FireRx Captain

hey Guys,
What features will you lose if you don't renew the Mercedes me app. Stuff like my Augment Reality is built into the car so I would think that won't go away. and Map updates I can get when I need them. I just do see spending $150 buck for just map updates annually.

TonyF61

Faetures such as:
- Remote Start
- Remote Lock/Unlock
- Vehicke Status - Shows which windows and doors are Open/Closed - I, like others here, have an issue with the hatch opening unexpectedly; therefore , I am constanly checking that.
- Sending destinations to Nav system (I get much better search results when searching for a location from phone, then from MBUX.)

I guess it all depends on your needs. Look through the app and see whats there that you would like to have.

zengshengliu

If you go to the Mercedes store and look at the Mercedes-Benz Connect subscription (after login to your account), you can see all the options/features applicable to your car.
This is from my list
You will have to look through your list and decide if the subscription price is worth.

FireRx Captain

thanks,

mikapen

Many or most insurance companies will give a discount for having the vehicle locator or lost vehicle feature.

wildta

Did you know the dealer can program your key to do a double press to open/close your hatch vs the single long press? It's supposed to help mitigate accidentally opening the hatch. I was in a parking lot this past winter and I noticed a GLE with their hatch wide open with all of their luggage in sight. I closed it for them but I know they had the same issue. I've never had the issue because I clip my key on a carabiner on my belt loop (hate having keys in my pocket) but I decided to have my dealer do the programming anyway just to be safe.

mikapen

I asked my dealer about this and they said it couldn't be done.
Maybe I need to ask again.

Benzman33

I'd just like to remote start it with the key and not the stupid app.

superswiss

Yeah if one carries the fob on a keychain with a bunch of other keys in their pocket, then accidently unlocking the car or opening the hatch isn't very hard to do if another key presses against one of the buttons. The long press is supposed to mitigate this by reducing the likelihood of it happening and if you accidently unlock the entire car, it locks itself again if none of the doors get opened within 30 seconds, but if you "butt dial" the trunk/hatch there is no way of telling whether it was intentional or accidental. I hate carrying keys in general and while I never really had a history of accidently opening trunks I got rid of my keychain a long time ago and replaced everything with digital keys on my phone except for the car fob as my model doesn't support digital keys. The key fob by itself, though is compact and smooth enough to go unnoticed in my pocket and w/o other hard objects next to it the chance of accidently pressing one of the buttons is pretty much zero. Having a carabiner dangling around on my hip would be even less desirable for me.

wildta

I'm with you, I wish I could lock and unlock the car from my phone, or at the very least, an nfc card in my wallet.

Elvisfan0108

It’s always interesting, what people complain about. I’ve been carrying keys for over 60 years. I still carry my house key. Even though I have 2 other ways to get into my house. I wouldn’t trust a digital key in my phone. Especially one that goes through the cloud.

superswiss

I don't expect you to at that age, but digital keys are way more secure than physical keys that anybody can use as long as its in their possession w/o you knowing, or anybody with a bump key can bump the lock to your house w/o you knowing. A digital key is much more than not having to carry a piece of metal in your pocket. It comes with notifications so you know who and when somebody is unlocking your door or somebody is trying to bump your lock, and you can always remotely disable a particular key that you gave out to a guest for example. Smart locks also allow for automation, so you can automatically lock the door after its closed or remotely lock it if you forgot and you always know if your house is actually locked or not.

There are also multiple levels of authentication. If you lose your key, anybody can use it if they know where it goes, but with a digital key on the phone they can't use it if you lose the phone w/o your PIN or biometric data to unlock it first. Hacking a metal key lock is way more low tech and can be done by watching YouTube videos on how to bump a lock. Hacking a digital key takes quite a bit more skill. There's encryption to be broken etc. Your random burglar isn't gonna be up to that. It's always interesting how people fear what they don't really understand.

