MG i SMART app remote control instruction failed please try again later

[djngolf]

Has anyone had the message
"The remote control instruction failed, please try again later"
I'm away from home at the moment but would like to check in on the cars battery level.

 

[webhiker]

In my world it happens when the car have gone into deep sleep.
Avoid it by checking status every 2nd day or so
My experience.

 

[djngolf]

In my world it happens when the car have gone into deep sleep.
Avoid it by checking status every 2nd day or so
My experience.

Thanks for your reply. Have been checking ever day, just won't work. Back home Saturday

 

[djngolf]

Would you adam and eve it, app suddenly back working, never did anything to make it, a glitch.

 

[gwatuk]

Yes I've had it, but only for short periods.
I often find that the app doesn't initially display any data on the home page, but if I select the second page (vehicle status) this loads correctly and after this the home page then also displays correctly.
You've probably tried this but I thought I'd mention it!
It's a pretty flaky app.

 

[siteguru]

In my experience, connection failures are due to one of 3 things:

1. The car is parked in a location with poor mobile data coverage (e.g. an underground car park)
2. The car has lapsed into a deep sleep, and only a physical unlocking via the key fob (and perhaps also sitting in the seat to fully wake the car) will bring it back to life
3. MG's servers are having a wobbly

 

[hharzel]

With the loading indicator spinning and trying to perform any action, I get this message. They couldn't bother to set the buttons and other controls to a disabled state while the app is retrieving data just shows how hastily the app was made.

 

[rjhfandclf]

I find that sometimes it works after several tries, but other times it won't work until I unlock the car physically with the key or button first. So I suppose it could be due to going into a 'deep sleep'.

We are soon due to leave it untouched for four weeks, so I would like to be sure to be able to check-in just once in a while if possible, and at present, this is a concern. But we've decided to leave the car at home anyway and take a taxi to the airport, since four weeks' parking is about the same as two 30-mile taxi trips these days!

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

In my experience, connection failures are due to one of 3 things:

1. The car is parked in a location with poor mobile data coverage (e.g. an underground car park)
2. The car has lapsed into a deep sleep, and only a physical unlocking via the key fob (and perhaps also sitting in the seat to fully wake the car) will bring it back to life
3. MG's servers are having a wobbly

In order of probability:-

1. 5%
2. 10%
3. 85%

 

[DixieTGS]

Since some firmware updates a few weeks back to fix the eCall fault, it looks like the iSmart behaviour has changed. It appears to fail more often just after having driven it, but unlike before it has mostly recovered on its own within in a day.

I could be being fooled by random chance, but currently I'm being optimistic and hoping they've done something to kick it back in to life now and then, perhaps just after it's topped up the 12V maybe? Time will tell .

 

[Rolfe]

I find that sometimes it works after several tries, but other times it won't work until I unlock the car physically with the key or button first. So I suppose it could be due to going into a 'deep sleep'.

We are soon due to leave it untouched for four weeks, so I would like to be sure to be able to check-in just once in a while if possible, and at present, this is a concern. But we've decided to leave the car at home anyway and take a taxi to the airport, since four weeks' parking is about the same as two 30-mile taxi trips these days!

There have been various discussions about this, with the consensus being that it's best to let the car sleep undisturbed. If you keep waking it you could drain the 12v. Possibly. Maybe. But mainly, sometimes the cars fall asleep quite quickly and you'd need to wake it often to counteract this. I've occasionally seen mine fall asleep within hours of being parked.

Honestly, I'd leave it alone and let it do its thing. It seems that more trouble has been caused by frequent checking in than by ignoring it.

 

[rjhfandclf]

There have been various discussions about this, with the consensus being that it's best to let the car sleep undisturbed. If you keep waking it you could drain the 12v. Possibly. Maybe. But mainly, sometimes the cars fall asleep quite quickly and you'd need to wake it often to counteract this. I've occasionally seen mine fall asleep within hours of being parked.

Honestly, I'd leave it alone and let it do its thing. It seems that more trouble has been caused by frequent checking in than by ignoring it.

Indeed ... let sleeping dogs lie (or just keep lying?!) perhaps? And I think I must have read most of the posts on the subject, where I found there are an equal number who say that there is no way the battery can become drained through the app use!

In fairness, I don't think I suggested that I was wishing to check up on the car's status every five minutes - I am very far from trying to do so, and probably far less than once a week at the most; perhaps just once a week whilst we are away - which is what the app is intended for ... amongst other things.

In my case, I also use the app to control scheduled charging as that suits my usage pattern, and it's annoying that I can't do that without having to go outside and open the car physically to reset the app. In my case, ironically, it is actually when I haven't touched the app for several days or even a week or more that I get the error messages. These continually tells me to try again later, so I do so. Sometimes it eventually works; other times it doesn't. I am quite sure that won't affect the battery one iota.

Out of interest, I have just tried it again to see what is the current status quo, and there it was - gone again! But this time, after several repeat attempts it fired-up, so I did check the car status out of curiosity, and it shows the battery at a healthy 12.6v ... so far from being the LV battery in my mind - which other such posts have said in any case is charged from the HV battery, whether asleep or not.

 

[Rolfe]

I think if you only check on the car once a week it will have gone to sleep and won't respond.

In normal use I have found that if I go into the room in the house which is through the wall from the attached garage and press unlock on the key fob, it will wake the car and then it starts responding to the app. So I can for example pre-heat it without going outside.

