Is Tesla Preparing to Add Lossless (HiFi) Support to Apple Music?

Merk

Tesla could soon support lossless content on Apple Music, according to Discord user Merk, who came across a Hi-Fi icon when listening to Apple Music over WiFi. While Apple Music isn’t the first or only Hi-Fi option, it’ll be great to see another service with high-quality streaming.

With the upcoming 2024.26 update, Tesla is adding YouTube Music and Amazon Music, so there has definitely been a recent trend to add more music services and increase Premium Connectivity usage.

Apple Hi-Fi

Given the screenshot, it seems that Tesla may support Apple Music lossless audio streaming, but this wasn’t announced in any of the release notes or anywhere else. We’re not 100% sure yet whether this is just a bug in the UI or an upcoming feature – but Merk did mention he was on WiFi when he saw it.

He also noted that it sounded clear, but it's hard to assess whether the quality is better without listening to an A:B sample of the same track – one Hi-Fi, and one regular. Apple Music as a streaming service does support a lossless high-quality streaming codec on the AAC format – Apple brought lossless music to its Android Apple Music app in 2022 for flagship Android devices that have DAC support. However, they don’t support “bit-perfect” or “true Hi-Fi” on non-Apple devices.

If you’ve seen the Apple Hi-Fi icon on your Apple Music in your Tesla, let us know on X.

What Is Hi-Fi Audio

What exactly is Hi-Fi audio you may ask? Well, here’s a short, non-audiophile rundown. There are two major types of audio – High Fidelity, and regular. High Fidelity audio is further broken down into two types – regular Hi-Fi and “bit-perfect”.

Regular Hi-Fi audio is still compressed, and some information can still be lost, but it is still higher quality than a CD or MP3 file. Meanwhile, “bit-perfect” audio is uncompressed, raw audio that should be a 1:1 match for what the studio produced and is how it is intended to be heard.

Tidal’s Hi-Fi Audio

For now, Tesla’s Hi-Fi audio choice has been limited to Tidal, a smaller, slightly lesser-known competitor to other music streaming services. While Tidal may be less known, it does bring “bit-perfect” Hi-Fi audio with it, but with some exceptions.

Hi-Fi audio on Tidal has to be downloaded in advance on WiFi and takes up space on your Tesla’s glovebox USB drive (or part of the game storage space on the internal SSD on the Models S and X). This means that while you can listen to Hi-Fi audio on Tidal, you’d have to download albums or playlists in advance, otherwise you’d get stream-quality audio.

Tesla puts a massive amount of effort into their audio engineering, so Hi-Fi music is a great benefit for Teslas.

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Tesla Introduces Hands-Free Frunk Opening in Update 2024.32.3

Not a Tesla App

In Tesla’s upcoming update, 2024.32.3, Tesla has added hands-free support for opening the vehicle’s frunk. This follows the Spring Update (2024.14), which added Hands-Free Trunk support for certain vehicles.

When hands-free trunk support was added earlier this year, it was supported on vehicles that include an ultra wideband chip, which includes the refresh Model S, new Model X, and the 2024 Model 3. Due to the hardware requirement, these will be the same vehicles that support the new Hands-Free Frunk feature. Legacy vehicles without UWB will unfortunately not support either feature due to the hardware requirement. UWB enables far more accurate tracking of the phone key, allowing Tesla to pinpoint its exact location relative to the vehicle.

The Cybertruck interestingly also includes an ultra wideband chip, however, it didn’t include the automatic opening of the gate earlier this year. However, we expect the Cybertruck to also receive the hands-free frunk opening in this 2024.32.3 update or relatively soon afterward.

Update: The Cybertruck is receiving hands-free frunk support in the 2024.32 update as well.

Hands-Free Frunk

The Hands-Free Frunk works similarly to the trunk feature – with an iPhone 11+ and a recent version of the app, you’ll be able to stand in front of your vehicle, and the Frunk will unlatch after sounding a chime. On some vehicles, the frunk will immediately open after being unlatched, however, you’ll need to manually close it.

This new feature isn’t enabled by default – you’ll need to go to Settings > Locks > Hands-Free Frunk to enable it.

At this time, Tesla doesn’t support UWB on Android devices, though both the Hands-Free Trunk and Hands-Free Frunk support will come to Android users in a future app update, according to Tesla.

Exclude Home

With the addition of the hands-free frunk opening, Tesla has also added a new option. You can now choose to disable the automatic opening when your vehicle is located at home to prevent you from accidentally opening. This will apply to the automatic frunk and trunk. In addition, in the Model X, you’ll also be able to disable the self-presenting doors at home. This is a great addition as many people have kept the hands-free feature disabled due to it awkwardly opening in the garage.

In the 2024.32.3 update, Tesla also mentions that they’ve improved the detection of the phone key, which should make the feature more reliable and faster when approaching the vehicle from the front or rear.

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Tesla’s Referral Program Launches in Europe

Not a Tesla App

Following its recent launch in the United States and Canada, Tesla has launched their referral program in several European countries as well.

The program is available in Germany, Norway, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and possibly others. The program is almost the same as the one available today in North America, with rewards for each referral and a discount for those referred. The cap in Europe is also ten per year.

This program comes right on the heels of a 0% financing offer for the Model Y in Sweden and France. While referrals aren't currently available in Sweden, the 0% financing still is.

European Referrals

The European Referral program accounts for country and local currency, where applicable.

The referral reward program is comparable to the one available in North America. After exchange rates, there is only an approximately 10% difference between the available rewards in the US and EU.

Other Countries

We expect this program to start rolling out to other European countries over the next few days or weeks, as Tesla continues to expand its referral program.

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