Some Lucid App Questions...

[Buffalo Bob]

I got my Air Pure AWD a month ago, and since then have struggled to understand a few things about the Lucid App. Perhaps some of you could shed some light...

I live in a high rise, and my car is parked two levels below grade in a parking structure. There are two wi-fi connections down there, which were primarily installed so that EVs can receive OTAs, and my car is set up with both. Of course, there is also the car's LTE SIM (or perhaps e'SIM) card, but I don't think there is any way for me to verify whether or not a LTE signal is being received down there.

Far more often than not, I am not able to wake the car using the app, whether I am in my unit on my own strong wi-fi, or elsewhere using my mobile phone's data connection. I have gone as long as 18 hours without being able to get it to connect. (On very rare occasions, I have received a 'vehicle is offline' notification.) At other times, it connects right away.

Sometimes, even when standing right by the car, with my phone connected to the same garage wi-fi, I am unable to connect.

Are connection issues such as this unusual? (BTW, I have tried deleting and reinstalling the app, to no avail.)

And a related question... I have auto open and auto close activated, and it works beautifully with my fob, but it has never worked with the app. Should that function work with the app, or is it just a fob thing?

I would like to be able to just use the app without having to carry the fob, but can't at this point.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

 

[hydbob]

I got my Air Pure AWD a month ago, and since then have struggled to understand a few things about the Lucid App. Perhaps some of you could shed some light...

I live in a high rise, and my car is parked two levels below grade in a parking structure. There are two wi-fi connections down there, which were primarily installed so that EVs can receive OTAs, and my car is set up with both. Of course, there is also the car's LTE SIM (or perhaps e'SIM) card, but I don't think there is any way for me to verify whether or not a LTE signal is being received down there.

Far more often than not, I am not able to wake the car using the app, whether I am in my unit on my own strong wi-fi, or elsewhere using my mobile phone's data connection. I have gone as long as 18 hours without being able to get it to connect. (On very rare occasions, I have received a 'vehicle is offline' notification.) At other times, it connects right away.

Sometimes, even when standing right by the car, with my phone connected to the same garage wi-fi, I am unable to connect.

Are connection issues such as this unusual? (BTW, I have tried deleting and reinstalling the app, to no avail.)

And a related question... I have auto open and auto close activated, and it works beautifully with my fob, but it has never worked with the app. Should that function work with the app, or is it just a fob thing?

I would like to be able to just use the app without having to carry the fob, but can't at this point.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Have you double checked the WiFi connection in the car?

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Yes. The 2.4 connection is strong and reliable, and it should switch to the weaker 5.0 connection if there is a problem.

 

[DeaneG]

About auto-unlock using phone: have you set your phone up as a key? It's a separate thing from just installing the phone app.

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Yes, but perhaps I should try disconnecting and reconnecting.

 

[Bobby]

Yes, but perhaps I should try disconnecting and reconnecting.

Which phone?

 

[Buffalo Bob]

Pixel 7

 

[LVAGT]

Pixel 7

I'm not sure if this is going to help or not, but I too had issues with Pixel 7 with the app showing me "vehicle is offline". However, I don't normally get on the app very much. There are a few scenarios where my wife left with the key and I didn't want to go with her to the shop, so I went back to the car, but wasn't able to open it because it showed "vehicle is offline". Had never happened on my iPhone 11 tho.

 

[DeaneG]

On my pixel 7, I had to open the app to get the mobile key to work.

 

[DeaneG]

I'm guessing mobile key might work better if Lucid changed the mobile key to use Android/iOS native mobile key functionality instead of rolling their own.

 

[hellolucid]

I'm guessing mobile key might work better if Lucid changed the mobile key to use Android/iOS native mobile key functionality instead of rolling their own.

I haven't looked it up but i feel like Lucid is limited by their choice of app framework. they use Flutter to build their apps which may not have all of the native framework features. someone mentioned that they are moving away from Flutter to native frameworks but who knows when that is going to happen.

 

[ViperSSD]

I'm guessing mobile key might work better if Lucid changed the mobile key to use Android/iOS native mobile key functionality instead of rolling their own.

