Unlocking the car at home is maddening

[JM.]

I'm starting to think that the best solution that requires me to never have to fish anything(phone or FOB) out of my pocket is to simply hang the FOB on a hook in the garage next to my garage door opener button. That way when I leave the house I can just press the garage door opener button to open my garage door and then press the unlock button on the FOB hanging next to it to unlock the car doors.

I was wanting to put a button somewhere, using home automation, to do this. And wondering how. I am a moron. I can 3D print a holder for the fob to go on the wall.

Sheesh.

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[Street]

Not sure if this is just a gen 2 thing but I have it set to not unlock by proximity when I'm home but when I tap my phone to the handle (like you would with the key card) it unlocks 95% of the time. I assume it is using the app and NFC to send the unlock command.

 

[2kwik4u]

Same, and I haven't been bothered enough to check, but I have a feeling it's an issue with it's connectivity to your home wifi. Parked outside, it doesn't have good range so it takes a while to receive the unlock signal. I even get a failed request to unlock at times. I'm tempted to get an extender specifically in the garage so that there is better connectivity to the truck when it's parked outside. But again, I haven't confirmed this but was just suspecting that is the case - since anywhere else, unlocking via the app works just fine.

I've tested this......Significant improvement in unlocking with the truck NOT connected to home Wifi. To the point I leave it off unless there's an update coming in.

Another "more sizzle than steak" feature of a "smart" vehicle.

 

[SreyaColvard]

This is a problem for us too! So we turned off the unlock at home location (separate option within proximity locking at Home) but it does automatically lock which is important but doesn't unlock after that. When I actually want it to unlock the app totally sucks! So I've started using the key card and it unlocks promptly. Good luck!

 

[icy1007]

It is much more accurate if you use a phone with UWB for your key.

 

[advxplr]

Wow. I knew I couldn’t be alone with this frustration. I’ve had several conversations with Rivian support about this. I often work in my garage and every movement sets it off. Turning off proximity at home or turning off Bluetooth on my phone are not options.

IMHO, the proximity sensor just needs to be turned down to a shorter distance like 5 feet. I’ve submitted a feature request for this and have asked their developers to reach out. We’ll see how that goes.

 

[2kwik4u]

...... turning off Bluetooth on my phone are not options.......

I thought this as well, another member helped out. Maybe this will help for you.

On Android, you can remove the permissions for "Nearby Devices" and the PAAK won't activate the truck, but Bluetooth for other devices (like watches and earbuds) still works fine. I think iOS you can limit Bluetooth connections "by app", and just turn off the Bluetooth for the Rivian app, also disabling PAAK and keeping the remainder of the phones Bluetooth tech working.

I went full "Kill PAAK" a few weeks ago. The only "issue" is that the app gives me an error constantly (only in the app, not the notification) that I need to reinstate that permission. I've removed the "widget" from my home screen, and buried the app back in a folder. This has given me the ability to reduce the number of touches with the app and the truck to when I want that functionality, and not a constant reliance on it. Using only the fob now, and it's made that particular touch point with the truck MUCH less agitating.

 

[advxplr]

Thanks for sharing that. Unfortunately I don’t think any amount of troubleshooting and workarounds on our end is worth the effort.

My argument is that this is a design flaw, not a feature and should have a more real world range of around 1-2 meters and be directional so the car unlocks when you’re approaching and within arms reach.

Unless the Rivian engineers have some explanation for the range, like safety, i.e. they think a longer range will save someone’s life if they’re running from a bear or villain, this seems like a flaw they could correct.

This should all be tunable in software.

There is a good article on the Bluetooth website that explains some of the levers that can be adjusted to manage proximity / distance.

https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/key-attributes/range/

 

[tjrivian]

My argument is that this is a design flaw, not a feature and should have a more real world range of around 1-2 meters and be directional so the car unlocks when you’re approaching and within arms reach.

I would agree with this statement. The way it SHOULD work is that proximity unlock should work 100% of the time when you're within say 2 meters, and NEVER work when you're 5 meters away. Unfortunately what we get today is that it works about 95% of the time both when you're 5-10 meters away AND when you're 2 meters away. It's the worst of both worlds.

 

[JM.]

There is a good article on the Bluetooth website that explains some of the levers that can be adjusted to manage proximity / distance.

https://www.bluetooth.com/learn-about-bluetooth/key-attributes/range/

That's a useless article once you add in the real world problems of a car and a phone that's in a pocket or purse, around all sorts of variable and unpredictable interference. And the phone is trying to minimize battery usage.

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