Over the weekend, the Tesla app in the App Store was updated to version 4.24.0 and the changelist included one sentence: “Access your vehicle controls and climate from the Apple Shortcuts app.” But within that small sentence is a big change. Previously, Tesla owners could remotely handle certain tasks through the Tesla app. But with the update, the Tesla app now integrates with the Apple Shortcuts app allowing Tesla owners to say “Hey Siri” on their iPhone or Apple Watch to lock and unlock the door of their Tesla vehicles remotely, and more.
The list of supported shortcuts, will allow you to say “Hey Siri” to get your Tesla to start and stop charging; start and stop preconditioning; open and close the trunk, the front trunk, and the charge port; enable and disable Sentry Mode and Dog Mode; and as we previously noted, it will remotely lock and unlock the doors. It also will allow Tesla users to control some basic functions via their iPhones.
Two paid apps in the App Store, Tessie, and Watch app for Tesla, allow you to use Siri Shortcuts on your iPhone or Apple Watch to control your Tesla. But now that this ability is found in the native Tesla app for free, Tesla owners can ask Siri to remotely perform some tasks for their car without having to pay for that convenience. It should be pointed out that the Shortcuts app allows iPhone users to use both ready-made and custom shortcuts to handle tasks by asking Siri to perform them.
Apple continues to slowly but surely take Tesla under its wing. In December, Apple Music became available on Tesla as part of an update released for the holiday season. Just last month, AirPlay code was discovered in an update to the iOS Tesla app. In theory, this would suggest that in the future, an iPhone user with a Tesla might be able to “cast” his iPhone screen to the Tesla entertainment screen.
AirPlay allows users to wirelessly stream audio, video, photos, and other content from their iPhones to a larger screen. Instead of using Bluetooth to stream their music over the speakers on their Tesla vehicles, users could rely on AirPlay instead.