I just bought a Toyota and they locked a lot of features behind an app with a monthly fee, absolute fucking pricks. The whole auto industry is going to shit.
Join and/or fund Right to Repair advocacy organizations people. For my fellow Canadians: check out CanRepair, they are currently registering members and will have their first ever AGM March 18
The main things that bother me are maps, remote start (which can be done from the keys but it’s a pain in the ass). When you start the vehicle a screen comes up that asks you to subscribe for maps, and then Android auto connects like 50% of the time and randomly disconnects when you are driving.
There’s a bunch of other little features that are mostly convenience things, but I bought the vehicle, and I understand they have to run some infrastructure but it’s not much and I could just connect through wifi or Bluetooth and they wouldn’t have to run any infra.
Also, it’s $15 a month which is a rip off. If it was $20 a year, thats annoying, but it’s more tolerable. $15 a month to be able to use the maps that are built in is a crime.
The big ass screen is worthless unless I’m using Android auto.
I have remote start, locking doors and car info for free in the FordPass app, though I HAVE to use Android Auto for maps as the 2022 Escape SYNC does not have maps at all, which I am actually unbothered by. Android auto works very well on the display, though it has to be via cable, no w/less AA available.
I just bought a Toyota and they locked a lot of features behind an app with a monthly fee, absolute fucking pricks. The whole auto industry is going to shit.
Join and/or fund Right to Repair advocacy organizations people. For my fellow Canadians: check out CanRepair, they are currently registering members and will have their first ever AGM March 18
What did they lock behind the paywall?
The main things that bother me are maps, remote start (which can be done from the keys but it’s a pain in the ass). When you start the vehicle a screen comes up that asks you to subscribe for maps, and then Android auto connects like 50% of the time and randomly disconnects when you are driving.
There’s a bunch of other little features that are mostly convenience things, but I bought the vehicle, and I understand they have to run some infrastructure but it’s not much and I could just connect through wifi or Bluetooth and they wouldn’t have to run any infra.
https://support.toyota.com/s/article/Subscription-Plans?language=en_US
Also, it’s $15 a month which is a rip off. If it was $20 a year, thats annoying, but it’s more tolerable. $15 a month to be able to use the maps that are built in is a crime.
The big ass screen is worthless unless I’m using Android auto.
I have remote start, locking doors and car info for free in the FordPass app, though I HAVE to use Android Auto for maps as the 2022 Escape SYNC does not have maps at all, which I am actually unbothered by. Android auto works very well on the display, though it has to be via cable, no w/less AA available.
I’d love to be able to even just see if the doors are locked without a monthly fee.
The USB c connection is on the passenger side of the screen in the top right corner, so doing wired Android auto is pretty annoying
It is possible to get a relatively inexpensive adapter on Amazon that converts the wired port to wireless.