Scooter80 Posted March 18, 2013 at 10:58 PM Report Share Posted March 18, 2013 at 10:58 PM (edited) Figured I'd start a topic on this as I think Ford will need some real help on this in the coming weeks as more and more Energis get delivered. I like the idea of the app and I think its a decent implementation so far, but I really hope its a work in progress and Ford is working on improving it. I have had a bunch of issues with the app and the process of "pairing" it to the car. It seems the app as a whole is buggy to say the least. The first problem is, as has been mentioned by other members, there are at least two MyFord Mobile apps for iOS out there. One for the pure electric and the newer release for the plug-in hybrid. Make sure you get the correct one! Then there's the authentication/permission/pairing process you have to run through to fully authenticate the app, your account and your car to all work together in "harmony." I had issues with this. Getting my account set up was no problem so I signed in on the app with it. It then prompts to add a car as none are added yet. Cool, that's handy, but now starts the problem I encountered. I guess it turned out to be more an annoyance than a problem, but nonetheless. With each new section navigated to in the app during this process of adding a car, an iOS popup screen said there was a communication error and to contact Ford SYNC services if it continues. But it DID allow me to slog through the process and get my car added. Just was really strange to have this popup EVERY new input in EVERY new screen of the process. Anyways, that is the problem with the process I wanted to report. Next was the hopping in the car, turning it on and waiting a few moments for a popup on MFT screen to allow or disallow my request to authenticate. Again, cool. Easy enough. Now comes a waiting period of 24 hours until a 2nd popup in the MFT to fully open up the functionality of the app (to include car location, charging station location and some other features). I would imagine this waiting period is so some schmo can't take a test-drive, pairing his phone to the car in the process and later have control of it. That would require another test drive on a future date. Good safety/privacy feature I guess, but still seems easy enough to defeat if one was persistent and tenacious and really wanted to get in someone's vehicle at a later date. I wonder if there is a more fool-proof way to accomplish this. So now I fully authorized my app to control my car, so I went back to the app. But the two center buttons in the app were still grayed out. They had been from the beginning, but I though for sure this 2nd authorization would have opened them up for use. No dice. So I found I had to kill the app on my iOS device and re-open it. This then made the app fully operational. Finally!! I did receive an email via the email address you give to initiate your account. After all permissions were given, etc. the email read: (italics edited for privacy) "Hello NAME,This is to inform you that access to the vehicleVIN: 3FA6P0SU6DR240946Vehicle Nickname: NICKNAMEhas been removed from your MyFord Mobile account." I'm sorry, what? Why, after all this time and the permissions I have given, was the vehicle removed?!?! Well, it turns out it wasn't. Poor wording in the email? Bugs to iron out? I don't know, but again, another annoyance. Everything seems to be working as intended. Unfortunately "as intended" leaves something to be desired. But I can also verify that this procedure does NOT need to be repeated for each device you might have. It seems it is only needed for the MyFord Mobile account globally and any device you use to access that account will be authorized. Though I have found there is no feedback when trying to access the app functions from more than one device. Say I have the instance running on my iPhone, and I move to my iPad, or worse yet, my wife tries to pull it up on one of her devices. When I put my password in on my iPad, usually one of a number of things happen. Either it seems to allow me to log on, but will immediately return to the sign-on screen with no reason as to why, or it just won't even change, again with no explanation why. I have verified it seems to be due to multiple logons from multiple devices as when I kill the app on the previous device and wait a few moments, it then allows the sign-on on the 2nd device. Would be nice to have it ask if you want it to sign you off on the first one, and then proceed on the 2nd. Especially since we have a total of 5 between us. (two iPads, two iPhones and the web app). I know, trivial complaint. But honest feedback nonetheless. Now my problems with the app UI. It is VERY slow. slow to pull up new screens, slow to respond to presses, and button presses have little to no feedback. It is slow to update on car/battery status, etc. I get it is using the car's built-in cell service, so that might be part of my problem, but the UI could be a little better and fresher with cooler buttons that had feedback that they were actuated. Scrolling on the few screens that allow it is clunky and jerky. It seems like the app updates info either from your online account or the car itself EVERY time a page is changed. It seems like it should cache some of this info locally to speed things up and streamline the whole experience. The map function in the car locator section is near useless as I can tell so far. It shows where it is alright, but when trying to zoom out or in, when the map updates, it will lose that zoom setting and revert to a preset zoom. And it updates quite often! ~3 seconds or so I'd say. They need to fix this ASAP! I imagine trying to use this to, say, locate your stolen vehicle. Useless unless you happen to recognize the few acres shown on the preset zoom level. My Hopes for improvement. Cleaner, faster interface with better buttons that provide immediate feedbackAllow more functions in the Remote Control. All I have now is status, start, lock and unlock. Would be awesome to have climate controls and/or window/moonroof open/close on there too for a fuller remote start experienceIncorporate syncmyride functions to allow a one-app solutionAnyways, I hope this helps some future Energi drivers when they finally get their vehicles. And I really hope Ford gives this app and the Energi experience as a whole a little more attention. It deserves it. Edited March 18, 2013 at 11:11 PM by Scooter80 efudd, FusionEnergi, TX NRG and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted March 19, 2013 at 12:48 AM Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 at 12:48 AM As of today on the Apple App Store, there is release 1.0.1 for this app. Though its release notes say "initial release," this is in-fact an update. And after a little playing with it, it appears to have fixed the zooming error on the locator page and may have made things a little faster as well. Props to Ford Getting better... