Tesla's Immersive Sound. What it does and what's new

By Nuno Cristovao
Tesla's Audio Settings menu that lets customize Tesla's immersive sound
Tesla's Audio Settings menu that lets customize Tesla's immersive sound
Not a Tesla App

Tesla update 2021.32.20 includes an Immersive Sound update. Teslas with the premium interior option include the ability to turn on immersive sound.

What is Immersive Sound

Tesla's Immersive Sound feature helps widens the sound stage that will create a surround-sound-like experience in your car.

Immersive sound works extremely well for certain types of music, unfortunately, it doesn't always make things sound better. You may have found yourself turning the feature on for various genres and off for others, like talk shows.

Immersive sound previously had three options, Off, Standard, and High. In a recent update, Tesla gave you even more control over the Immersive Sound feature.

Granular Controls

With the 2021.32.20 update, Tesla updated immersive sound to be even better. Instead of just having a low and high setting, there are incremental steps from low to high. You can now more granularly control the amount of echo/reverb applied with four different settings. You can also disable immersive sound if you prefer.

Auto

More importantly, Tesla also introduced an ‘Auto’ setting that will intelligently apply the appropriate amount of immersion for the type of content that is currently being played.

Independent Subwoofer Control

Tesla initially added a new option to the equalizer for the new Model S that lets you control your subwoofer's output independently from bass, mid and treble.

In the 2021 Christmas update (2021.44.24), Tesla later expanded the ability to control your subwoofer to all vehicles with premium sound.

Easter Egg

Tesla also introduced a small easter egg into the equalizer settings. If you adjust your subwoofer settings to the maximum several times, you'll see some unique messages displayed.

It's a small thing, but it shows Tesla's attention to detail.

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Tesla’s Referral Program Launches in Europe

By Karan Singh
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.

Country

Referral Discount

Referral Award

UK

£1,000

£500

Germany, France, Netherlands

€1,000

€500

Norway

kr11,500

kr5,750

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.

Tesla's Android App Lags Behind Apple's: The Missing Features

By Karan Singh
Maxim

Tesla has confirmed that they submit app updates for Android and iOS apps at the same time, but we often see the iOS app updates released first possibly due to a quicker app review process at Apple.

However, we often see features implemented on the Apple version weeks or months before they’re implemented on Android. Today, the Android app is missing several key features, and the gap is starting to become a bit glaring.

Delayed App Updates

The Android app just received update 4.36.6 last night, while the Apple update was available as of September 1st.

That might not seem like a big deal, but in order to use the updated Actually Smart Summon, you’ll need app version 4.36.6, so any Andriod users that received update 2024.27.20 with the new Summon, couldn’t use it until yesterday.

We’re sure Tesla is on it, but it’s disappointing to see that key feature updates take days or a week longer to receive on Android. Apple and Google both offer the ability to set a release date for an app update, so Tesla could coordinate releasing the apps at the same time.

Ultra Wideband Support

Unfortunately, there’s no Ultra Wide Band (UWB) support on Android yet, which is an interesting omission since it’s such a great feature. Most Android phones, flagships, and cheaper phones alike, all support UWB.

Without UWB support Android phones can’t use Tesla’s newest phone key, which is only available for devices that support UWB. The new phone key improves reliability for unlocking the vehicle and setting the correct Tesla driver profile. To support the new phone key, you need a compatible phone (iPhone 11 or newer) and a newer vehicle that supports ultra wideband.

Hands-Free Trunk

Tesla’s new hands-free trunk feature, which allows you to automatically open your trunk by simply standing behind it for a couple of seconds, also isn’t available on Android devices. Tesla’s Hands-Free Trunk requires UWB support too, and Tesla originally mentioned it was coming to Android in May 2024.

For now, those are the features we know of that don’t work on Android today, and we’re hoping that Tesla brings both UWB support, as well as simultaneous app updates to the Google Play and Apple App Store by leveraging each store’s publish date feature.

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