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2019 Prius Prime Advanced EV Remote Connect Not Working

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by PieceOfPrius, Nov 19, 2022.

  1. PieceOfPrius

    PieceOfPrius New Member

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    Plug-in Advanced
    HI everyone. First time post here although I’ve read plenty on this helpful forum.
    I have a 2019 Prius Prime Advanced that came with EV Remote Connect and a trial for Safety Connect.

    The Entune app that we used to use was spotty, but would work on most days to start the car, check the battery, scheduling, etc. THEN, Toyota released their plainly named app as a replacement called “Toyota.”
    The EV Remote Connect was still working, but then suddenly this past year nothing.

    Now when I try to use the Toyota App, it doesn’t show anything other than “Subscription Services has Expired. Click to renew” or something along these lines. When going through the renewal menu, all that shows up is the ability to renew the Safety Connect and nothing else.

    As the weather is getting colder, I wanted to use this app again to preheat the car for my kids as it’s difficult to tell if the car is even on from the FOB. I talked with 6 different agents (2 supervisors) at Toyota today. No one seemed to have any clue and I was bounced me around from Connected Services department to Toyota Brand Engagement.

    One agent on a very poor cellular connection (kept dropping) was stating it might be related to my Sirius XM trial having been expired… Another asked if I had brought it back to the dealer (which the dealer is slow and terrible.) Most kept saying it was an expired subscription (it’s not) and I would point out that all that’s available to renew now is Safety Connect which has nothing to do with remote start, etc.

    Now I’m just waiting on a supervisor to call me back as they’re investigating this issue. I had repeatedly told them that EV Remote Connect was part of the Advanced lineup for my year’s model but I gather for the latest models this policy had changed.

    I tried reinstalling the app and re-registering under a different name, but it wouldn’t let me.
    However as I walked through the process it did pop up with a screen which read:

    Vehicle Capabilities:

    EV Remote Connect
    Safety Connect
    Entune App Suite​

    I’m just amazed that no one seems to have any solutions or explanations. Just mostly poor customer support over even worse cellular connections which were dropping to every other words. I hope Toyota or someone on here has an answer for this issue.
     
  2. schja01

    schja01 One of very few in Chicagoland

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    I think you might be in need of a software update to your head unit.
    In the Toyota App pull-down go to the AppSuite Card and press the CONNECT button and see if you are prompted to do a software update. I’m assuming your smartphone is already paired to your vehicle.
    I have a 2018 Prime Advanced and the only subscription available is Safety Connect which also has the functionality of Remote Connect. No Remote Start but you can precondition the vehicle remotely. Entune App Suite is long gone.
     
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  3. PieceOfPrius

    PieceOfPrius New Member

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    I checked for software updates in the car itself the other day and no such luck.
    Phone is paired but I’ll double check as I tend to disable some items. I usually have zero reason to use the app on the phone if I’m actually sitting in the car so this might prove interesting.

    As for Safety Connect and EV Remote Connect, these were two separate services. Safety Connect was a trial. EV Connect wasn’t. As for Entune App Suite, it honestly was a piece of junk so no real loss there.
     
  4. prius16

    prius16 Active Member

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    You want to do a "Safety Connect" renewal.

    Toyota changed their connected services. Yes, they can do that. You did read, and understand, every word in your 40,000 page agreement, didn't you? ;-)


    Fwiw, the Toyota app massively sucks!
    Especially if anyone else in the world is is using the app. Or, if the app is not be used. Or, the app just feels like being an ********. Or, if there is any motion, at all, in the universe. Or....

    Still, I locked in the current renewal rate, and signed up right after I got my car. The paid subscription starts after the trial ends.

    The abilities of the app varies by year, model, trim, and options. Yes, really.
    So, some people can see their tire air pressures, and lock/unlock their door.
    For the Prime Limited/Advanced, no tire air pressures, no lock/unlock.


    Sign up for the Safety Connect, and you should be all set.
    No need to pair the phone to the car. It's an account login.

    If you need great service, go to Wellsley Toyota, right on RT9. They are still one of the very few independently(/family) owned dealerships in the country.
    Most dealerships today, are like Jordan's Furniture - owned by some mega conglomerate.

    In the South, one mega dealerships owns most/all of the dealerships in a number of States. They bought the Toyota dealership licenses, when Toyota started to sell in the USA. Imho, seems to me a very risky decision. But, "luck" is what often makes very rich people, be very rich.


    Fwiw, Toyota killed Entune and EV Connect about a week before I got my car. Those services were already discontinued.

    Good Luck!
     
    #4 prius16, Nov 19, 2022
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2022
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  5. PieceOfPrius

    PieceOfPrius New Member

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    I think that’s where my wife bought her old Scion ages ago. May have to consider going there instead.

    As for the app, I was actually only really interested in being able to use my login information once again to use HACS in Homeassistant with the Toyota Integration, so I could use HA or even Echo (Alexa) to start my car and also create more advanced startup automations based upon local weather conditions. But I would like to figure out what is going on with their app first and to see if this gets resolved.

    To say that I’m disappointed with Toyota however would be a gross understatement.
     
