You can find the defrost button in the climate menu
Not a Tesla App
Like most vehicles, dealing with snow and ice on your Tesla can be challenging, especially during the colder months. Here are some essential winter tips and techniques to defrost your car and ensure your vehicle is ready for a safe drive.
Defrost From The Tesla App
One of the best parts of owning an EV is preheating the cabin before you get in
Not a Tesla App
Before you even get to your vehicle, it's a great idea to preheat the cabin and turn on the defroster. Your Tesla's cabin will warm up extremely quickly thanks to a dedicated heater. Unlike internal combustion vehicles, the engine doesn't need to warm up before the vehicle starts producing heat. Teslas will start warming up immediately and it often only takes a few minutes to warm up the cabin to a comfortable temperature.
To start the climate system from the Tesla app, just tap the Fan icon directly underneath the vehicle. Those icons can be customized as well (see more below). Alternatively, you can scroll down to the Climate section and activate the climate system from there.
To start defrosting your vehicle, you can also add the Defrost icon to the quick actions icons underneath the vehicle model, or you can go into the Climate section.
Simply slide up the panel at the bottom of the screen to reveal additional options, which include Defrost Car, Bioweapon Defense Mode (if equipped), Camp Mode, and Dog Mode.
Tesla Defrost Button
Finding the defrost buttons in the vehicle is a little less obvious, and an area that Tesla can improve. However, it's crucial to use them if snow is building up on your windshield while driving.
To activate the front windshield defroster tap on the climate temperature at the bottom of the screen, then tap on the curved "Defrost" icon twice. The icon is placed to the right of the 'Auto' button on the climate screen.
Tapping the button once will activate the 'Defog' function and turn the icon blue. You'll want to tap it again so that it turns red and the vehicle starts aiming heat toward the windshield.
To start the rear defroster, tap on the rectangular defrost icon next to the AC icon. Unlike the front defroster, the rear defroster only has a heat option.
Differences Between Defrost Button In the App and the Car
The defrost button in the app works slightly differently than the button in the vehicle. When activating the defrost option in the app, the vehicle will turn on the front and rear defrosters, as well as set the cabin temperature to the max, whereas in the vehicle, the front defrost button will only turn on the front defroster.
There is currently no way to turn on the front defogger from the app, but you can manually activate the climate system with a lower temperature to help defog the vehicle.
Turn On Heated Mirrors
All Tesla models include heated mirrors, but there isn't a separate button to activate them. Instead, to turn on your heated mirrors, you'll want to activate the rear defroster, which will automatically activate both the rear defrost and your heated mirrors.
Defrost Charge Port
The charge port heater is also activated when you turn on the rear defrost button in the vehicle or when you activate defrost from the Tesla app.
Customize Vehicle's App Icons
Tap and hold any icon to customize the bottom row of apps
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For quicker access to the vehicle's defrost buttons, you can add them to the row of icons at the bottom of the screen.
To customize the apps that appear along the bottom, simply tap and hold one of the icons until the 'All Apps' menu shows up with all available apps.
You can then drag the defrost button or any others to the bottom bar. Tap 'Done' above the apps menu to exit the customization mode.
Customize Tesla App Quick Actions
You can add a fifth favorite icon to the Tesla app
Not a Tesla App
Similar to adding the Defrost icon to your vehicle's bottom bar, you can tap and hold any of the icons underneath your vehicle's 3D model to customize which options you want to have quick access to.
After tapping and holding any of the icons, you'll be presented with a table of available options. You can then drag any items to the quick access area.
Although Tesla defaults to only showing four favorite actions, you can squeeze in a fifth icon. Just follow our steps in 'How to Add a Fifth App Icon.'
Clearing Snow & Ice
If you preheated your vehicle, snow should be fairly easy to remove from the top of your vehicle. Thanks to the glass roof in most Teslas, the vehicle may have melted most of the snow off the top of the vehicle for you.
Use a soft brush or snow scraper to gently remove any remaining snow from the windshield, rear window, side mirrors, and lights. Avoid using hot water, as it can crack your windows.
Understanding how to defrost your Tesla and customize its settings ensures a safe and comfortable drive during some of the most crucial drives. Being able to remotely defrost or warm up your vehicle, even if it's in an enclosed area is easily one of the best parts of owning an EV. Take advantage of it and stay warm!
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Tesla offered an early access program back in 2018 that allowed Tesla owners to sign up to receive early builds of Tesla software updates. Tesla used these vehicles to test software builds before they went out to the general public. Unfortunately, the program was phased out in 2019 as Tesla grew and sold more vehicles.
Today, Tesla allows employees to sign up for their “Wave 1” program to receive and help test early builds of software. While Tesla owners had to sign an NDA to not disclose new software features, restricting early software builds to just employees helps Tesla keep even tighter control of unreleased features.
Tesla also leverages influencers to help test new FSD builds once they pass internal testing. This lets YouTubers and other influencers show off the capabilities of new FSD features and keep owners excited. Influencers often receive new FSD builds several weeks ahead of the public and sometimes receive versions that aren’t released to the public, however, these builds are limited to FSD updates and do not include new features found in major software updates.
