Tesla has released its latest update for the iOS mobile app this week, including a useful feature that makes it easier to access key car controls from an iPhone.
On Friday, Tesla launched mobile app v4.38.0 on iOS, including a feature that lets owners add certain car commands to the control center on their iPhone. Owners will now be able to access controls such as lock, climate control, charging port access, honk, and even fart from the convenience of the swipe-up control center menu.
The menu can also access commands for flashing your headlights, opening and closing your frunk or trunk, though it’s only available for those using iOS 18. You can see a screenshot a few of the control center commands for Tesla’s vehicles below, as shared over the weekend by Not a Tesla App.
Credit: Not a Tesla App
Along with the ability to add certain commands to the iPhone control center, Tesla mobile app v4.38.0 includes a useful Energy Power Meter feature that makes it easier for users to monitor and manage the system’s power limits when using the Powerwall or Powershare off-grid.
As noted by Tesla mobile app engineer Alex Guichet on X, the metering feature should help owners with smaller systems avoid overloading them, as it makes it easy to see how many backup hours the system has left, along with best practices during outages.
Credit: Alex Guichet | X
Credit: Alex Guichet | X
Credit: Alex Guichet | X
Tesla releases mobile app updates fairly regularly, often adding new features or simple improvements to existing ones. As just a few recent examples, Tesla added home energy demos to the iOS app earlier this year, and it added a range of destination filtering options in an update over the summer. In August, the company also hinted at the release of Autopark in a mobile update alongside a simple release notes button that hadn’t been there before.
In May, J.D. Power ranked Tesla’s mobile app the best out of any OEM, due to the overall ease of use and experience for owners of the company’s vehicles. Tesla has been developing its mobile app since the early days of the Model S and X, and it’s focused more heavily on software than any other manufacturer in the industry.
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