  6. PieceOfPrius

    PieceOfPrius New Member

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    @prius16 I’ll add that what you’re saying is my main concern, but 4 reps with poor cellular connections working from home and 2 supervisors later, one would think that they could provide me with an answer. Not a single one.

    I didn’t feel like blowing $80 for something with the word Safety in it if it didn’t include the previous services. They could have also added something in the app which would make it clearer what they had done to previous users.
     
  7. prius16

    prius16 Active Member

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    I'm pretty sure that currently, there is not any integration, at all, with the POS Toyota app. The app itself barely works. It often doesn't work. The is not reliable for starting the car. It has gotten "a little better". Now, I'm able to start the car ~70% of the time, and it takes between 3-7mins.


    For my 2022 Prius Prime Limited, I can:
    See the battery charge amount.
    If not charging, the approx total range.
    See the odometer total mileage.
    Start/Stop the pre-warm/pre-cool, but only to 65F. The other 2 temperature options don't work.
    The pre-condition runs for a max of 10mins.
    You can run pre-condition many times.
    Turn on the rear, or "front defroster". Note, for pre-condition, the front defroster uses the heat from the heat pump. It does not start the car.
    This is to prevent CO poisoning for people that have the car in an attached garage.
    For temps below ~55F, one 10min cycle does nothing for the front window.
    I can see if I'm due for a maintenance cycle.
    I can see the "approx" location of the car.
    I can call for emergency help with the button in the car near the rear view mirror, or with app.


    Iirc, for Toyota Total Connect, the current cost is ~$80/year.
    The rate is locked in, as long as you keep your subscription active.
    We know the rate will only go up. Hence, why I locked in right after I picked up my car.
    I also have a 10year/100K Toyota Extended Warranty (fwiw, for a negotiated $2,000. Imho, for $200/year, it's cheap piece of mind, and insurance.).
    (Wellsley Toyota also does not charge over MSRP. Most other dealerships wanted at least $5K "market rate adjustment", for any 2022 Prius Prime.)
    And, for me, the Gen5 would be a big step down from my Gen4. Many reasons.
    So, yes, I bash the POS Toyota app. However, it's what I have available. And, at least now, it "mostly" does the bare basics.


    The electric company has a ?3cents? discount for EV/PHEV charging at night. I was told, that the electric company's app does not support any Toyota vehicles, because of lack of "Toyota integration abilities". (Note, that could also mean the lack of their app, to integrate with Toyota's API. Or, they don't want to pay for access. Or, many other things.)
    And, for whatever reason, the electric company doesn't support using the internet connected ChargePoint charger on any vehicle (like some other electric company's do).


    Again, model year, and trim level effects what does and does not work with the Toyota app.
    The 2023 Prime, is "suppose to" support remote park/come-here with the Toyota app. My guess is that if it does get implemented, it'll work with only some trims/options.
    There might be "significant options" on the Primes for the Gen5 (unlike the Gen4), like "Traffic Jam auto-drive under 25mph".


    Good Luck!
     
    #7 prius16, Nov 20, 2022
    Last edited: Nov 20, 2022
  8. PieceOfPrius

    PieceOfPrius New Member

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    Plug-in Advanced
    HA/HACS Toyota Integration is not an integration with the app. However it uses a username and password to access these services and mine is locked out.
     
  9. paddlebro

    paddlebro Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Prime Advanced
    I have a 2019 Prius Prime Advanced as well. It came with Etune and a 3-year free Safety Connect trial. Remote Connect was part of the package and I was able to turn on the A/C, check the battery level and initiate charging with the Toyota app. The performance was shamefully inconsistent but it worked often enough that I would occasionally use it. I let the subscription expire in May of last year.

    The other day I decided to cough up the $80 and renew for a year. The only subscription option was “Safety Connect”. I assumed all the features would be bundled as before. Once I renewed the subscription the Etune apps started working again and the Toyota app seemed to recognize the car (it displays the VIN and I was able to restart the Bluetooth apps). When I hit the “Power” button in the app, it brings up the Climate page, but the boxes are grayed out and it is stuck in search mode as if it can’t find the car. I thought maybe the car needed an update to the Data Communication Module so I went to the dealer. They checked the car out (3 hours) and told me everything was up to date. They were clueless about the Remote Connect problem and told me to call Toyota.

    I called and had a similar experience. I was disconnected twice and the connections that worked were horrible. Finally, I was told that I was subscribed to Safety Connect, but that Remote Connect was not available for my car. This is either wrong, or Toyota has dropped the Remote Connect feature. If I had known this I’m not sure I would have resubscribed but I suppose it’s worth it to have Safety Connect in an emergency, assuming it actually works.

    I don’t want to spend any more time on this since the Remote Connect barely worked anyway. The agent suggested I have the dealer program my key fob for remote A/C. I’ll see if they’ll do that for free.

    The feature/model matrix doesn’t seem to be documented anywhere and nobody I have been able to talk to has any idea how this stuff works. The marketing pages list all sorts of remote features but they are not clear about which years and models support which capabilities,

    My best guess is that 2019 was a transitional year for the Prius Prime and the company stopped supporting some of the features, but who knows,

    I hope there is somebody out there that can definitively answer your questions. I would like to get the final word on this too! Thanks for sharing your experience. Maybe we can all help each other sort this out.