Toyota App has been unavailable for me

There are a few threads about the Toyota App and this is the one with the most discussion so far
Entune update | PriusChat
the title says entune update, but it's more about what works and what doesn't work yet in the Toyota App.

 

It works for me but really all it tells me is the mileage and the tire pressure of each corner.

 

Was not working for me since that update.....But working now!

Was reading google play store reviews a couple times over last 2 weeks
Then my app said update. I updated and it is now working again!!!

Still says last update 12/4 so not sure if they rolled it back or what?
But working for me now for some reason

 

Proof

 

AWS (amazon web services, likely where toyota app is hosted) has had outages recently and the app is definitely running through it. They had another outage this morning and it may be causing issues....

 

The telematics apps (charge management, remote climate, vehicle finder, etc) on my Android phone Entune app with my 2017 Advanced are still working fine. Is this an Android idiosyncrasy, or specific to the 2017 Advanced or what? I have the latest version of the app (1.29.900.11, Aug 6, 2001). I also have the Toyota app, and it also seems to work EXCEPT for the vehicle locator functionality, which is the one telematics feature that is critical for me. I couldn't care less about the media stuff.

 

The climate preconditioning would not have warmed up the cabin even if you had the app working. The heat pump is not effective below 14F. In fact, my experience is that the heat pump is not very effective below 32F. For me, the climate preconditioning feature in PP is absolutely useless.

 

It's useless even when it's 45°F. As you know, it runs down the traction battery right before departure time. Any functional 15A outlet is completely able to supply 1500W to power the heat pump, so I'm not sure why the car behaves this way. It's probably some quirk in the design. Maybe the same one that makes you bake in your car while charging in full mid-summer sun because even though it has 7,000W or more available from the Level 2 charger, and it's only using 3,300, the car can't manage to run the A/C compressor with that other 3,700W of power.

 

It's possible to run preconditioning at almost any time while plugged in. don't have to wait for charge to complete than run preconditioning.
When it's really cold and the engine hasn't been run, I can use preconditioning as soon as I plug the car in, than again half way through the charge cycle and again 20 or 30 minuted before the charge cycle is complete.
It might still be uiseless depending on what you're looking for it to do, but starting preconditioning before the end of the charge cycle make any drop that might happen in the EV range less noticeable, for me anyway.

 

You can manually start the preconditioning, but it will shut off after ten minutes and by the time the car replenishes the charge to the battery the cabin will have returned to ambient temperature. Same goes for setting it as a part of the charge schedule.

As far as using it while you're sitting in the car waiting for a charge, does the car actually charge and cool/heat simultaneously? That's the only way it can be useful while you're charging in the burning sun.

 

LOL. For me 45F is very comfortable no HVAC required temperature. I would not even attempt to pre-heat my car any temp above 32F. The only time I would like to have preheat is the temp at well below 32F. I am OK without preheat down to 14F, but sometimes the car requires defrosting at above 14F but below 32F. Climate preconditioning is equally useless in those defrosting needs as it will not start the engine, and the heat pump is completely inadequate to melt thick ice formed on the windshield.

You can use Remote A/C with the fob to turn on A/C 10 min at a time while charging. But that means longer charging time and if you are paying for the electrons, it could get very costly.

 

Depends on the season. In the middle of winter that's not bad at all. When you get those temps after months of evening lows being above 75° it seems like the Arctic. In places like Phoenix you can go a month with temperatures never dipping below 100°F, even at night.

How cold it feels also depends heavily on humidity. Many places that get real cold that I've experienced also have very low humidity in the winter, which makes the cold not feel so bad (less specific heat capacity in the air). When it's 45°F and the humidity is 75% it can feel bone chilling even though it's no problem to stand outside in 15°F with a t-shirt when the humidity is 10%.

Will charging continue while the A/C runs? If not, there's no point as all you're doing is turning off charging to cool off. If it does continue charging it's going to double charge time as the compressor's going to pull about half of the 3.3 kW charge current.

 

It is more of a subjective perception. As I said, I have never felt 45F dry or damp to be cold that requires any heat to be turned on in my car. Today, the outside temp is 15F right now with 75% humidity, but the sun is out. I don't have too much problem going outside without a jacket. Our humidity is rarely below 50%. What make difference in the perception of cold are sun and wind. If it is sunny and calm, I feel much warmer than at the same temperature on a cloudy and windy day. But, that's just me. If I am driving with my wife in the car, I have to have the heat set at 75F all the time. LOL

I have never done it myself, but according to people reporting here, yes it continues to charge while A/C runs. You can keep pushing the Remote A/C button every 10min to continue using A/C with charging.

See this thread: Running the air conditioner continuously while charging - any possible issues? | PriusChat

 

If I live in an area where evening lows being above 75°, then I would be using preconditioning to cool my car far more often than heating. Our summer daily high rarely exceeds 80F. In the summer, which really is concentrated into only two months of July and Aug, low temps are usually in the 50Fs. The low temp 45F can happen in Jun or in Sep.

 

If there's no empirical basis for it, my body is crazy. More than once I've boarded a plane when I lived in Colorado and the temperatures were in the teens and didn't feel cold in a flannel, but upon disembarking in Los Angeles found it chilly at 40-something. Likewise, I've made dozens of road trips in those years, leaving Los Angeles with 80-90°F weather in the fall and arrived back in Colorado and found that it wasn't cold enough for a jacket when the daytime temps were in the 30's.