Crito

I also find it interesting how some people spend way too much time/money/effort securing things that don't really need that much security. I'd hate to have to deal with a digital key for a public toilet for example. Easy access, in this case, is much more important than security. LOL

Elvisfan0108

I am well versed in technology. I may be old but, I’ve been involved in tech since the first IBM PC. I use Apple Pay because it’s more secure. Had one of the first Palm Pilots. Owned a Laser disk player. Well aware of the security advantage However, I also know that it can fail. See CrowdStrike. Granted, I do worry more than some people. I always like to have a backup. A digital key using Bluetooth is fine. Where it depends on cell phone service, I don’t trust it.

superswiss

Most smart locks have a backup such as a keypad. It never depends on a cell phone. Phone battery could die, could lose the phone etc. It's more about the lock than the digital key. Mine have a keypad, so I can get in w/o a phone or if the Internet is down or whatever. That's kinda the point to have more than one way to unlock the house. What got me into smart locks was a few years ago I was on a business trip in Germany when at the crack of dawn my phone rang and it was my wife. Knowing that it was 11pm in California and she knew that I was probably still asleep it couldn't have been good that she was calling me at that time. She was standing in front of our house and minutes before realized that she'd left her keys at work, went out with her coworkers, took the train home and couldn't get into the house. All I could tell her at that point was to call a good friend of ours to come pick her up and stay at her place to retrieve the keys the next day. This would have been very different if we already had smart locks back then. Glad she at least had her phone and the battery wasn't dead, and our friend picked up and was in town.

superswiss

Agreed and as said in my post above, primary reason for a smart lock/digital key was ease of access. Being able to get into the house w/o a physical key, phone or anything on me. Enter the code in the keypad and door unlocks. It's convenience first that drove my smart home project.

TonyF61

Thanks, I will do that.

stktyz33

It's a never ending debate... I found that you need both and not one or the other.

mikapen

I was told by my dealerthat you can't do that anymore.
Let us know if that's bad information.

Benzman33

My app barely works. It'll remote start it maybe once outta 3 times I try. When the car is 3ft away from me. I know my wifi is bad but not that bad.

wildta

Have you asked the dealer to look at it yet? I know the pre-facelift had a TSB to fix the remote start issues.

Elvisfan0108

I thought we were talking about cars here. There is no backup for a digital key on a car, except for Fords and an actual key.

superswiss

Yes, we strayed a bit from the topic. The digital key for cars IS the backup. The key fob is the primary means to unlock/lock/operate the car and the digital key is the backup for when you locked in your key, forgot/lost it, don't want to carry the physical key, or you want to temporally let somebody else borrow the car w/o having to give them the physical key fob. Digital keys are rarely the only means to unlock something. They are mostly complementary for convenience. Keep an open mind. I stay at Hiltons often and one reason is their digital key. I can check in the day before and then just go straight to the room once I arrive. They still hand out the traditional badge keys as a backup and I usually get one the next day. Often the digital key doesn't work for the front door after hours for example. It's ultimately about convenience.

superswiss

BTW, just to kinda round out the discussion. Modern key fobs are nothing but digital keys themselves. They work the same way as smartphone digital keys. They are software based and contactless. The newest fobs even implement the same ultra wideband wireless protocol that Apple CarKey etc. does. The only difference is the digital key is stored on a dedicated device instead of a general purpose smartphone, but in principal they are the same thing. Most people conflate the digital wallet where the digital key is stored with the digital key itself, but those are two separate things. The real backup for all this is the small mechanical key found inside of the key fob and nothing prevents you from carrying it in your wallet if you use a smartphone digital key. So if the phone dies, you unlock the car with the mechanical key and place the phone on the center console in the designated spot to start the engine. It works exactly the same way as the key fob. Digital keys as a concept go beyond smartphones. Even a PIN code entered into an electronic keypad is a form of a digital key. It's all software that validates the code against known codes and then sends a signal to the lock to open if the code matches.

Benzman33

Mine is a 24...