I've had numerous issues with starting the engine or locking the doors. The latter doesn't work like 80% of the time, and the former is fairly reliable but it's very annoying when it doesn't. I'm wondering whether this is a fault in the app, or the signal with the car. Either way I wish there was a far higher success rate with it.

 

This is a timely question. I think the app is well-designed and has the features that I need. From my experience, however, the app is hampered by the quality of AT&T coverage (I'm in the US).

When my car is parked in an area that I know has good coverage, my VOC app experience is pretty solid. If I'm somewhere with sub-par coverage the app is frequently inaccurate and unreliable.


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This is a timely question. I think the app is well-designed and has the features that I need. From my experience, however, the app is hampered by the quality of AT&T coverage (I'm in the US).

When my car is parked in an area that I know has good coverage, my VOC app experience is pretty solid. If I'm somewhere with sub-par coverage the app is frequently inaccurate and unreliable.

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You're probably right. I'm not having any issues - works great and very intuitive. But if car modem is offline, not going to be great.

 

I'd say mine works as expected about 95% of the time. It always accurately tells me whether it is unlocked. I can successfully lock it from the app like 95% of the time. It meets or exceeds my expectations given that it relies on a cellular network. That's about equal to my ability todo similar things from my phone with other apps.

 

No problems . It works all the time but I don't use it a lot. My car is parked in the garage so it's a nice way to monitor if the car is locked or not. Sending destination to the car is a useful function.

Did anybody renew the application after 6 months in US? I need to do it soon.

 

Did anybody renew the application after 6 months in US? I need to do it soon.

Sensus Connect with Volvo On Call
http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9172/~/what-sensus-connect-with-volvo-on-call-plans-are-available%3F

The AT&T Data Plan was also for 6 months - but AT&T has not come out with pricing so Volvo will continue to offer it complimentary - see this article:
http://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9501/related/1

 

Remote start works 99+% of the time. It works well from Apple Watch. Friends find it Jaw-dropping.

 

The remote start works well, but I've had problems with sending destinations. I have not read the section out of the 500+ manual, but I'm hoping that the "send to car" function doesn't mean you have to physically have the car running and sitting in it. The startup of Sensus and inputting information is the only negative I've experienced.

 

You can send to car at anytime, occupied or not. When running the car will receive and notify you of a new destination received. A single tap and you're on your way.

 

Is there a way of checking the strength of the signal the car has,i.e its connection to the network?

 

Just like any phone...there are signal strength bars but you have to be in the car. Mine when the vehicle sits in the garage or driveway shows roughly 2-3 bars. No way from remote if you that is what you were asking.

For me, remote functionality via VOC does work but slow to respond. My suspicion is that it's related to the ATT 3G along with the low signal strength maybe due to the internal antenna.

 

Just wanted to hear out your experience with the Volvo app.

My experience so far is that I cannot rely on the app, since its behavior varies a lot.

Trying to remote start the engine or the pre-heater, the app freezes while "the blue bar" on the bottom is trying to connect to the car.

Any hints out there to increase the reliability ?

Sorry..what do you mean by 'pre-heater'....? I don't see a way to adjust cabin temps via VOC app. Do you mean just starting up the car to warm it up? Also, curious...how long do you guys set the time for? 5 min?

 

The car starts 90% of time, but I noticed that the seat warmers and steering wheel heater icons are not on when the car is started remotely and come on only after "restarting" the car. ( FYI, the butt warmers were left "on" earlier) the heater fan is not going at full speed either, though the temp was set at 68 and it is 30 in the garage!

 

What's the relationship of the internet and the app? Can you lock the car if you don't continue the att data plan? What about sending a destination to the car? Remote start? Or does everything require an active internet connection (att or tethering)?

 

It has nothing to do with AT&T data plan. https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9170

Sending destination to the car can be done through the internet. http://forums.swedespeed.com/showthread.php?271257-Send-destination-to-car-from-the-web

After your 6 months complimentary Volvo On Call Subscription you will have to pay for it and it's not cheap. https://volvo.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9172/related/1

 

I could be wrong but I think the xc90 actually has two SIM cards- one for the AT&T (or other data in Europe) and one for on-call/diagnostics/etc. so there should not be a fee other than the VOC fee.

Or like ashay is saying, it includes the AT&T charge. Funny, I haven't checked to be certain what's working but I am on my paid VOC plan now and pretty sure my cars modem is still connected.

 

Well for now the att data plan is continuing without charge as they have not announced pricing, so if you're in the US, you probably still have your data going.

 

Ok. I did some research and I think I found the answer from another board/post:


"VOC does not need a data plan. The Volvo on Call subscription includes the communications needed to support the features. It's a very small amount of data compared to, say, streaming music. The car is always connected to support at minimum the emergency lifeline services, which do not require a subscription."

So it looks like we don't need the 3G ATT once it expires to continue with VOC subscription.

 

Ok. I did some research and I think I found the answer from another board/post:

"VOC does not need a data plan. The Volvo on Call subscription includes the communications needed to support the features. It's a very small amount of data compared to, say, streaming music. The car is always connected to support at minimum the emergency lifeline services, which do not require a subscription."

So it looks like we don't need the 3G ATT once it expires to continue with VOC subscription.

hopefully this is the case!

 

ashay21 is correct. The VOC and the ATT SIM card are two separate things. Each uses a different data connection. When you renew VOC, the communications it needs is inherent to the feature and is always included. For the ATT 3G data connection, for now it will remain FREE even after the 6 month trial period UNTIL Volvo and ATT come to some agreement as to what to charge for the data plan. Volvo has indicated that it will remain complimentary for the time being. My only hope is that they don't drop the ball and all of a sudden cut people off on the 3G connection without notifying the owners first. Where I live we have a strong ATT connection and we use the 3G connection all the time for the apps such as weather, Yelp, Pandora and it has worked really well. I like not having to tether my phone and the kids love it because they are able to stream Netflix off the car's wifi hotspot...and surprising it works really well for them without any buffering issues on Netflix.

