenced this forum as to the solution.

I think a lot of us find your actions throughout this thread to be a massive step in the right direction.

I think we can be thankful for your attentiveness and response. Keep it up.

Thank you, I am also very very grateful for you guys' community support and understanding! We will be in touch!

 

[fallguy]

Fordpass updated again. Deleted keys, reinstalled. Working again now.

 

[06VistaGT]

I noticed this thread prior to updating to 3.35, so followed the advice and turned off auto updates.

After @dsuyang gave the go ahead for 3.35.1 (and .2) fixes, I went and downloaded the new version today. Figured I would provide my experience for others in a similar situation.

After downloading and installing FP 3.35.2, I went out to the car in my garage. FOB nowhere in site. Car locked. As I walked up, puddle lights and other lights all came on as expected. I pressed the button on the driver's door and it opened up. Got in, put the phone on the charge pad and started it. Everything worked as expected. Turned off and went back inside. The car auto locked as I left the garage.

Put the phone inside (Bluetooth now turned off) and went back to the car. No lights this time. Tried to open the driver's door. The car made the normal clicking sounds, but no lights and door didn't open. Tried a few more times, no dice. Then punched in the door code. Car unlocked and opened as expected.

Got in and noticed the screen behind the steering wheel was illuminated, but the main screen was dark. Tried to start the car (foot on brake) and got the "no key detected" on the wheel screen. But the main screen was still dark. Tried several more times and eventually the main screen came up. It was kinda flickering and had the "snow" look on the screen. It did prompt for backup code, but I did not try it. Instead tried to fix the screen issue by resetting Sync (volume down and advance track forward on the wheel controls). It didn't work. But it did cause the backup code screen to go away. Could not get that to come back. I also couldnt get the screen to shut off. I eventually gave up and got out of the car. I locked the car by holding the 7-8 and 9-0 buttons simultaneously. Once the car locked, the main screen shut off.

Went in and got the phone to turn the car on and reset Sync. This is the second or third time the screen has wonked out on me in 8 months. Not sure if just a coincidence that it happened the one time I tried to start the car without FOB or PAAK. Once the screen was fixed, turned the car off and put the phone back inside (Bluetooth off again).

Anyway, I tried again with the phone in the house. Needed the door code to get in the car. This time, the main screen came on immediately. When I tried to start the car, got the "no key detected", but now the prompt on the mainscreen came up and accepted my backup code.

So long story short, 3.35.2 appears to not screw up PAAK. But I had an issue with the main screen having issues when trying to access without my phone. Not sure if just a coincidence. But I strongly recommend folks make sure their backup codes work after updating FordPass so you don't get stranded.

 

[agoldman]

.1/.2 seem to be only for Android phones. iphone still has 1.35.0.

 

[PaulP]

Ford should just send a 2nd key fob free of charge until they can make Paak reliable on Android. With only one key fob, it needs to work flawlessly, which isn't the case.

I wonder if NFC could have been used instead of bluetooth, just tap the phone or a physical card on a reader (it's small enough to carry in a wallet and cost almost nothing if the idea behind Paak was cost cutting).

 

[mkhuffman]

Ford should just send a 2nd key fob free of charge until they can make Paak reliable on Android. With only one key fob, it needs to work flawlessly, which isn't the case.

I wonder if NFC could have been used instead of bluetooth, just tap the phone or a physical card on a reader (it's small enough to carry in a wallet and cost almost nothing if the idea behind Paak was cost cutting).

I have had one bad experience with PaaK. Otherwise, it works great with my Samsung Android phone. There are people who rely 100% on Android PaaK, and until this week, never had any serious issues. IMO PaaK is reliable, but it is not perfect. That is why I have followed the hidden Fob approach.

 

[GoosePond08]

10,000+ miles, still can't get pAAK to work properly. Even had dealership service the update. Every now and then I roll the dice and try to rely on pAAk.

The worse experience I've had so far was while only using the phone and giving it a shot, car opened started and drove fine...in parking lot placded in Park waited for someone to get in (car running) went to put in Drive and car said "no key detected". I never moved, never turned off the car and was operating my phone while waiting. FordPass showed connected but car wouldn't budge. Took about 5 minutes of waiting for it to work again.

Beyond frustrating and hands down embarrassing.

 

[mkhuffman]

10,000+ miles, still can't get pAAK to work properly. Even had dealership service the update. Every now and then I roll the dice and try to rely on pAAk.

The worse experience I've had so far was while only using the phone and giving it a shot, car opened started and drove fine...in parking lot placded in Park waited for someone to get in (car running) went to put in Drive and car said "no key detected". I never moved, never turned off the car and was operating my phone while waiting. FordPass showed connected but car wouldn't budge. Took about 5 minutes of waiting for it to work again.

Beyond frustrating and hands down embarrassing.

A forum member recommended I put my phone on the phone charging pad before trying to start the car, and that process has worked reliably for me. Just today I got a "no key detected" message when I forgot to put my phone on the pad. I placed it there and immediately could start the car. So far, I have not had the error if the phone is charging on the pad.

 

[DevSecOps]

A forum member recommended I put my phone on the phone charging pad before trying to start the car, and that process has worked reliably for me. Just today I got a "no key detected" message when I forgot to put my phone on the pad. I placed it there and immediately could start the car. So far, I have not had the error if the phone is charging on the pad.

