Remote Climate aka remote start for 2017 Range Rover on Apple Watch
Finally a Range Rover with official remote start (Remote Climate)!!
Yes, it’s very cool (just flakey).
This works very intermittently from the Remote app on the iPhone and even less so from the Watch. The first time it worked for the Watch was when I was writing this – that’s why the times in the picture below don’t match. When it doesn’t work on the Watch, the status graphic just spins until there’s eventually an error notification displayed on the iPhone, not the Watch.
One other bit of info – the Watch app does work more consistently when trying to lock or unlock the vehicle remotely and further still, if the vehicle is unlocked and I try a Remote Climate start, the doors do lock but the engine itself has only started one time as of this post.
This is all being done with an iPhone 7 running iOS 10.2 and an Apple Watch Series 2 running watchOS 3.1.1. (as of 12/29/2016)
Here’s what it looks like and if you care to read my comments, keep reading below the image:
Minutia comments:
* As seen above, the app is in metric for some reason – inconsistent throughout ICTP for me. As far as I can see all settings in vehicle and on their website are good:
* Why are they creating their own UI elements? Just stick with what Apple provides and embrace the Watch. The digital crown can be used to scroll the main screen but then doesn’t do anything on the subsequent screen – seems like a great way to change the target temp, no?
* Then there’s the PIN screen… – no visual feedback on the numbers themselves, just that little pie chart that appears in the lower right of the screen as you press the numbers, not knowing if you pressed the right one. Red screen below is what flashes if PIN is incorrect. For comparison, the other screen below is the Apple PIN entry screen – bigger buttons that visually flash when pressed and entry status shown at top of screen, where fingers don’t cover. That pie chart being in the lower right means my finger covers it as I type in the numbers. So no visual feedback on the actual number pressed and an obstructed view of the pie chart…
And one last image for completeness:
