I bought a used 2020 Prius Prime that has just under 50,000 miles on it. I love the car even though it is probably the cheapest car I have owned in a decade. I had a 2016 Tesla Model S but the plug in hybrid fits my lifestyle better now because my driving is either really short 1-5 mile trips or 150+ mile trips. Not much in between and the all electric was a real pain on a trip, especially in the winter, although I know the charging world has gotten better since then. I generally go all week on electric with the Prime and use the hybrid mode on trips on the weekend. My questions are regarding the app. To change the car over to me I made at least 5 calls to Toyota with several iterations of wrong information. Finally it was transferred and my car shows up in the app. I am using the app called “Toyota” on my iPhone. Is there any way to manage the charging through the phone? Can I precondition the car (heat/AC) remotely? Does this require a subscription? If so, anyone know the cost? Coming from a Tesla these features were included. I have looked through the app and do not see options for this. Thanks in advance.
You can't edit the schedule in the app but you can initiate a charge if it's plugged in and waiting for a scheduled charge. You can precondition. It only runs the heat pump for 10min using electric so you need at least some charge in the battery and it's not effective below 14F. Also it needs the doors to be locked. You need to subscribe to Toyota safety connect. It's $80 a year I recall correctly. The app does not do: locks, windows, car location, remote start, stop a charge, trouble codes, tire pressure (some LE trim get that?), scheduling. I'm attaching some screen shots of what I get for my 2022 XLE (the schedule button, like the cake, is a lie)
Thanks for the information. My 2020 is an XLE also. You are correct that the Safety Connect is $80 a year. It says that in the app. It says I have a free subscription to Safety Connect for another 3 days, but I don't have access to anything like what you posted. I would pay the $80 a year for that if I get what you posted, but only if I get those features. I may have to call Toyota and ask them. Not sure if this is a feature they added after my model year. Update: I called them and they said I needed "Remote Services". By any chance, do you have remote services? My app does not have most of the stuff your pictures show. The woman I spoke with had all sorts of "may, could be, not sure". Sorry, but the Toyota customer support people on this stuff are totally useless. Using the website, it looks like remote connect was added after my model year. Both remote connect and safety connect are the same price.
the 2020 model year does not have access to any remote services, for some reason. Toyota removed it for 2020 and then restored it for the 2021 models. This is one reason why I traded my 2020 Limited for a 2021 Limited.
Oh I miss the old Toyota "Entune" app which came with my 2017 Prime (Advance trim) with the Safety Connect service. It provide all kinds o useful information and even sent me email/texts when the vehicle had completed charging. Not to mention the fun sheep game which provided incentive to improve your driving efficiency. Toyota discontinued supporting it sometime last summer. The current Toyota app is as you describe and visually unappealing compared with the old Entune. It's hard to understand how Toyota could move so far in the wrong direction with connected services and user experience. I hope our state legislature continues to push for car manufacturers to allow 3rd-party access to vehicle telematics. The intent is to allow independent mechanics to compete with dealership service departments, but it would also open up the possibility of competitive 3rd-party apps to provide owners more functionality and a better user interface.
Also, unlike the old Entune app, it does not tell you the charge level of the traction battery, whether the vehicle is plugged in and charging, and how much time is left to bring it to full change.
I guess I've become a very old bear -- I seem to recall that UI upgrades were done to add features. Toyota's approach must be inspired by other consumer produces where the price is higher when there is no sugar, no gluten, no preservatives, etc. Maybe their marketing program should tout the next generation UI as having no functionality.
I'm no developer but I'm betting they are trying to build an app that is compatible with multiple models and it's just not cost effective to continue troubleshooting or adding features for a low volume model with a head unit they seemingly gave up on almost as soon as they put it in the Prime. For a little while the Prius Prime was the only model that even had some of these features and the 11" head unit I believe was only used in Prius, right? That was decided back in 2016, probably earlier. They've since moved in different directions with head units. Mostly dropping built in navigation for Carplay/AA integration. And theit Toyota App developers are probably more focused on the newer hardware that's being used on much higher volume models. That's probably why the LE with the 7" unit has a couple of more features. They decided to slap something they were already using in other models in there.
Toyota Brand Engagement claims that they will fix the missing vehicle finder functionality in the Toyota App for my 2017 Advanced. They provided me an incident number and regular e-mail updates and even phone calls from a real person that "we are working on it, keep checking for app updates". Since June 2022. Not holding my breath.
However, the old Entune app was perfectly functional and included all of these features. Why discontinue after four years with no equivalent replacement when even the Prime's traction battery is warrantied for eight years. I can't believe that supporting a legacy app for existing customers would be such a big deal, especially without any updates or enhancements. Sure, the company needs to focus on new products and technology, but it doesn't build customer loyalty when the company shows that it doesn't care about its existing customers who are usually those most likely to buy new Toyota vehicles or recommend Toyota to friends. Obviously, when you buy a car you expect the car manufacturer to have replacement parts and service available for a reasonable number of years. Toyota brags about the fact that its cars are engineered and built to last. Just because automobiles have become "a system" of both the vehicle itself and its external supporting components like the telematic system, does not mean that owners should have lesser expectations for the entire system.
