Which Android apps should I use with the FFE?

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Olagon

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 23, 2014
Messages
169
Boy there sure are a bunch to choose from. As a brand new FFW owner, any suggestions on Android apps to interact with the car?
 
Olagon said:
Boy there sure are a bunch to choose from. As a brand new FFW owner, any suggestions on Android apps to interact with the car?
I know of only one that can actually interact with the car... the official MyFord Mobile app from Ford.
 
Yep I think only the Ford app gives control over the FFE, remote start, unlock, lock doors, check battery charge state, etc.
What other 3rd party apps have you seen? Please post some links to them for us to look over.
 
I just searched the Play store for Ford and found a bunch https://play.google.com/store/search?q=ford&c=apps. I'll try a few. The one that lets you share an address from the phone to the car's navigation looks interesting (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jvanier.android.sendtocar).
 
It is unlikely that send to car app will work. The contract between Ford & Google ran out and you can no longer send an address to the car from a google map (you can, however, do it from a mapquest map:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/2013/10/06/where-ever-you-go-there-you-are/ ).

The only other apps I use with the car (Android or iOS) are the charging apps: Chargepoint, plugshare, etc.

As far as the other apps in your search: Sync Destinations will also work (as its just an interface to http://www.syncmyride.com).
 
jmueller065 said:
It is unlikely that send to car app will work. The contract between Ford & Google ran out and you can no longer send an address to the car from a google map (you can, however, do it from a mapquest map:
http://jamiegeek.myevblog.com/2013/10/06/where-ever-you-go-there-you-are/ ).

The only other apps I use with the car (Android or iOS) are the charging apps: Chargepoint, plugshare, etc.

As far as the other apps in your search: Sync Destinations will also work (as its just an interface to http://www.syncmyride.com).
I can confirm that the Send to Car app DOES actually work. I thought it might when I read this in the description of the app:

"Note: Since Ford (Sync) and GM (OnStar) stopped working with Google Maps this app has been updated to bring back support to those brands. Send to Sync uses a MapQuest server. Send to OnStar uses the browser."

It's a pretty simple but handy little app. It wasn't super clear in the instructions for the app, but once you have shared a destination to Sync using "Send to Car", you load the destination into Sync by hitting the voice control button on the steering wheel and saying "Services". It then calls some Sync 1-800 number and the data is somehow transmitted to the car's navigation system. I found the process somewhat unusual (and a little slow), but it worked nonetheless.
 
TrojanEV said:
It wasn't super clear in the instructions for the app, but once you have shared a destination to Sync using "Send to Car", you load the destination into Sync by hitting the voice control button on the steering wheel and saying "Services". It then calls some Sync 1-800 number and the data is somehow transmitted to the car's navigation system. I found the process somewhat unusual (and a little slow), but it worked nonetheless.
Yeah I find that process kinda slow and clumsy, having to use a bluetooth attached phone that has to dial a number.
On my phone I use an app that requires me to manually click to allow it to dial to avoid erroneous dialing that can use up extra minutes on my limited prepaid plan.

Why can't the car's nav system contact a server directly with its own wireless radio since its not having to download much data, just an address?
 
NightHawk said:
Why can't the car's nav system contact a server directly with its own wireless radio since its not having to download much data, just an address?
I wonder the same thing. If Ford can send Go Times and Value Charge information to the car via it's wireless radio, why not these simple addresses as well? It's such a tiny amount of data that needs to be transmitted, so it shouldn't cost much, if anything.
 
NightHawk said:
Why can't the car's nav system contact a server directly with its own wireless radio since its not having to download much data, just an address?
Its because the FFE has a split personality.

This functionality is not specific to the FFE and will work with any My Ford Touch (and My Lincoln Touch) equipped vehicle, regardless of if the car has an onboard modem or not. Thus it uses the most basic way possible to send over the information (If you listen carefully it sounds like an old audio modem or fax machine just before the audio cuts out--because that is what it is using! In order to handle the lowest common denominator of bluetooth enabled phones they simply send the data over the old fashioned way).

Yes you'd think that they could have just put in a section of code "if (OnBoardModemEnabled) {" etc. but then if they did that they could have also made the "Will you charge at this destination?" question "voiceable".

Unfortunately, I don't think there will be any more MFT updates and thus it is what it is. Hopefully the next version of software for future vehicles gets it right (I have seen a glimpse of it--its in the new 2015 Mustang--it is much nicer).
 
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