Entune Plug-in Hybrid Settings

Try another computer in another browser if you have access to it. I got the spinning wheel when i tried using Google Chrome on my mac, but i used Safari and it went through in like 10 seconds.

 

Do all those service level options mean that, after the 3 free years, we might be able to retain some of the functionality without paying an arm, a leg and a spare tire?

(Oops - I forgot - we already paid the spare tire.)

 

Those service options don't correspond to the Toyota's Entune page which is no hybrid apps or all hybrid apps:
Entune Account

The hybrid apps require the cellular radio. The cellular radio is part of SafetyConnect. So after the free 3-years of SafetyConnect, it costs $139.95/year for SafetyConnect (which includes the hybrid apps). More details here:
http://priuschat.com/forums/toyota-prius-plug-in/104094-pricing-entune-access.html

 

That thread says "In addition to the Entune subscription, you also must have a Safety Connection subscription (currently $139.95/year) to use the Plug-in Hybrid Applications on a smartphone."

What do the hybrid apps run on if not your smartphone?

 

The hybrid apps must communicate with the car about charge, location, and climate which requires a cellular connection. Otherwise, they hybrid apps are useless, with the possible exception of the Charging Station Map app.

 

There are two parts to the hybrid apps. One is the cellular phone built into the car which is part of the SafetyConnect setup, connecting you to an operator if the air bags are deployed and so on. The other is the app on an Android or iOS smartphone that communicates over the Internet to servers that know how to call the phone in the car and execute functions dealing with the charge state, air conditioner, current car location, and other things in the near future. There is no particular reason that the hybrid app needed to be a smartphone app; it could just as well have been a Web site accessible from a browser on any kind of device, but Toyota chose to integrate it with the Entune media app, which allows apps in the car such as Pandora to connect to the smartphone (and thus the Internet) using a Bluetooth or USB link.

There is also the phone functionality that uses Bluetooth or USB, and this is not dependent on any application on the phone, only that the phone (not necessarily a smartphone) support certain standard Bluetooth/USB profiles.

In my case, I have a Droid which I use for the hybrid application, and a Blackberry which I use for phone functionality (calls, messaging, the like). The way I use it, the Droid is never directly linked to the car.

 

Let me see if I understand this.

Some apps in the car, like Pandora, connect to the internet through the user's smartphone, even if the car's SafetyConnect cellular connection is available?

The apps on the smartphone can only connect to the car through the internet and the car's SafetyConnect cellular phone, even if the car is within Bluetooth range of the smartphone?

So if all I want is to use the smartphone apps, I still have to pay $200 a year for the apps plus SafetyConnect, even if I don't want any of the SafetyConnect features?

 

The so called Hybrid Apps on the smartphone (charge, A/C, car location) always talk over the Internet using your phone's data plan or WiFi, to the Safety Connect phone in the car, and require a Safety Connect subscription (but there may be a Hybrid-Apps-only Safety Connect option). They never use Bluetooth/USB.

The other apps (media apps such as Pandora) don't ever use the Safety Connect stuff; these so called "Entune Apps" always talk to your smart phone over Bluetooth or USB, and thence to the Internet via your smartphone. You do not need a Safety Connect contract to use the Entune Apps; you only need an Entune subscription (and a data plan on your smartphone). On the Base package, things like traffic go through Entune (and require an Entune subscription), but on the Advanced package, they instead require a Sirius/XM subscription and get the data from the satellite radio.

At least that is how I have pieced it all together.

 

That's not entirely correct. The Hybrid apps on the smartphone use your smartphone's internet connection, which may be Wifi or a phone data plan.

Not exactly. If you subscribe to SafetyConnect you get the Hybrid apps even if you don't subscribe to the Entune Apps.

 

Well, OK, point taken, my post is updated. But the idea is that the Hybrid apps do not use the Bluetooth/USB connection to the car. The whole point of the Hybrid Apps is to remotely access the car.

My point was that while the full Safety Connect subscription includes the Hybrid Apps, that you apparently can get a limited Hybrid-Apps-only Safety Connect subscription for a lot less $$. [Edit: Apparently there is no such thing; you have to pay $139/yr for Safety Connect to use the Hybrid Apps]

 

My point is that I am not going to get sucked in to any kind of monthly fee so that I can "talk" to my car...

Life is complicated enough - and I just don't need that much connectivity.

 

Do you have an official source for this? You may have read one of my posts (now corrected) where I misinterpreted a message from Erica/Prius Team.

I agree; I'm also not a fan of subscription fees.

 

Ooops. I think I was quoting you. Sorry for spreading incorrect information. Thanks for the correction. So I guess it is $139/yr for Safety Connect to use the Hybrid Apps.

For the regular Entune apps, I agree that a subscription fee is a ripoff, but for the Hybrid Apps, someone is paying Verizon or whomever for the cellular service for the in-car cell phone that handles the remote requests.

What I don't quite understand is how they can get away totally disabling the in-car cell phone if you don't pay for Safety Connect service. I would have thought that they would have had to convert the SOS button to a 911 call, since the phone itself will still be functional, and the FCC requires that 911 calls must be put through without charge and regardless of activation status or any other non-technical reason.

 

No worries, mea culpa.

True, but for the premium that the Advanced trim commands, I feel a lifetime subscription would have been nicer. The subscription fee after 3 years feels a little like nickel and diming.

That's pretty interesting, actually.

 

My Kindle came with free lifetime worldwide 3G service. Admittedly Amazon has a revenue stream to support that, but nevertheless they must be using a pretty inexpensive service.

If Toyota had been interested in giving the customer proper value, they had several options. (1) An apps-only subscription. (2) Let the apps connect to my smartphone via Bluetooth when I'm in or near the car. (3) Give the car unit wi-fi capability so it can connect through a home network when parked at home.

Unfortunately Toyota is taking the same bundle approach with data-based features as with the Advanced package. Don't give the customer a choice. If we want one or two features, make us pay for all of them. Sell us the razor; then make us buy a whole assortment of blades to get the one or two we want.

I thought it was like dealing with an airline, until I realized that at least the airlines unbundle their extra charges. So - worse than an airline. Whod'a thunk it was possible?

 

I cannot believe I am defending them, but... What is "lifetime" for your Kindle? The standard free Safety Connect subscription for new Toyotas is one year; for the PiP, they are providing 3 years. When I activated the Safety Connect feature, the customer support person was perplexed at seeing the 2015 expiration date, and wondered if I had bought an extended subscription. Is your Kindle going to last three years? (Serious question, not meant sarcastically.) I don't think they expect people to keep such devices for that long before upgrading to the latest and greatest model. They certainly don't for smartphones. And I certainly expect to keep my PiP for longer than three years.

 

Actually, if you think about it, that "free lifetime 3G" isn't exactly free. You pay more for the 3G version than you pay for the wireless version.

 

Points well taken; a Kindle is not a Toyota.

But it's reasonable to infer from the Kindle that there are cellular data solutions available to Toyota that would allow them to provide the functionality many of us want without charging exorbitantly.

 

I've been at it for 3 weeks now. Read all the manuals--yes! ALL! I finally got the Safety Connect Contract ID from my Dealer. Apparently mine is a 6-digit number located on the top left corner of my sales agreement. HOWEVER! I entered that number and Entune says it is INVALID. Now I'm waiting for my sales guy to call me and figure this out. I hope they move up my service date because it's now been 3 weeks without this service. Anyone out there have any ideas. I'm now going to check You-Tube!