Tesla releases new iPhone and Android Tesla app

Tesla has started rolling out their newest phone app. Early this month screenshots and video of an updated Tesla app were leaked online.

The updated Tesla app which we saw has now started becoming available to users. It looks to be rolling out first to iOS, but we expect an Android release to follow very soon (Update: Android version has started rolling out as well!).

What’s New

The app has been redesigned, but the core functionality and layout remain largely the same. There are a couple bigger functionality changes which we’ll start off with.

First, you’ll now be able to send commands to your car immediately, instead of having to wait until the car wakes up. The days of waiting for your vehicle to wake up before you can turn on the HVAC are gone.

The other big functionality change is just as nice if you have multiple Teslas. If you’re lucky enough to own more than one Tesla, you can now unlock any Tesla using your phone key. Previously, you could only unlock the vehicle that was selected in the app.

Other changes in the app are more subtle, but we’ll discuss them below.

You still have a rendering of the car at the very top, followed by some quick action buttons and some categories underneath that. However, the car renderings are now completely 3D and you’ll get fluid 3D transitions as you navigate the app and go into various menus. The battery icon at the top is now much smaller, gray and justified left.

Charging

The Charging section has been removed. Charging information will now be displayed only when your car is plugged in. Upon plugging in your Tesla, you’ll be presented with options to unlock the charge port and start charging. There’ll now be a nice animation of electricity running through the cable when your vehicle is charging. The time remaining, amperage and mi/hr are now displayed near the top of the app, below the battery icon.

A nice addition is that when picking your charge limit in percentage, you can now easily jump to round percentages, such as 70, 80, 90, etc. If your vehicle is charging, it’ll show you an estimate of how many miles it will charge up to.

You can now also view Supercharging history right within the app, instead of having to view it in the car or on Tesla’s website.

Controls

The Controls panel now features a large view of the car with buttons to open the frunk, trunk, charge port and unlock the vehicle. The speed limit, valet mode and sentry mode settings have been moved to a new category labeled Security. The Vent button has been moved to the Climate section.

Climate

In the Climate section things look very similar. You can now view the interior of the vehicle a little better and there’s a new fluid animation when the air vents are blowing. The exterior temperature is also displayed in addition to the interior temperature.

Upgrades

The upgrades section also received a facelift and now includes more information. There are now two sections, Software Upgrades, which feature the Buy and Subscribe sections we’re familiar with and a new Accessories section which offers Tesla accessories specific to your model.

Security

The new security section, in addition to having features that were previously available in other sections will also provide tips for how to improve your phone key experience. For example, if you have Bluetooth turned off, or location services for the app disabled, it’ll point out that unlocking your vehicle can be more reliable if you have those options enabled.

Widgets

With the introduction of the 4.0 release, Tesla has also released Widgets. For iOS there’s a 2x2 widget and a 4x2 widget. Both widget sizes feature the same information, which is the name of the car, battery percentage, location (or charging information), unlock status, an image of the vehicle and the time the information was last updated.

Overall, the app is much smoother and sleeker than the previous version. Some fonts are a little small such as the car information at the very bottom of the app, but this is a great update that we’re sure Tesla will continue to tweak and build upon.

Update:Elon has now confirmed that Bioweapon Defense Mode is coming to the Tesla app as well.

If you're an iPhone user, you can update your Tesla app to 4.0 by visiting the App Store.

You can download the Andorid version through the Google Play Store.

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How to Create Your Own Custom Cybertruck Wrap for Visualizations

Not a Tesla App

One of the upcoming features of the 2024 Tesla Holiday Update is the ability for Tesla owners to make custom wraps for their vehicles. The wraps will be displayed in the vehicle’s visualizations and in the Tesla app. You’ll also be able to select one of the wraps Tesla has provided if you prefer not to make or download your own.

This feature will roll out to the Cybertruck next week with the Holiday update, but it will be available for other models in the future as well.

Making your own wrap is super easy and takes just a few minutes. It doesn’t even require any special tools or software because Tesla provided a template.

