How to Pair Your Phone as a Key to Your Tesla

Pair your phone once and the key card can live in a drawer. Pull a door handle while your phone’s nearby and it unlocks. Walk away and it locks behind you.

Before you start

A few phone settings need to be right first, or pairing either fails outright or quietly stops working a few days later.

• Bluetooth needs to be on specifically for the Tesla app, not just for your phone in general. iPhone and Android both treat this as a separate permission buried in the app’s own settings, not the phone-wide Bluetooth toggle.
• Location access should be “Always”, not “While Using”. The app needs to keep talking to the car in the background.
• Allow Mobile Access needs to be on in the car. Touchscreen: Controls > Safety > Allow Mobile Access.
• Charge your phone before you start. Some phones disable Bluetooth automatically once the battery gets low, and that’ll break pairing halfway through.

Pairing your phone as a key

1. Download the Tesla app and log in with your Tesla Account.
2. From inside or right next to the car, open the app and tap Set Up Phone Key on the main screen, or go to Security > Set Up Phone Key.
3. Follow the prompts on your phone and the touchscreen.
4. When the app confirms the key’s been added, tap Done.

Your phone now shows up as a key under Controls > Locks. Rename it there if you’ve got more than one phone paired and want to tell them apart.

What happens day to day

• Approaching: the car detects your phone’s Bluetooth signal, and the doors unlock the moment you pull a handle.
• Walking away: with Walk-Away Door Lock switched on, the car locks itself once your phone’s out of range.
• Getting moving: press the brake within two minutes of being detected to power up and drive. Past that window, you need to be detected again first.

Safety habits worth building in

Don’t leave a paired phone in the car. If you’re hiking or swimming and can’t practically take it with you, turn Bluetooth off or switch the phone off entirely.

Turn on Phone Left Behind Detection too (Controls > Locks). It chimes and shows a message if it thinks your phone key’s been left inside after everyone’s got out. Useful, but it’s not foolproof — it’s built to catch phones near the centre console, not ones buried in a bag on the back seat.

This is one of the first things worth doing after picking up a new Tesla. Most of the car’s other convenience features assume your phone is already properly paired.