 

Streaming Netflix can be very expensive - do you pay for data use?

 

That's why there are unlimited data plans Both my wife an i have them. Makes the most sense for us these days.

 

Mine worked just fine every time I used it but after 6 months free subscription, won't pay $200 annually for, for something I can do with my key fob. Half that price a maybe but I even doubt that.

 

Looks the Volvo On Call app for iPhone was updated in the US app store (v3.3.0). Some of the new features are quite useful and a step in the direction that will have me feeling better when I have to pay for VOC.

An option popped up for me to activate Calendar Card functionality. Basically you authorize the VOC app to access your calendar, and a 5th tile (below Until Empty Tank) you can access your immediately upcoming calendar events and send their location directly to the XC90. I keep detailed business, personal, and shared family calendars in iCloud, therefore this feature is extremely useful for me.

Also, the VOC app now utilizes 3D Touch on my iPhone 6S. The quick access functions available are Send Destination, Flash Lights, Unlock, and Start Engine. Release notes indicate improved Driving Journal functionality, however I have that toggled off, so I can't comment.

All in all a step in the right direction, and promising that Volvo is serious about improving this app and functionality.

 

Great news. I hadn't even noticed!

 

Ive only been using the app for a couple of weeks. When I first started using it I noticed that with the Driving Journal the actual route between point A and B was shown on the map and you could see the speed, mpg etc. at different points on the route. This feature seems to have disappeared, it now just shows start and finish location on the map and not the route taken. Anyone else noticed this / or is there a setting somewhere that I have missed ?

 

I'm in the same boat.... was told you could see the speed and mpg at different points but all I get is point A and point B, no route, just overall stats? Maybe I'M missing the setting too??

And I've had about 50% reliability with using the lock feature.... says it's locking then times out. I have no idea where the remote start capability is (not that I'm dying to use it, no harsh winters in SoCal)

And why does my app say at the top "2016 XC90 UNKNOWN" .... unknown where it is? who it belongs to?

 

While I posted this in a separate thread - I upgraded to the 3.3.0 on Android ... and the app didn't handle 29 Feb 2016 very gracefully: trip logs for the 28th and 29th were on the 28th and duration calculated incorrectly. Also unable to use preconditioning at any point on 29 Feb 2016.

 

Having had my car for less than a week I'm already furious at the quality of the implementation (in IOS).
- Engine start from notification center fails every time.
- There's no unlock option on the notification screen. At first I thought this was a security design issue, but then I remembered you need to do a TouchID to try to start the engine so there's no difference between unlocking phone first then hitting unlock car vs. hitting unlock car then putting finger to enable the command.
- Lock/Unlock is hit or miss.
- Inaccuracy of running state. Twice now I've had situations where I've tried to start the car, app reports a failure, status of car starts being reported as Running even though the car actually isn't. At that point I can't press start because it's "already running". I can't press stop because "It's running and wasn't turned on remotely" (Say what?). It's not an issue with communication in all these cases because if I independently press unlock on my fob, the doors unlock, and VOC updates the door status successfully.
- Turned on engine successfully once, walked out to car about 3-4 mins later, and the car literally started right in front of me. So much for success.

And no, this isn't due to poor cell coverage since it's on my driveway, a location where I can pull 100-150mbps on my phone without hassle.

 

And no, this isn't due to poor cell coverage since it's on my driveway, a location where I can pull 100-150mbps on my phone without hassle.

Apples to oranges, no? The sensus modem is 3G, I'd assume the VOC modem is the same.

I rarely have any issues of the sort you discuss - so it sounds like there might be an error or comms issue going on...

 

The dealer has access to the portal (used to setup the VOC service when your car was delivered) - they can add the registration info.

 

Just upgraded to the new version. 3D touch for starting is nice. Activated the calendar link, because I also enter location details for most of my appointments, and it was the easiest time ever, setting the destination in navigation. Looking forward to checking out the other VOC changes, especially the mileage fix in the journal when I need to report.

 

I love that it reminds you by text if you forget and leave the car unlocked. The 3G is quite slow though


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I wish T8 would have remote start If they will not add it I will not be paying for the VOC app!

 

@Brutus99: In a reply to my email, VCNA indicated that "remote start" would be part of a software update for the T8 later this Summer 2016.

I do not know what the design solution will be, such as (1) preconditioning without being plugged in; (2) startup of ICE without being plugged in; or (3) something else. We know that NA versions do not come with the optional fuel-fired preheater that is available in the EU and possibly other markets. The fuel-fired preheater would have been the best solution IMO but I realize that I do not know or comprehend all of the considerations.

You might want to reach out to VC Canada to verify that a similar solution is planned for Canada, too. I will PM you with the my email exchange with VCNA if you wish.

 

Since we're on the topic of the VOC - Volvo A-Plan is offering 2 years of VOC instead of the standard 6 months. I'm getting ready to purchase my XC90 and will be generating the pin for that. Just an FYI>

 

Where are you seeing that offer for VOC for APlan? I've been told there is no special A plan offers on XC90s and can't locate anything on the site either.

Please share so others can take advantage if they qualify.

 

T8 doesnt have remote start ?


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Under your Settings --> Climate --> Make sure Remote Settings for Heated seats (there should be a driver and passenger option) is not OFF.

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I don't have such an option. I can select settings for wheel and seats for "auto start", which I took to mean "when starting the automobile". But nothing that says "remote". Hence, when using the app on my phone, seats and wheel are cold when I enter the car 15 minutes later.

Jamie