Silent death of Prime apps on the 2020

little bit of bait and switch?

 

Picked up my 2020 Prius Prime advanced in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Aug282019. Big disappointment about Entune and Remote Climate Control. I never could understand how the “app” would work in the car without a data package or local wifi connectivity when the car is parked. That said, i will be trying to “‘make do” with a “crippled” product and see how this winter goes with the FOB “Hold A/C” button! My thought is this needs to be addressed before 2020 Olympics or it could be a social media sh*t show?

On a side note my hope is Toyota is reworking the software to utilize SMS to perform these functions removing the need to a full data connection? we can only hope!

Cheers!
Darrell from Winnipeg (no brother Darrell either!)

 

Does this mean that the 2020 Prime has none of the various cellphone Entune apps which require communication with the vehicle. e.g., the remote vehicle locator, the charging station locator, the cabin pre-conditioning (which works only if the vehicle doors are locked), or -- heaven forbid -- the Eco Dashboard with the beloved sheep?

Does this also mean that the 2020 will not send you a message when it's parked near your normal workplace or home and has not been plugged in to charge? How about the cheerful message that charging has been completed? Not to mention the ability to see whether charging is in process, percent of charging completed, estimated range, and estimated time until fully charged?

None of these features were important to me until I acquired my 2017 Prime. Now I would be hard pressed to consider a new PHEV or EV that did not have them.

 

I spent a lot of time trying to find the app that works. The functionality on my 2017 was great, now I will have to remember, and know ahead of time what the weather will be, to set my climate settings before getting out of my car. I liked all of that other stuff too! Come on Toyota, please give us a fix.

 

Me thinks you are bang on with the above until Toyota provides a response?

 

Correct. I have a ‘20 Prime Limited. I feel left out not having any of those cool features.

 

Be really careful with this car! A number of features have been "crippled" in my opinion for Canadians! WIFI is not available the manual stats this. Lots of adds imply features are built in and don't mention it's only available in the US....buyer beware with this model - 2020 Prius Prime Advanced!

 

KBB?

 

These aren’t available in the US either. I don’t have wifi in my ‘20 Limited.

 

hmmm.... I looked at the Toyota web site and it looks to me like Entune 3.0 is basically an entertainment system with the addition of some navigation database functions. No mention of being able to interact with any vehicle features. It does not seem to provide anything to help you learn how your vehicle is performing, to learn how efficiently your driving habits are, or to let you control anything like charging or climate pre-conditioning.

Maybe someone can explain to me how this system is any better than just using 3rd party entertainment apps on your cellphone and connecting the audio output to the vehicle sound system either by an audio patch cord or by bluetooth.

I guess there may be some advantage to controlling this stuff from the vehicle's touch screen. But it really seems to be a total dumbing-down of the technology.

These quotes from the Toyota web site say a lot about what the system provides:

Apps supported through Toyota Entune® App Suite include:

Destination Search — Search and explore places to go and exciting things to do. Find and go to points of interest, addresses, restaurants, shopping, entertainment venues and more.​

iHeartRadio — Listen to more than 1500 live radio stations from across the country and create personalized Custom Stations.​

Yelp® — Looking for a local place to eat, shop, drink, relax or play? Read reviews from locals who know best and get directions sent directly to your navigation system. ​

Slacker Radio — Slacker is handcrafted radio from passionate music experts. Discover the perfect music for any moment, with hundreds of stations and recommendations that adapt to you.​

Entune® App Suite apps use a large amount of data and you are responsible for all data charges. Apps and services vary by phone and carrier; not all services available all the time and in all locations, and are subject to change.
​

On the bright side, it says the new suite will let me "search and explore places to go and exciting things to do." which is much better than my usual rut of using Google to search for dull places to explore with boring things to do.

God bless those folks in marketing.

 

It would be nice if there was a Toyota "insider" who could leak unofficial info about if and when Toyota plans to resolve these concerns with some kind of fix, and also if there are plans to have an download available later to add "Android Auto".

It might calm some of the 2020 Prime owners frustration if they could at least know Toyota is working towards some kind of fix.

 

According to Toyota customer care, they have no plans to add this functionality to 2020 models. It appears to be dead.
Now I'm reconsidering my next car purchase. After having remote climate control in my Leaf, I couldn't imagine taking a step backwards and losing what should be a basic feature at this point

 

Wow, you would think they would at least develop an optional upgrade available just for those who want it.

Well, my wife really wants a Toyota after seeing how well a friend's has help up with over 300,000 miles I think, and I want a hybrid that is a plug-in version, so unless I missed one, I think the only other Toyota plug-in besides the Prime is the 2020 RAV4 so I wonder if the 2020 RAV4 will have the same limitations as the 2020 Prime or not.

What I don't understand is Toyota does have Android-Auto available on a few of their models, so why not have it as an option on other models too ?

 

they never introduce much across models. their m.o. seems to be start small, and see how it works out

 

There is remote climate control, you just have to be within key fob range of the car. I haven’t tested it a lot yet to see what kind of range it has.

 

I'm referring to the app. What you describe would be of little use to me as I can't see the parking lot at work from my office. In fact it's about a 12 min walk away, so if I have to wait until I'm in key range then I may as well not even bother!