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted March 19, 2013 at 03:22 AM Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 at 03:22 AM Thanks for the writeup scooter. One only hopes that Ford watches these communities to understand the impact. Given the job they did with the dash, I am amazed how unrefined the app seems. Other things I would like to see are the trip metrics and lifetime metrics on the vehicle. Scooter80 and PlugMeIn 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlugMeIn Posted March 19, 2013 at 03:41 AM Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 at 03:41 AM THANK YOU for the in-depth write up! Much appreciated! :hi5: Scooter80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efudd Posted March 21, 2013 at 09:39 AM Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 at 09:39 AM (edited) Ford now has a couple of YouTube videos that show the set-up process for the mobile app with the Energi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t5P0ia97Qw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee3b6l5k6o8 Edited March 21, 2013 at 09:42 AM by efudd meyersnole and FusionEnergi 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yojroz Posted March 21, 2013 at 10:20 PM Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 at 10:20 PM I've been trying to register and my VIN and ESN give an error. I called it in and got a case number til it gets resolved...boooo. Guess I'm waiting a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meyersnole Posted March 21, 2013 at 11:37 PM Report Share Posted March 21, 2013 at 11:37 PM I've been trying to register and my VIN and ESN give an error. I called it in and got a case number til it gets resolved...boooo. Guess I'm waiting a while. Make sure you using the right mobile app and the right website. Why they made both look so similar I will never know! I talk about my initial frustrations here: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/616-myford-mobile/?p=1865 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yojroz Posted March 22, 2013 at 04:32 AM Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 at 04:32 AM Make sure you using the right mobile app and the right website. Why they made both look so similar I will never know! I talk about my initial frustrations here: http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/616-myford-mobile/?p=1865Yeah, I'm using the Plug-in hybrid app. And I click Fusion on the website. I even downloaded the wrong app just to make sure. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted March 22, 2013 at 06:07 PM Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 at 06:07 PM I tried entering my VIN before I got the car and was getting one error, but after we took delivery I was getting a different error. The first, I could do nothing about, but I was able to work through the second and get it going. Which error are you getting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apm Posted April 16, 2013 at 02:43 PM Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 at 02:43 PM Has anyone tried to set up a GoTime with Cabin Conditioning? I have setup a few, but it doesn't seem to want to work. I have tried with both the 120v charger and using a ChargPoint 220v charger. It did not work on either case, cabin was as hot as the outside temperature (or hotter!). I called Ford and opened a case, but it can take up to 4 days for them to return the call. Hopefully they will call back! Regards,APM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter80 Posted April 16, 2013 at 11:25 PM Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2013 at 11:25 PM (edited) Has anyone tried to set up a GoTime with Cabin Conditioning? I have setup a few, but it doesn't seem to want to work. I have tried with both the 120v charger and using a ChargPoint 220v charger. It did not work on either case, cabin was as hot as the outside temperature (or hotter!). I called Ford and opened a case, but it can take up to 4 days for them to return the call. Hopefully they will call back! Regards,APMJust did it via MyFordMobile app for iPhone for my wife for today and yesterday. Worked great on L2. Didn't used to work on the included Ford charger. Now, we are still heating up here in "can't seem to decide on a season" land. Maybe it's not as effective with cooling? And FYI, go times are when you want the car READY. Not when you want it to start conditioning. Edited April 16, 2013 at 11:27 PM by Scooter80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apm Posted April 17, 2013 at 10:02 PM Report Share Posted April 17, 2013 at 10:02 PM Has anyone tried to set up a GoTime with Cabin Conditioning? I have setup a few, but it doesn't seem to want to work. I have tried with both the 120v charger and using a ChargPoint 220v charger. It did not work on either case, cabin was as hot as the outside temperature (or hotter!). I called Ford and opened a case, but it can take up to 4 days for them to return the call. Hopefully they will call back! Regards,APM Just did it via MyFordMobile app for iPhone for my wife for today and yesterday. Worked great on L2. Didn't used to work on the included Ford charger. Now, we are still heating up here in "can't seem to decide on a season" land. Maybe it's not as effective with cooling? And FYI, go times are when you want the car READY. Not when you want it to start conditioning.I got a call from Ford tofay about the issue. That in itself is surprising... The person asked me to do a couple of things to verity that it wasn't working. It wasn't, so he said he research it some more and get back in touch. I tried with a 240v charger (ChargePoint) a few days ago and it didn't work... It hasn't worked at my house with the 110v charger either. Regards,APM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckeilson Posted May 10, 2014 at 07:09 PM Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 at 07:09 PM I am having problems with my myfordmobile app. I can use the Web Site fine. But on the app itself the only options that are available (and they don't even work all the time) are the turn on, lock and unlock. The last screen with the arrow up has the red circle with a diagonal line through it over most of the options. See the attached image. Any help would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russael Posted May 10, 2014 at 08:41 PM Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 at 08:41 PM If the website works fine and you can see all the things that are unavailable on the app, the only thing I see online is deleting the app and all of its data while signed in, and then re-installing it. Sometimes turning the phone off and then back on after the install and before the reinstall works too. For some reason, the app seems to have significant issues on the latest operating systems. It requires far more fiddling than it should. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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