The must-have app if you own a Tesla

12/06/2024 08:00 PM

I was first put onto the Tessie app by a reader, and I have been trying it out on my parents' Tesla Model Y for the past week.

RELATED: I tried to check the battery health of a Tesla and here's what I discovered

The third-party app, not officially linked to Tesla, launched in February 2021 on Android, iOS and, later, on a web browser. In a Reddit post, the Tessie creator said they made the app after they were unhappy with the official Tesla app experience.

“When I bought my Tesla about a year ago, I noticed that the Tesla app and third-party apps and websites felt way less impressive than the actual car did,” said the Tessie spokesperson.

“There are a lot of macro and micro improvements to the digital Tesla experience; too many to list here. Suffice it to say I’ve tried to improve every missing piece and sharp corner that I’ve come across as an owner while making it all as beautiful, reliable and elegant as possible.”

While the official Tesla app has a bunch of fantastic features that make controlling your vehicle from your phone seamless, the Tessie app takes it to the next level by offering real-world data, Apple Watch controls, and battery-health updates.

So, is it worth splurging and buying a secondary app for your vehicle? Here’s what you need to know before you take the plunge.

What is the Tessie app used for?

The Tessie app offers all the same features as the official Tesla app. You can open the doors, boot, frunk, and crack the windows through the Tessie app, as well as see your tyre pressures, set your heating/air conditioning, honk the horn, and flash your headlights.

You can also set updates to your car through the app, see your Sentry Mode recordings (if you have that package on your Tesla), see how much charge and driving range you have, and track the current location of your vehicle.

The point is that it's not supposed to be an addition to the previous app; it's meant to be a replacement.

What the Tessie app offers that the official Tesla app does not is a suite of controls and information about your car: battery-health checks, timed automation features, smartwatch controls and in-depth trip reports, all of which we will explore in more depth below.

How to check the battery health of a Tesla

One complaint I’ve had with Tesla’s official software, which I discussed in an earlier story, was that there was no way to check the health of your battery besides booking in for a health check at a service centre, which could take hours.

This is frustrating as issues can arise when you're considering buying a second-hand Tesla. You don't want to be stuck with a bill for a new battery, and the lack of readily available battery-health information can leave prospective used-EV buyers at a disadvantage compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles.

While it is beginning to get cheaper to replace the battery in an EV, a study from Recurrent, a US-based electric car website, has stated that it can still cost $AUD18,000 and beyond for the battery and labour.

Thankfully, the Tessie app makes it easy to see what battery capacity is left on your vehicle, estimating your battery health by taking data from charging sessions and battery cycles and comparing it to what your model reported when new.

However, it needs to be mentioned that it would be very difficult to use this app on a vehicle that is not yours as you need access to the owner’s Tesla log-in. But if you are thinking about selling your Tesla, providing key stats on its battery life to prospective buyers may be an excellent selling point.

Again, this is just an estimate based on how much range you are getting and your charging cycles. It’s not perfect – for example, if you are particularly heavy on the accelerator, you may use more driving range for each charge and the app will think your battery has degraded.

For an undoubtedly accurate battery-health check, you will need to book in with a Tesla dealership for them to access all drive information and run diagnostics on the overall cell-health of the battery.

How to unlock your Tesla with a smartwatch

One of the core features of the Tessie app was its ability to be installed on an Apple Watch. However, in early December 2024, Tesla announced an update to its firmware that allows you to download an Apple Watch app to unlock and control your car from.

Despite Tesla now offering this software to Apple Watch users, the Tessie app still currently has the leg up by allowing the software to be used on Android-based smartwatches as well.

You can download the Tessie app to your smartwatch and pair it with your key card, so you can access all of the same functionality on the phone app without needing to pull out your phone.

Tesla automation

Another helpful feature the Tessie app offers that the official Tesla app does not is the ability to automate various functions on your car. Here, you can set tasks for the car to run at certain times.

Via Tessie, you have the ability to automate the following:

• Open/close charging port
• Open/close windows
• Enable/disable bio-defence, camp, dog, valet, sentry and climate-keep modes
• "Fart", flash lights, honk
• Unlock/lock doors, open/close trunk
• Remote start
• Navigate to location
• Set charge limit
• Start/stop charging
• Set interior temperature/seat warmers and defrost.

All of this can be set to run once and repeat at a certain time and day, on arrival at the parking spot, on departure, and when plugged in.

It becomes particularly helpful if you leave the house at the same time every morning and want to wake up to a certain temperature in the car or just want to prank your friends by flashing the lights or honking the horn.

In-depth trip reports

Perhaps one of the best features on Tessie for electric car nerds is the trip report capability, which allows you to see detailed reports on your journey that are much more in-depth than what is offered on the official Tesla app.

Using Tesla's inbuilt GPS, the app will show you your travel route and attach the amount of power you used, fuel savings compared to if you were driving a similarly sized vehicle but with an internal combustion engine, and your driving range efficiency.

These real-world stats can be used to track your savings compared to an ICE vehicle and see where you can improve your range-savvy driving.

Another key feature is helping you to keep track of routes if you have lent your car out to a friend or family member, seeing the telemetry of how they drive and if they are speeding in your vehicle. Tesla’s official app does not allow you to do this.

How much is the Tessie app?

The Tessie app runs on a subscription service. I signed my parents' Model Y up for the two-week free trial of the Pro plan. After that, the costs and features are as follows:

Basic plan – $10 per month, per vehicle, which includes:

• Mobile, smartwatch and web apps
• Integrations and APIs
• Drive, charge and battery tracking
• Activity graphs
• Driving and charging alerts

Pro plan – $20 per month, per vehicle. In addition to the aforementioned features, it includes:

• Sentry, weather and maintenance alerts
• Live tracking
• Sentry tracking
• Software update tracking
• Firmware alert tracking
• Automation features

There is also a fleet management mode that costs $20 per month per vehicle. This mode allows for invoice management, a fleet dashboard, and a guest mode.

Is the Tessie app worth it?

After signing my parents up for the app, they were impressed with the features – mainly the option to have a key on their smartwatches and the battery-health check.

It is commonly accepted that your EV battery life will degrade around one to three per cent per year, and my parents found that their Tessie battery-health check came in close to what would be accurate based on the age of their car (two years), given it showed a 4.24 per cent degradation.

My parents are both hawk-eyed when it comes to driving range and energy usage, so they found the Tessie app was just another tool for them to monitor their consumption without too much effort.

If you are a keen electric car and Tesla enthusiast, it's certainly the app for you. Having access to all of the car’s telemetry and battery-health information can be helpful in determining if there is anything severely wrong with your Tesla and where you can improve your energy-efficient driving.

However, if you see your car as just a tool to get from A to B, then you most likely won’t benefit heavily from using the app over the standard Tesla one.

The post The must-have app if you own a Tesla appeared first on Drive.