Tesla’s new mobile app update lets you get more control over your car from your phone

Along with its version 9 vehicle firmware update this week, Tesla is also releasing a significant mobile app update, which lets owners get more control over their car from their phone.

Tesla Mobile App Update

There are three main changes in this new update:

• Third-party map apps navigation sharing
• Remotely initiating vehicle firmware updates
• Media control for passengers

It requires Tesla 3.6.0 on iOS or Android and the vehicle firmware 18.39 (version 9).

Third-party map apps navigation sharing

The first new feature enables Tesla owners to find a route on a third-party map app, like Google Map, and share the route from the app to your Tesla vehicle.

You simply have to click “share” after finding a location in the app and share with the Tesla mobile app:

Owners have been asking for the ability to plot routes and send them to the car remotely. It looks like a first step in that direction.

Remotely initiating vehicle firmware updates

Before version 9, Tesla would push update notification to the vehicle’s center screen where owners would have to choose a time to perform the update.

You would also get a notification through the app, but you’d still need to get to the car to initiate it.

Now with the new update, Tesla enables owners to start the update from the mobile app:

Media control for passengers

Finally, the Tesla mobile app update also enables passengers to control media inside the vehicle from their phone.

They need to have access to your Tesla account, but if they do, they simply click on “media” under the vehicle and they get access to a remote control:

Here’s a video demonstration of these new features of the Tesla mobile app by The Urban Tinkerer on Youtube:

Electrek’s Take

One of the biggest mobile app updates in a while from Tesla and a good one in my opinion.

The ability to remotely initiate a software update is really convenient since you often have to delay the update when initiating it in your vehicle considering that if you are in your car, you probably need to use it.

The two other new features are cool, but I hope they are both only the first step for Tesla in the mobile integration of the navigation system and remote media control.

I feel like Tesla could do more with both.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.