I led the Tesla mobile app redesign for two and a half years. Our goal was to make the app as quick to use as physical car keys. We also looked at more advanced capabilities that the Tesla had, such as self parking and climate controls, and tried to understand how they might be used outside of the car. In the Model 3 the mobile app became a complete replacement for the key fob.
The home page is designed so that the user can see all of the most important information. Climate, remote start, and door locks are placed in the center of the screen as they are the most used features.
The home screen also displays the states the car can be in: driving, parked, charging, or offline.
The climate control screen is one of the most commonly used mobile features. This screen was designed to show what the current state of the cabin temperature is, what the desired temperature is set to, and if the car is heating up the cabin or cooling it down. The desired outcome is a simple UI that the driver can set in order to have their perfect cabin temperature by the time they get in.
Vent the roof, lock or unlock doors, flash the lights, honk the horn, or start drive rails are all features in the controls page. This section is also where the user can set up valet mode to limit speed and torque of the car.
When charging, this section shows the rate of charge and how long it will take to reach the set limit. The user can also drag the arrow to change the set limit of how much their battery will charge. This extends the lifespan of the battery.
This section can be used to find the location of the car. When the car is driving, you can even use the app to see which direction it is going.
Summon gives users the ability to move the Tesla an entire car length without even getting behind the wheel. The car can adjust its trajectory using sensors to help it park in tight spots. It will also stop if it senses an obstacle or if connection between the app and the car is lost.
The Tesla Mobile app even has actions that can be added to the Notification section of iOS making key features of the car only one swipe away from anywhere in iOS. We designed this to have instant access to the following features: climate, enable drive, lock/unlock, and driving range info.