Making a Custom Wrap

We’ll walk you through the steps to create your custom wrap. All you’ll need is an image editing program and an image editing program.

Download the Template

Tesla has all the details on their Github repository for Custom Wraps, but you can simply download the template below and open it in your favorite image editor like Adobe Photoshop, GIMP or even Windows Paint on Windows 11. Any software that supports layers will work.

Image Editor

Open the template in your image editor and create a new layer on top of it. You’ll want to edit on this new layer, not on the template layer, which we’ll hide later.

The template, in all its glory.

Not a Tesla App

Create the Wrap

Go ahead and work your artistic magic—here, we’ve taken a graffiti rendition of Not A Tesla App and our logo and placed it within the template's bounds.

Flex those creative muscles!

Not a Tesla App

Hide the Template

Go ahead and hide the template layer - you can also delete the layer if you want. This standalone image doesn’t look like much, but this is what we need for the final step.

Looks a bit simple right?

Not a Tesla App

Export

You’ll want to export the image with transparency - so it needs to be a .png file. You'll be good to go as long as it's the same dimensions as the template. We’ve gone ahead and exported our custom NATA wrap here - feel free to download it and let us know how it looks once you get the 2024.44.25 update.

The completed product.

Not a Tesla App

A couple of technical limitations:

• The image must be 1024x768 pixels.

• File Size max is 1MB.

• You can’t use any special characters in the file name, and it must be shorter than 30 characters.

• PNG is the only acceptable file format

• You can load up to 10 images on your USB drive

Add Wrap to USB Drive

The last, and easiest step. Grab your USB drive, and create a folder called “Wraps” at the root level of the drive. Place your images in there, and you’re all set.

Load a Custom Wrap

Not a Tesla App

After placing the images on your USB drive and inserting it in your vehicle, you can then open Toybox > Paint Shop, and tap on Wrap. From there select your wrap from the custom list of images.

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Tesla Confirms Custom Wraps & License Plate Visualization Coming to Other Models

Not a Tesla App

Tesla’s upcoming Holiday update introduces exciting new personalization features, giving you even more ways to customize your vehicle.

Building on the existing Colorizer feature, which lets you change the car’s color, the update will allow you to add a custom wrap and a license plate to the vehicle’s visualization. Both of these features will affect the vehicle's visualization on the screen and in the Tesla app.

While these features were originally announced to be exclusive to the Cybertruck, Tesla has now clarified and said that they will be available for other models in a future update. We expect them to be introduced for the Model 3 (new and old), Model Y, and the redesigned Model S and Model X.

Wrap & license plate customization coming to other models in future updates

— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) December 3, 2024

Custom Wrap Visualization

Tesla announced custom wrap visualizations as part of the 2024 Holiday update for the Cybertruck. They’ve provided a template and instructions on how to design your own custom wrap and also included a few in-house designs, including the “unhinged” Doge wrap, the Cybertruck Graffiti wraps from the Baja Off-Road testing, and the Release Candidate wraps, amongst plenty of other simple ones. In all, it looks like Tesla will be providing 27 designs.

However, making your own wrap is actually very simple. Just follow our instructions on how to create a custom wrap. Once these arrive for other vehicles, the instructions will likely be the same.

License Plate Visualization

Not a Tesla App

You’ll also be able to create custom license plates to show on your vehicle visualization. You’ll be able to choose custom text, and then also include a background - with plain colors, a stock image, or upload your own image.

If you have custom plates in real life, this is your chance to make your visualization perfectly match your vehicle.

Release for Other Models

Tesla hasn’t provided a timeline but said the feature would arrive in “future updates” in their post on X. It seems that it won’t be arriving with the upcoming Holiday update for all vehicles but will instead make its way to the S3XY lineup over the next few months.

We expect it to arrive sometime in early 2025. We’re super excited to see these come to more vehicles, so in the meantime, show us your best custom Cybertruck wrap on social media or our forums.

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