Earlier this week I was prompted to update my Mercedes Me app. During the setup there was some reference to a digital key capability. I just logged into my account and I cannot find any reference to a digital key nor can I find any such function in the app. Can someone advise if this feature is available in NA (Canada) or is this yet another function that is disabled on our cars ???

 

I had a "digital key" showing on the old Android app, but I don't see it, now that the app was updated (last week for me - had to delete the old one to get the update).
Are you IPhone or Android? New app version?

 

I'm on Android, Version 1.6.2 Build 738, SDK 2.28.0

I watched a YouTube video of someone who had it and it also shows up in your Mercedes.me portal. I checked mine under "manage services" and it's not there.

 

As far as I know the digital key was never offered so far in North America. Only works with Android so far anyway until Mercedes supports Apple CarKey. Requires an NFC reader in the door handle, which won't be there unless the car as the option. The old app was notorious for showing features that were not actually supported by the car.

 

I am now on v.3.0.1, Build 821, SDK 2.26.0, updated on Dec 21 2020. I was "invited" to the new app on 11/19/20 but got no success until I uninstalled the old one. (Android.)
It takes forever to load (45 seconds with the car in the garage), seemingly waiting until it establishes a connection with the car before fully opening. (This is on our 2019 GLC - the 2020 GLE is gone now.)
I also get a text every time the car is stopped and the doors closed without locking. Another new learning curve....
Haven't checked with the online portal yet.

 

The unlocked car alert was there in the old app as well, at least on iOS, but it wasn't working very reliably. In fact, the notifications in general weren't working very well. I never got geo fence alerts in the old app, but I do now. You can turn off notifications in the settings. I don't have an issue with the app taking a while to open, but again I'm on iOS. The last status is cached, so the app should open immediately and then refreshes all the data within a few seconds, if it hasn't already been refreshed in the background. There's no direct communication with the car for the vehicle status. The car periodically syncs with the cloud, and then the app just fetches the latest data. Perhaps they have a few more kinks to work out in the Android version. When the web portal is working, geo fencing etc. can be setup there until it'll becomes available in the app, although, the web portal hasn't been working for me recently, but I have a couple of geo fences that I had setup last year and they now finally work properly. I have one setup around my dealership, so I get alerts when the car leaves and comes back.

 

How strange. That sounds just like the old Android app, regarding instant opening and the apparent sync with the cloud. Now it doesn't seem to have anything cached at all.
The old app allowed geo-fencing, speed limit alerts, Valet Protect, and retained the previous car location, until I chose to inquire again.
And I still have the option of Alerts, but the only selection of Alerts is through the Valet function. Don't know why I get the "car unlocked" notification every time I get something out of the car. That's new this week.
And the app seems to have changed again in the past few weeks - I was able to set a separate Speed Alert, but it expired in a short period (10 days?). Now I don't see the speed alert anywhere.

There seemed to be an earlier, intermediate update which came in late Summer or so, that had a different layout, including the tabs for "mobility," but it started malfunctioning when I deleted the GLE450 from the app. Before that, I think it's entire look changed when I entered the 450, and "enabled" all services for it, so the Service Department could monitor my 450 in real time. I don't think "enabling" was available until the MBUX car was added.

What this seems to be telling me, is that there is a lot of work going on to fine tune the "Experience." There is a phone number to call shown on the app.

 

Yes, some of the features haven't been carried over to the new app yet depending on the market. The European version of the app has these features already and it appears the Canadian version has it as well. Not sure what's the hold up for the US version. If you go to the garage and then Manage services, several of the services are marked as coming soon such as Speed Alert, Geo fencing etc., so these features should be coming in a future update. One of the promises was that this new app will receive more frequent updates.

I may have misunderstood the unlock car alert in your case. I don't get an alert every time I unlock the car. I only get an alert after a few minutes if the car remains unlocked. For example I park it unlocked in my garage, so I get an alert within about 2 minutes letting me know that I left the car unlocked. This is helpful if I indeed park my car somewhere and forget to lock it. I can then tap the notification and lock the car from the app. I only get a text message about the car being unlocked if I unlock it from the app. I guess that's for security to let me know in case somebody hacked the car.

 

I would think that the IOS version would be slower to roll out, or at least the intermediate steps that I seem to be seeing (or imagining), since one of the advantages of IOS is the scrutiny that Apple puts its apps through.
It seems like I am a Beta Tester here.
I did plenty of that during the Y2K scare in 1999! And spent a ton on "being prepared." In retrospect - a windfall for software providers.

 

That's not necessarily true. The iOS versions of apps tend to be more mature. It's partly because iOS apps don't have to be tested with so many different versions of the OS and phone hardware. Fragmentation is basically non-existent in the iOS world as new versions of iOS are pushed out to all devices at the same time as long as the hardware is still supported. Specifically for the MB app it's also because affluent people who own luxury cars tend to own expensive iPhones. The iOS version of the new app was rolled out first, several weeks ahead of the Android version.

 

In the past, and I think now, rollout was dependent on the carrier - Verizon, T-Mobile, etc. I would see AT&T users get updates before my Verizon was released, and visa-versa. Is the carrier not a factor with Apple App store?

 

Nope, carriers are never a factor with iOS and the app store. That's one of the main reason I use iOS. The way iOS is architected is such that the carriers cannot inject their crap or hold up updates etc. They can independently provide profiles to adjust network specific settings to make the phones work properly with their networks, so periodically I receive carrier updates when AT&T makes changes to their network. These carrier updates are pushed to devices outside of the iOS/app updates. As far as I know with Android, the carriers essentially have to get their customizations into the OS itself, so updates are specific to the carriers and therefore are released at different times or not at all if the carrier drags their feet. iOS devices are more similar to your computer etc. You just hook them up to your Internet and they work. If there's an update for the OS etc. you don't have to wait for your Internet provider to approve the update or block it potentially.

 

@superswiss You're talking about the OS, and you're right about them. New Android OS releases are quite variable, depending on the carrier and the phone manufacturer. Plus, they each have their own set of Bloatware, which Apple avoids - and so do Google phones - the only two "pure sources" that I know exist.

But I think we're talking about the apps themselves, which I don't think Apple, Verizon or Samsung fiddle with. I think it's M-B, trying to overcome historically poor Web and App interfaces. You seem to be getting quite a few variants of Mercedes Me, too - doubtful it's Apple doing their thing.
I think the M-B developers are using the flagpole, or spaghetti approach. "Run it up and see who salutes," or "Throw it at the fridge and see if it sticks." And again, we're the Beta testers, Apple or Android.

Side thought - with all the Government(s) investigations into major companies' "Policing" or "Not Policing enough," the manufacturers are walking those thin lines. Apple has come under fire for restricting access and disallowing free access to their App Store, and Google has come under fire for allowing "bad players" without accountability. So maybe there will be another convergence. It happened in the 90's when they began emulating each other. Who knows what it will look like next year.