UWB support is not widespread enough for the native Android key support, my Samsung Flip 5 doesn't have it for example. Without UWB support, the native android key only works via NFC, which works well but you still have to pull out your phone.
I've found that some phones are much more active in killing background processes/tasks like the Tesla or Lucid app which allows the keys to work.

 

[DeaneG]

UWB support is not widespread enough for the native Android key support, my Samsung Flip 5 doesn't have it for example. Without UWB support, the native android key only works via NFC, which works well but you still have to pull out your phone....

I believe native key support also includes Bluetooth. The Air doesn't have a uwb radio.

 

[ViperSSD]

I believe native key support also includes Bluetooth. The Air doesn't have a uwb radio.

Are you talking about Lucid's key support or Android, I thought Android only had two options for it's digital car key implementation, NFC and UWB : https://www.androidauthority.com/android-digital-car-key-3222078/
I may be wrong though....for our BMW, it required UWB to get passive lock/unlock, otherwise, we could add the key but you had to tap your phone to the driver's door handle and then the phone charging tray area to read the NFC tag for unlock and then vehicle start.

 

[DeaneG]

Are you talking about Lucid's key support or Android, I thought Android only had two options for it's digital car key implementation, NFC and UWB : https://www.androidauthority.com/android-digital-car-key-3222078/
I may be wrong though....for our BMW, it required UWB to get passive lock/unlock, otherwise, we could add the key but you had to tap your phone to the driver's door handle and then the phone charging tray area to read the NFC tag for unlock and then vehicle start.

Hmm you may be right, maybe it's just iOS that also supports Bluetooth as a key.

 

[ViperSSD]

iOS was actually on UWB for digital car key in Apple's native app implementation:

Car key security in iOS

Developers can support secure keyless ways to access a vehicle in a supported iPhone and paired Apple Watch.

support.apple.com

From my understanding, BT is only setup to work in conjunction with native apps from each car mfg so when the app gets killed in the background, the BT key will stop working. If it's a digital key in the native OS implementation it will always work as long as the phone is on, just like your nfc tag, so the individual apps aren't necessary to always be running anymore.
It's a better implementation so it kind of sucks Lucid didn't do UWB, but not end of the world.

 

[Amster]

If you have an Android phone, you need to keep the app running in the background. I know how to do that on a Samsung, but not a PIxel.

 

[joec]

iOS was actually on UWB for digital car key in Apple's native app implementation:

Car key security in iOS

Developers can support secure keyless ways to access a vehicle in a supported iPhone and paired Apple Watch.

support.apple.com

From my understanding, BT is only setup to work in conjunction with native apps from each car mfg so when the app gets killed in the background, the BT key will stop working. If it's a digital key in the native OS implementation it will always work as long as the phone is on, just like your nfc tag, so the individual apps aren't necessary to always be running anymore.
It's a better implementation so it kind of sucks Lucid didn't do UWB, but not end of the world.

The Air does not have UWB. So native Apple Car Key is not possible. Lucid developed its own BLE solution. Unfortunately. Because BLE is just not a great technological choice for car keys. So it goes.

We don’t know yet whether Gravity has UWB, but when I nudged a few execs about it during the reveal in LA, they smiled and nodded, as if to say “Don’t worry. It will be way better than the Air.”

So I’m guessing Gravity will have UWB. And possibly native Apple Car Key and the Android equivalent.

 

[hydbob]

If you have an Android phone, you need to keep the app running in the background. I know how to do that on a Samsung, but not a PIxel.

Right. We need @lucidtouringman

 

[Buffalo Bob]

I have Android 14 running on my Pixel 7, and have granted all the requested permissions, including all notifications. I have also granted 'unrestricted' battery access within the app's settings, which allows it to run in the background. Looking at all the various app settings, there is no access stone left unturned. I did try having the car 'forget' my phone's bluetooth connection, and then reestablished it. While only time will tell, I was able to 'wake' the car twice without difficulty, but functions like the auto open/close functions still only work with the fob.