MG iSmart lower your expectations

[Shanecb]

It does keep you logged in thankfully.
After login most of the other screens use the inbuilt system keyboard which is so strange.

There goes the Chinese government collecting passwords again...Now where did I put my tinfoil hat?

 

[hmadsen]

I can happily say that the problems with the app being painfully slow, and often failing the first time, and me needing to do a pull-down to retry is still not fixed...Atleast not on Android.

But that will offcourse make good sense, seeing as the app had it's last update back in January.

To be honest i do hope they will eventually do something about this, i would imagine that most is "just" software tweaking.

I would have thought (hoped) that it was when the car was new, they would release the most updates, to work out all of the small gremlins in the system

 

[Merry]

I think of a lot of the issues are down to the connection between the car and server, rather than the app itself.

That requires a bit more in the way of fixing than just updating an app.

 

[hmadsen]

I think of a lot of the issues are down to the connection between the car and server, rather than the app itself.

That requires a bit more in the way of fixing than just updating an app.

You may very well be right, but in that case, i would argue, that they have not made any significant improvements since the first poster, posted about the connection being slow

Lets just say "There is room for improvement"

 

[Julian256]

The iSmart app stopped working on my car a couple of weeks ago. Then I had the dreaded flat battery (12v lead-acid battery). I connected a little LiFePO4 car jump starter to the battery and got the car 'started'. I put the car on granny charge (which also charges the 12v battery) and to my surprise, the iSmart app started working again. I'm guessing the SIM module had crashed, but got re-booted when the 12v battery went flat. Now I'm checking to see which fuse connects to the SIM module in case it locks up again.

 

[hmadsen]

Getting a bit worried here, seems more and more people suffer from 12V batteries being discharged.

I wonder if the 12V battery is only charged when on a charger, i would have thought there would be some sort of charger, connected to the HV battery, acting like an alternator whenever the car was "on" (Or actually, it could just maintain the 12V battery SOT at all times, not only when the car is "on")

Seems a bit silly that a car wil at BIG battery, with LOTS of juice, still wont run, because of a 12V battery being drained.

 

[fatboyfat1981]

The iSmart app stopped working on my car a couple of weeks ago. Then I had the dreaded flat battery (12v lead-acid battery). I connected a little LiFePO4 car jump starter to the battery and got the car 'started'. I put the car on granny charge (which also charges the 12v battery) and to my surprise, the iSmart app started working again. I'm guessing the SIM module had crashed, but got re-booted when the 12v battery went flat. Now I'm checking to see which fuse connects to the SIM module in case it locks up again.

Almost seems like the first mod anyone needs to make is a 12v battery switch, think of the time you’d save by not having to get your 10mm spanner out

 

[Julian256]

Certainly a lithium jump starter is an essential accessory to keep in the car. If the 12v battery goes flat, the car becomes a 2-ton road block. The LiFePO4 units are probably best as you can leave them charged to 100% without worry.

 

[Lovemyev]

Getting a bit worried here, seems more and more people suffer from 12V batteries being discharged.

I wonder if the 12V battery is only charged when on a charger, i would have thought there would be some sort of charger, connected to the HV battery, acting like an alternator whenever the car was "on" (Or actually, it could just maintain the 12V battery SOT at all times, not only when the car is "on")

Seems a bit silly that a car wil at BIG battery, with LOTS of juice, still wont run, because of a 12V battery being drained.

I am of the opinion that the 12 volt battery is being charged from the HV battery, when the car is in driving READY mode.
This can be seen on the dash panel of the Gen1 model very easily.
The 12 volt battery condition shown is when the car is in STANDBY mode, when the the white bars are right in the centre of the gauge.
When the car is booted up into the diving mode of READY, then you will see the white bars increase by two more increments.
This is about a SOC of 14.5 volts.
About the same as it would be in an ICE car with an alternator.
It is similar on the face lift model, but it is a digital read out that needs finding by scrolling though the menus.
When at rest and powered down, the App displays just over 13 volts and increases to about 14+ volts when the car is fully booted or on the move.
This will be reduced slightly, when running the head lights etc at night time,

 

[DebbieP64]

I have mgzs long range,and use scheduled charging from ismart on android all the time.never had a problem.car 6 months old.

I have tried once to do this and it failed. I set up the scheduled charge and then plugged the car into my dumb Rolec charger. Nothing happened. Could you go through the procedure with me?