Return of Early Access
Tesla appears to be reviving its old opt-in early access program, based on details uncovered in the latest Tesla app. This was found due to a decompile of the app by Tesla_App_iOS on X. This updated program seems to focus specifically on FSD, rather than general software features—similar to how Tesla’s influencer early access program works today.
Tesla included the image above in the app, which seems to confirm that this program will focus on FSD/Autopilot features and not include new major updates like 2025.14.
There are a couple of possibilities on how Tesla might roll this out. The program could be offered to users in regions where FSD is already available, allowing newer builds to be tested more quickly. Alternatively, it could target regions that are expected to receive FSD Unsupervised first, such as Austin, Texas. However, the former seems more likely, especially considering Elon Musk’s recent comments during the latest earnings call about needing to meet a minimum safety threshold before deploying FSD Unsupervised to customer vehicles.
Early Access Program Terms
The decompile also provided an image of the early access program privacy policy, which appears to enable Tesla to pull even more data from opted-in users. It seems the early access volunteers will provide vehicle-specific and VIN-associated data, rather than the current anonymous data that is provided under Controls > Software > DataSharing.
This data will contain personal identifiers, including unique vehicle identifiers, account information, GPS data, interior and exterior camera recordings, and likely (but unmentioned) microphone recordings. Tesla could also pull information from the mobile app or contact you for additional details about specific events that it records while a user is enrolled in the early access program.
The details for the early access program's privacy policy.
@Tesla_App_iOS on X
What You’ll Get
This is an exciting development—it’s the first time in a while that non-influencers can get early access to Tesla’s FSD builds. For FSD enthusiasts, it’s a great chance to experience upcoming features firsthand. Just keep in mind that early builds tend to be less stable than public releases, and extra attention is required.
One thing to keep in mind is that newer builds aren’t always better. Early access testers spent a while on a less stable build of FSD V12.4 as Tesla tried to iron out bugs, but ultimately, Tesla decided to pull FSD v12.4 and focus on v12.5, which eventually made a public release. FSD v12.4 was the first to introduce hands-free driver monitoring but struggled with lane keeping and lane selection.
However, if you consider yourself an FSD enthusiast and are ready to keep a vigilant eye on FSD, this new program could be a great chance to gain access to early FSD builds.
It’s still unclear how Tesla will select users for the program—or whether eligibility will depend on region or vehicle hardware—but we’ll share all the details as soon as they become available.
In last year’s holiday update, Tesla introduced the much-needed Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app. The feature allows owners to view Dashcam and Sentry Mode footage directly from the Tesla app, eliminating the need to review videos in your vehicle. Unfortunately, the feature was limited to iPhone users, but Tesla is now changing that.
With Tesla app update 4.43.5, Tesla is officially launching the Dashcam Viewer on Android devices.
Dashcam Viewer
The Dashcam Viewer makes it easy to access and manage your car’s Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. Accessing videos on your phone is faster and more convenient, but it does come with a few requirements.
The Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app allows you to view, delete, or save video clips right from your device. This should result in higher quality content being shared online and fewer videos of owners recording their Tesla’s screens with their phones.
How It Works
Dashcam footage remains stored locally on your vehicle’s connected USB drive, so Tesla isn’t streaming videos to your phone from the cloud. Instead, the videos are streamed directly from your vehicle to your phone—similar to how Actually Smart Summon delivers a live feed to your phone.
Because of this, your vehicle must be connected to cellular data or Wi-Fi for the Dashcam Viewer to work. Unfortunately, this may limit access for owners who park in underground or large parking garages where connectivity is poor.
How to Access the Dashcam Viewer
To view Dashcam and Sentry Mode footage in the Tesla app:
Navigate to Security & Drivers > Dashcam Viewer.
Wait a few moments for your phone to connect to the vehicle.
From there, you’ll be able to view, save, or delete clips right from your device.
Requirements
To use Tesla’s Dashcam Viewer, you’ll need a vehicle with MCU 2 (Intel) or higher. All models are supported except for the legacy Model S and Model X (2020 and older). However, we expect support to be added in the near future.
The legacy Model S and Model X are expected to receive support for Actually Smart Summon, which requires the ability for those vehicles to stream video to the Tesla app — the same capability the Dashcam Viewer needs. Once Actually Smart Summon is added to the legacy Model S/X, we expect those vehicles to also receive the Dashcam Viewer at the same time or shortly afterward.
Tesla has imposed some viewing limits to prevent high data usage. The viewing limits apply to streaming video from the Dashcam Viewer or viewing live video from the vehicle’s cameras. Tesla will limit video streaming from the vehicle to 15 minutes or 1 hour, depending on your region.
Android Support
Tesla typically releases support for newer features to iPhone users since they make up the majority of users. Recently, Tesla has added more features to Android. In January, Tesla added support for ultra-wideband to Android, which added support for the improved phone key and the hands-free trunk and frunk feature.