The only reason I could imagine this working is because when the phone is charging it will release any restrictions on battery usage/throttling of apps or services. You should ensure that you don't have anything restricting the FP app or bluetooth.

There's nothing in that charging pad that creates a "connection" between the car and the phone.

 

[SnBGC]

The only reason I could imagine this working is because when the phone is charging it will release any restrictions on battery usage/throttling of apps or services. You should ensure that you don't have anything restricting the FP app or bluetooth.

There's nothing in that charging pad that creates a "connection" between the car and the phone.

Would that include the battery optimization in FordPass? I have that turned on or else my phone won't last the workday. Same for my brother (who has a Mach-E also). I had dinner with him tonight and I asked if he used FaaK or PaaK. He said he tried PaaK a few times but it was draining the battery and his phone was dead when he finished his work shift. He was having to use the codes to enter and start his car....

He gave his phone to his kids and they turned off or changed something so now his phone lasts the day but PaaK isn't nearly as effective so he carries the fob. Could they have turned on the battery optimization and that might be causing a conflict? For me PaaK struggles to unlock the doors but once I get inside the car usually starts. I rarely get the Key Not Found message......maybe 1 out of 10 times if I remember correctly???

 

[DevSecOps]

Would that include the battery optimization in FordPass? I have that turned on or else my phone won't last the workday. Same for my brother (who has a Mach-E also). I had dinner with him tonight and I asked if he used FaaK or PaaK. He said he tried PaaK a few times but it was draining the battery and his phone was dead when he finished his work shift. He was having to use the codes to enter and start his car....

He gave his phone to his kids and they turned off or changed something so now his phone lasts the day but PaaK isn't nearly as effective so he carries the fob. Could they have turned on the battery optimization and that might be causing a conflict? For me PaaK struggles to unlock the doors but once I get inside the car usually starts. I rarely get the Key Not Found message......maybe 1 out of 10 times if I remember correctly???

Yes battery optimization will cause issues with FP and PaaK. It should be disabled and on Android there's sometimes 2 locations to disable it.

FP should not be consuming battery like that. Make sure that you are on the latest FP app version. My phone hasn't been charged since this morning and it's at 36% right now and FP isn't even in the list of usage items.

Here's the problem when you restrict an app like FP. I've taken a look at the logs generated by FP and it's instructing the Android operating system that it is NOT to be terminated. So when you have your phone killing the service the app is then re-launched because it's not supposed to be killed. This causes a vicious cycle of on/off/on/off etc and drains the battery. A lot of times people think that they are doing good by limiting their apps, and while that's true for apps that might not be background service dependent, FP will fight to stay in the background.

So my best advice is to make sure it is not limited in anyway whatsoever.

 

[SnBGC]

Yes battery optimization will cause issues with FP and PaaK. It should be disabled and on Android there's sometimes 2 locations to disable it.

FP should not be consuming battery like that. Make sure that you are on the latest FP app version. My phone hasn't been charged since this morning and it's at 36% right now and FP isn't even in the list of usage items.

Here's the problem when you restrict an app like FP. I've taken a look at the logs generated by FP and it's instructing the Android operating system that it is NOT to be terminated. So when you have your phone killing the service the app is then re-launched because it's not supposed to be killed. This causes a vicious cycle of on/off/on/off etc and drains the battery. A lot of times people think that they are doing good by limiting their apps, and while that's true for apps that might not be background service dependent, FP will fight to stay in the background.

So my best advice is to make sure it is not limited in anyway whatsoever.

Okay thanks. That explains it then. Unfortunately FordPass was killing my phone battery so my IT people said I had to remove it. Someone here suggested I turn on optimization and that solved the issue. I still am able to remote start and manage the charge settings etc so I guess a little FP is better than none.

I bet my brother is in the same boat.
Interesting that some others such as yourself can turn off optimization without draining the mobile phone battery while others have a different experience. I guess all mobile devices don't operate the same way. If so, that explains why PaaK works well for some and not very well for others.

 

[mkhuffman]

Okay thanks. That explains it then. Unfortunately FordPass was killing my phone battery so my IT people said I had to remove it. Someone here suggested I turn on optimization and that solved the issue. I still am able to remote start and manage the charge settings etc so I guess a little FP is better than none.

I bet my brother is in the same boat.
Interesting that some others such as yourself can turn off optimization without draining the mobile phone battery while others have a different experience. I guess all mobile devices don't operate the same way. If so, that explains why PaaK works well for some and not very well for others.

According to the developer posting in this forum, FordPass 3.35.0 was meant to address battery issues. I am not sure if that worked or if 3.35.2 still has the battery issues addressed, but I had FordPass restricted so it cannot run in the background because it was killing my battery also.

Last night I turned that setting off and the app is continuing to behave properly - no dead battery this morning. I just turned off battery optimization and will report back in a few hours, but I am optimistic the app is fixed now and those settings are no longer necessary. I recommend you make sure you are on 3.35.2 and then turn off the battery management settings and see if FordPass behaves.

 

[joymyr]

There's nothing in that charging pad that creates a "connection" between the car and the phone.

That's true. But assuming there's a Bluetooth receiver located in the screen or below it, this could be the best place to put it. Just holding it right below the screen seems to have the same effect for me though. Other times I have to move it a bit around close to the screen. I'm guessing this has to do with the car trying to detect it's position, since it has to confirm it's inside the car to allow starting it.

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