AudiConnect Free Features - Does this clear things up?
 

Just saw this email come in. So while my free trial is long expired, I assume these features will be free through my app starting in March?
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.aud...9953c16b46.jpg

Yeah, these three are neat features. I know some were talking about the remote unlock/lock being available but it never worked for me. This is neat...thanks Audi!

Are we getting complimentary Audi Connect now? Knowing Audi, it may just be a generic email or lazy work on their part to just send out a mass email to new owners in the past few months that still are on their trail as well as people who let their subscriptions lapse over a year ago just to try and rope them back in.

I could be wrong but I am definitely skeptical/cynical about Audi and this offer.

It was a decent feature to remote lock-unlock but I can't say I used it often. The locator was nice. If these features are just free from now on, good on Audi; but I can't help but think it's a lazy email sent out to people already on a trial or paying customers, as well as people whose subscription long expired but Audi couldn't be f'd to filter those accounts out.

We'll see in a month what it really is. Or if someone has talked to their Audi salesperson or service adviser and asked about it?

Having just taken delivery of my first Audi in many years, I'm a little bit lost, trying to understand and figure out if any of the Audi Connect Prime or Connect Plus offerings are worth the money. At first glance, I suspect not, but maybe I'm missing something that should make me reconsider? Any guidance on the value of these would be most appreciated.

It clearly says "(..)regardless of whether you continue subscribing to Audi connect PRIME after the expiration of your trial or subscription period."

I'm on an active (paid) subscription that runs out in about a week and if this info is accurate, it just cost them $200 for my renewal I'm now going to pass on. I'm not going to pay $200 for 6 months of google earth ONLY...

Audi's subscriptions have always been a rip-off. I still subscribed. Doesn't make any sense, right? I simply didn't want to drive a crippled down $90K vehicle.

Well, in the past, you paid $200 for 6 months to get the fancy google earth maps and remote app features. Now, you seem to get the app-features like unlocking/locking for free as well, making the $200-deal even worse.

From now on, I'll only keep the WiFi hotspot for $20/month and let my Prime subscription expire. Another poster discovered that this is an option as long as you sign up for Plus as long as your Prime trial or paid subscription is still active.

So they are introducing a AudiConnect CARE package in addition to existing PLUS and PRIME.
We get these for FREE with CARE: Vehicle Status Report, Remote Lock/Unlock and Locate Car.

I wish they added Google Earth to this free tier so that they can really show off the full potential of virtual cockpit.

Anyway its a better than nothing.

I have to say the Google earth does not do much for me. The only feature I really like is send to car from Google maps or the app. I guess I have to still pay for that.

I haven't rec'd my email yet, I guess it's "in the mail".. LOL

LOL! Explain please...

So I figured there will be an app update for this so I cheked it out, but looks like its a whole new app called myAudi. I'm downloading it, and perhaps this is the one that will give the free services

The feature I liked most during the trial was being able to send a destination to the car nav system from the app via my phone. I like having the nav display in my HUD and VC, which is not possible with Car Play. I really wish they included that as part of the free CARE package. :(

Downloaded the app, but it wont work yet. Lets wait and see

Yeah, that is the only thing of value to be honest. I hate writing in the NAV destination. I guess I could speak it in

Yup, received the email too. In this day and age of technology ... it was high time some features be made complimentary. At least its a good start from Audi, while BMW continues to keep ripping for stuff such as Apple CarPlay!

:D

Well, if you spend that much on a vehicle, you want to be able use all its capabilities/features (remote lock/unlock, Google earth view etc.).
If your monthly payment is already north of $1,300, do an additional $33 really make a difference?

I see. I haven't received the email as yet so I haven't been able to read it in its entirety.

Someone needs to figure out how to get a SIM from a carrier with a cheap data plan to work in our cars so we can get the Google Earth stuff in our HUDs and VCs. I don't need it since I use Android Auto to get the satellite view of Google Maps on my center screen, but it would be nice to have it on the VC and it feels like a gaping hole of a tab on my VC to not have Earth on it.

I have a 2017 Q7 for which I never renewed Audi Connect PRIME after the trial expired. Last year when they announced that lock/unlock is now free, I installed the new MyAudi app on my iPhone and lock/unlock worked then and continues to work now.

I now see that the app has options for total range, vehicle status, geofence alert, speed alert and valet alert. I don't think those options were there before. All of these say "The service is not available due to missing or expired licenses". Hopefully on March 8, per the letter, these will become active for free.

I already have all the geo features with my Viper remote start, so I don't really care about those. But the status report and especially vehicle range will useful for when I don't remember how much gas I've got and avoid having to go out to the car and check.

The whole email is posted above in the thread. Unfortunately, Google Earth and the other Audi Connect services are subscription-based the car will check that subscription before they'll work, regardless where the data is coming from. Adding your own SIM won't help, at least in the US. Folks in Canada, who aren't eligible for most of the Audi Connect features, have found a way to bypass that, but the same technique doesn't work in the US. The speculation is that since Google Earth isn't a feature of Audi Connect in Canada, somehow it skips the subscription check once it's manually coded on.

My free trial also ended a long time ago. I got the email and updated the App yesterday. I am able to use lock/unlock, and Send to Car features for free. I have 2018 Q7. Are they throwing the free features to only a few users until the full rollout on March 8? Just curious.

The free lock/unlock feature was rolled out several months ago. I don't know about Send to Car; I haven't tried that since my free trial.

Remote Lock/unlock works for me with new myAudi app. Have you tried that?

So I tried the lock/unlock and vehicle location and that works. The third feature, car status, does not appear to work for me yet. Its not officially launched so I suppose its still early

How did you send to car. I see the app has the ability to search for destinations, but I could't see the option to send to car. That feature is also not part of the free features

Vehicle status is now active.

Thank for the reminder, it is March 8. Yes, my app is showing the vehicle status in detail now and allowing me to lock/unlock. Cool

Yep! Audi also can provide software updates! yay!!!

The licenses for all the free features that Audi now provides (Vehicle Status, Remote Lock/Unlock, Car Finder) have an expiration date of 09/23/2026. I hope it is true.

Car Finder is also active, you can now see Your location and Car location in the Maps.

Make sure you are using the new myAudi app (or login to https://www.audiusa.com/myaudi/overview and then click on "Audi connect services and Key User registration"). If you are already logged in to app, log out and log back in. As long as you are the key user on the car, you should see those services, like remote unlock etc.

This is also from their Audi Connect User management page:

Quote:

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This is how it works:
Enter your personal information and agree to the general terms & conditions and the data privacy policy. Print your key user contract and contact your dealer. Your Audi partner will then verify your myAudi Account by using your contract number as a one-off process. This will enable you to assign yourself as key user of vehicles.

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They also enabled biometric when you request Lock or Unlock from the app, it used to be just PIN. But, I am not able to enable it due to some error pops up that it cannot save biometric information. Hopefully they will fix it on another update.

Make sure you have the latest myAudi app downloaded, and not the one you had when you had the free trial. Its chnaged