 

[Ian Key]

We are soon due to leave it untouched for four weeks, so I would like to be sure to be able to check-in just once in a while if possible, and at present, this is a concern.

If you did try to check in while you were away and the app didn't connect to the car it is one of two things. One, which is most likely, the car had gone to sleep so nothing to worry about. Or two, the 12V battery was flat preventing the car connecting. You then spend your time worrying about it instead of enjoying your holiday.

Do what quite a few of us have done and get yourself a battery booster and keep it either in the glovebox or under the driver's seat just for peace of mind. You don't need a large capacity one but I would get one from a reputable manufacturer.

https://amzn.eu/d/g7EK3uT

 

[rjhfandclf]

Out of interest, I have just tried it again to see what is the current status quo, and there it was - gone again! But this time, after several repeat attempts it fired-up, so I did check the car status out of curiosity, and it shows the battery at a healthy 12.6v

Tried again to open iSmart this morning but, although when I opened the phone it said, as usual, 'MG iSmart has been running in the background', the other equally usual 'remote control instruction failed, try again later' message came up. So, did it go to sleep again or didn't it - with two totally conflicting messages?

And yes, as I have said, I can do all that is being suggested by opening the car with a physical key; and yes again, I can buy a battery pack if I'm worried about a six months old LV battery going flat - but I am not. Whenever I do get into the app, it is always fully charged. And anyway, getting into a car with a flat battery presumably calls for the emergency key fob too, doesn't it?

The app is supposed to work independently of the key fob from anywhere in the world with internet connectivity, and for many MG-stated facilities - some actually useful to be able to do when away from the car - and even like (hopefully never to be needed) locating the car should it have been stolen. So if I am 750 miles away in SW France, the key fob ain't going to work, and if the app doesn't either, then it is patently not fit for MG's stated purposes. It is fatuous to have an app designed for remote access to the car's facilities, but which goes to sleep when the car does, and can't be woken again without using the physical key to open the car.

Yes, of course I can live without it, but it does in fact have some good uses - when it works. They just need to make it more reliable.

 

[tsedge]

Yes it ought to be a lot better than it is.

Part of the problem are flaky servers that cause failures even when the car be contacted.
Part of the problem is an app that can show invalid or missing data and doesn't simply only show valid data.
Part of the problem is mobile connectivity to the car.
Part of the problem may also be bugs in car's software so that it sometimes fails when you try to initiate a remote operation.
Part of the problem is that it is not designed to work even when the car is asleep in such a way that won't significantly drain the battery.

I am afraid that it says to me that this generation of MG App technology isn't up to the job and the best we can hope for is new and better technology in a future new car or model, hopefully something much more mature.

 

[Labougie]

I had the same issue even under my wifi

Before my first annual service yesterderday,
Each Time i runned ismart , the main page was always empty.
Now, when i run it, all informations are loaded and correct. Without scrolling.

I think the update Is snakp23e32


Before and after the visit. MPU T-BOX was 18E32.

Labougie

 

[rjhfandclf]

I had the same issue even under my wifi

Before my first annual service yesterderday,
Each Time i runned ismart , the main page was always empty.
Now, when i run it, all informations are loaded and correct. Without scrolling.

I think the update Is snakp23e32

View attachment 26541
Before and after the visit. MPU T-BOX was 18E32.

Labougie

My Trophy ER has never been near the dealer since collecting it last November ... so far. And I am hesitant about ever taking it back to them, to be frank, as not at all a good buying experience.

But I've just checked the originally-installed and unaltered versions and these are:

Infotainment version -1300R46
MCU & MTU T-BOX - are both 21E32

I have no idea at all if that's relevant to the issue. I certainly had no problem setting up iSmart at the outset, nor adding Auto Android immediately afterwards via a wi-fi dongle.

It just doesn't connect when required per its spec.

 

[Labougie]

My Trophy ER has never been near the dealer since collecting it last November ... so far. And I am hesitant about ever taking it back to them, to be frank, as not at all a good buying experience.

But I've just checked the originally-installed and unaltered versions and these are:

Infotainment version -1300R46
MCU & MTU T-BOX - are both 21E32

I have no idea at all if that's relevant to the issue. I certainly had no problem setting up iSmart at the outset, nor adding Auto Android immediately afterwards via a wi-fi dongle.

It just doesn't connect when required per its spec.

Ok
My Luxury is V1.
1300R46 too

I just tell this update has a better link between app and car.

Everything has always worked fine, in the past there was a delay between thé app and thé first read.
Now, no need to refresh.

Labougie

 

[DixieTGS]

I had the same issue even under my wifi

Before my first annual service yesterderday,
Each Time i runned ismart , the main page was always empty.
Now, when i run it, all informations are loaded and correct. Without scrolling.

I think the update Is snakp23e32

View attachment 26541
Before and after the visit. MPU T-BOX was 18E32.

Labougie

Yup, the SNAKP23E32 made it significantly better for me too.

It still often fails as I go into the app sometimes with an error message sometimes not. So far if I then try the status page, it has always worked. Even having left the car and app untouched for 4 days on one occasion, it has still worked.

It's not had enough variable use for me to believe it's definitely fixed yet.

ETA: Assuming the improvements I've seen are real, it will only have addressed one or two of the reasons people have been having problems as listed by @tsabove. But it's a good start .