A Tesla app update finally puts your car into a widget on your Home screen

By Oliver Haslam
published

Tesla Model X
Tesla Model X (Image credit: Tesla)

What you need to know

  • A new update for the Tesla app adds support for Home screen widgets for the first time.
  • Users can see when their car is charging, whether Sentry mode is enabled, and more.
  • Other improvements include a refreshed interface, easier access to the Tesla Store, and much more.

Tesla has quietly updated its iPhone app to add a slew of new features — not least new iOS 14 Home screen widgets in two different sizes.

Released as version 4.0.0, the new Tesla app can be downloaded from the App Store (opens in new tab) now, although you'll obviously need some sort of Tesla product for it to be most useful. A number of improvements have been made to this release including a new vehicle and energy homepage and more.

  • Refreshed vehicle and energy homepage
  • Streamlined Summon experience
  • Enhanced phone key support – vehicle no longer needs to be selected
  • Send commands to vehicle immediately upon opening app
  • Use Go Off-Grid to seamlessly disconnect your home from the Grid with Powerwall
  • Shop the Tesla catalog and view and manage your orders (available in select countries)
  • View Supercharging history and ability to pay outstanding Supercharging or service balance (available in select countries)

But most interesting, and not mentioned, is a new Home screen widget situation that brings two sizes of widget to iPhones. Users can see information like charge state and whether Sentry mode is enabled, all without opening the app.

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The update is available for people to download now and makes the Tesla app much more useful — without ever making you open it. Tesla now surely has one of the best iPhone apps produced by a car maker. Others, take note!

While Tesla did previously offer a widget, it was one of the old-style Today screen widgets.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.