 

[Henny]

this all sounds like my honda e app which was slow, told the wrong car temp, the worst of all that was digital key was always failing when away from home. it worked when you went to shop, come back to the car and the app would say some like can’t start the bluetooth on the iphone and left you stranded. I started driving around with a spare key in a tin covered tinfoil, but it never seam set fixed

 

[Lovemyev]

I have tried once to do this and it failed. I set up the scheduled charge and then plugged the car into my dumb Rolec charger. Nothing happened. Could you go through the procedure with me?

Have you tried setting up a delayed charge in the head unit of the car ?.
I have a dumb wall box also.
Tried setting up a delayed charge in the App and next morning, did not work.
Okay, so I set up a delayed charge in the head unit of the car instead.
Boom - Worked first time, no problem.
The App can be a bit flaky on times, it can report that the message has been sent to the car, went actually it has not received the command at all.
I will be charging tonight on the settings I set up in the head unit, weeks ago !.
My Off Peak commences at 1.00am and runs through until 6.00am ( 5 hours - 7 Days ).
I set the charge to commence at 1.05 am and hit either 80% SOC ( LR model ) or to switch off the wall box, about five minutes BEFORE the Off Peak ends.
I do not want to charging on the more expensive days rate.

 

[RamseyLewis]

For me the app is much more usable than it was in march when i got the car. Actually i didn't have any connexion issues since 1 or 2 months.

 

[ATILKURT]

I am trying to schedule a charging on the app. Does it need the car to be plugged in to be able to schedule the charging?

 

[TonyP]

Try scheduling the charge via the infotainment system if you are having issues with the app.

 

[Lovemyev]

Try scheduling the charge via the infotainment system if you are having issues with the app.

I agree, that is what I did.
Works every time !.
As we know, the App CAN be a bit flaky on times.
Sometimes it can fail to take the command and other times it will obey the command straight away.
I have know it to say the command has been successful for locking it, but when checking the car itself, it is still unlocked.
You want your charging schedule to be successful, at the time you want it, if you are on a "Off - Peak" tariff.
I would follow @TonyP recommendation and set your charging requirements in the info unit.

 

[Mogshock]

I've noticed that the app is a lot more stable now than when I got the car. It still has a Security Alarm warning that I can't clear, and the Travel and MG Touchpoint landing me in the middle of Belgium but for the important things it's fine

 

[kgat1007]

We've had our Trophy Connect long range for three weeks now. All good except we can't get logged on the app. It says it will send a verification code, but nothing arrives to my husband's Iphone.
Also we had a problem with the sat nav not working correctly. We could input a destination and it would load up, but then the screen froze. We were advised that if the settings were set to 'Dead Reckonings', it would not work. We disabled this, but experienced the same issue. It corrected itself overnight, thank goodness.

 

[Mick G]

We've had our Trophy Connect long range for three weeks now. All good except we can't get logged on the app. It says it will send a verification code, but nothing arrives to my husband's Iphone.
Also we had a problem with the sat nav not working correctly. We could input a destination and it would load up, but then the screen froze. We were advised that if the settings were set to 'Dead Reckonings', it would not work. We disabled this, but experienced the same issue. It corrected itself overnight, thank goodness.

Persevere with trying to register, it took me numerous attempts for two weeks until I got the verification code by email. Never got one through mobile number.

 

[RHA]

I had to register for the MG app with email as the phone number wouldn't work, even with the country code/0 taken off etc. Took a few days of trying but got there in the end.. just waiting for the car now!

I'm definitely going to miss the reliability and how usable the BMW app is for the i3 when we switch... it was updated last year and works amazingly well now.

You can:

• Schedule climate control at a set time each day across the week.
• The navigation works to send destinations to the car.
• Has charging history with estimated costs depending on where you're charging.
• Unlock/lock and flash lights but not start the car with it.

Was hoping that scheduling climate control would eventually get added to the MG app but if it's failing in the basics then that's unlikely to be forthcoming.

Having access to an app and being able to remotely run the climate control was the reason I didn't want to go for the older ZS or MG5, the experience with the BMW app makes a car without seem a lot more unattractive than I thought it would.

The ZS LR TC we're waiting for feels a better product on test drives, and has a lot of tech, but there's definitely going to be some downsides to switching. Bit weird how the ZS doesn't use regen to slow you down with adaptive cruise as well... but at least it has adaptive cruise control