How reliable is the Hondalink app for you?

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by Mark W, Sep 28, 2018.

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  1. Mark W

    Mark W Active Member

    CT
    Hi All,

    Just signed the papers for my new Clarity. I went to load the Hondalink app to my android phone, and I noticed the ratings were really low. I also own a Nissan Leaf, and the Nissan App SUCKS. So unreliable that I barely use it. I was hoping that the Honda app is better. Thanks!
     
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  3. su_A_ve

    su_A_ve Active Member

    So so. It does not pull data on demand, but only at predetermined points. It will tell you if when it finished charging though. It would be great if it had an option to stop charging at 85%, useful for those that pay for charging by the minute, since the last 15% takes much longer.
     
  4. jdonalds

    jdonalds Well-Known Member

    The HondaLink app also sucks. But it does function and there is no indication we will have to pay for the service in the future. I assume it uses a low quality cell service.

    I find that I can ping the car from my phone and 80% of the time get a response showing the battery charge level and range, and gas range (so far as the car shows that accurately!. The parking reminder seemed to work the few times I tried it.

    The Odometer can fall behind and be showing data from a week to three weeks ago. Not that big a deal.

    I've fired off Remote Climate a few times which seemed to work about 75% of the time.

    Also the Find My Car works most of the time. It can't locate the car if it is moving.
     
  5. iluvscuba

    iluvscuba Active Member

    I think it's great since it's the first car I have that has telemetrics (sp?). And it's free. I know people that owned Leaf and Ioniq they loved my HondaLink app. It even reminded me to charge the car if I forgot to plug it in at 7pm (my schedule charge time) I read some of the comments at the Play Store and I found that a lot of them have unrealistic expectations or different models of Honda car. As for the Clarity, I would rate it 3.5 or even 4 stars right now and with a few improvement, 5 is not out of the questions. YMMV of course
     
  6. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    “Telematics” if you want to keep your HS English teachers from rolling over in their graves. So far mine is working flawlessly and the odometer is never more than 1 mile low. In 7 months it’s only gotten behind one time for 2 days. Very mysterious and I never found a cause for it but that’s just 2 days out of over 210 and every thing else worked so I’ve got no cause to complain.
    I did have realize that to afford to give us this free service, Honda had to cut down the transmissions and bandwidth and so it doesn’t update in real-time but does it close enough for a free service. That’s why the SOC is reported in 15% increments ans not purely real-time. It would cost Honda too much.
    It’s working great for me and I’ll give it 4.5 stars. I’d give it 5 if they would bring back the time remaining to full charge and let it report the interior temp. That would be rather useful and I want it back (the time to full charge)
    Ken
    What I really want to know is how much data it’s sending back to Honda since potentially it has access to everything flowing over the data bus. How does Honda de-identify all that data and what safeguards do they use to protect my privacy?
     
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  8. I think it depends where you live... whatever cell service Honda uses has no reception where I live and poor reception in the area, so the app is only useful at all when traveling. From that I guess they are using Sprint.

    The one time it is useful has been on weekends away when the app can tell you how much charge the car has gained when plugged in to a public charger. However, my first (and only so far) experience with a high-powered L2 charger was nerve-wracking. We sat in a restaurant receiving "Charging Stopped" notifications. The first one prompted me to run outside to see if some joker had un-plugged the car. After a while I accepted that either the charge really was starting and stopping for unknown technical reasons, or the app was just messing with me.
     
  9. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    Many on this forum have reported the Clarity is more sensitive to voltage fluctuations at public EVSEs than any other plug-in car. In a bank of 4 EVSEs, one might prove reliable for the Clarity while the other 3 always cause the Clarity to stop charging before charging is complete. We can hope there will be a software update for this problem, but, as usual, Honda's saying nothing.
     
    Remarksman likes this.
  10. jorgie393

    jorgie393 Well-Known Member

    The rater’s—and your—opinion re the quality of the app will depend on your expectations.

    There is an infinite list of things it does not do, or does poorly.

    However, I only use it to turn on the climate control when heading back to the car while out. For that, it performs well, and so much better than my prior cars (which had no such option) that I would happily give it 5 stars. I am not at all bothered by the intermittent updates of odometer and charge status, and am pleasantly surprised every time when it reminds me that charging is complete.

    If your needs are as simple as mine, you’ll love it. Otherwise, well, try to see it for what it has rather than what it lacks.
     
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  11. insightman

    insightman Well-Known Member Subscriber

    And no sooner do I complain than SB 18-097 pops out of the woodwook!
    See this Service Bulletin about charging that doesn't complete in this thread:
    http://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/picking-up-clarity-today-advice-detailing-expectation.3420/
     
    Kailani likes this.
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  13. morphman

    morphman New Member

    Does anybody know the refresh rate of the information on the app? I can't seem to update the information on the app, unless the car door was opened and closed etc. The car is currently in my garage connected to the wifi of the home and charging.
    To install the app was a bit of an experience as well. Waited more than 30 mins to get the confirmation code to sync the app to the car. I loved how they had a bar code scanner integrated to the app to get the VIN and a handy, "turn flashlight on".
     
    Mark W likes this.
  14. Mark W

    Mark W Active Member

    CT
    Well, just wanted to report back. In a little over a week of using the app, I think there was only once where it would not connect. Way better than the Nissan app!
     
    amy2421 likes this.
  15. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    Many have documented that the SOC onlunupdates in 15% increments and the odometer somewhat sporadically. Ans as you found out, updates are also triggered by start and shutdown.

    I think the lack of complete real time updating is to be expected since we get this service free which means that Honda has to pay for th cellular bandwidth and the server upkeep. So it stands to reason that Honda tries to keep the cost down by only updating in 15% SOC increments.
     
  16. petteyg359

    petteyg359 Well-Known Member

    What are you calling "SOC"? I see 1% granularity on the battery in the app, and
    there's nothing else that is a percentage...

    The app is always ridiculously slow to show the charge level, or to start or stop charging, or to start climate control, but it always works. I did have about a three week delay in the odometer reading when I first got the car, but it has been fine since then. Also the scheduled service appointments thing doesn't work, at least for anecdotal evidence of one instance (scheduled service yesterday for 18-09x SBs, and the appointment still doesn't show in the app).
     
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2018
  17. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    State Of Charge. The Honda Link will give you the exact SOC when the car sends it (as in when started or shut down) but will only show 15% increments when charging. For example, you’ll see it sit at 70% for a while and then jump to 85% but nothing in between.
     
  18. petteyg359

    petteyg359 Well-Known Member

    I swear I've seen it go by 1% while charging in my garage; maybe having Wi-Fi available enables more updates? Or maybe I'm just imagining that and I've never actually seen it.
     
  19. danomite

    danomite New Member

    I've had it for about a month and the app was working fine until a few days ago. It is now saying "cannot retrieve information" for all types of info. Hoping this is temporary. Anyone seen this before?
     
  20. danomite

    danomite New Member

    Mayfor base model owners they give you one month access to hondalink for free and after that you need to pay.
     
  21. I've had the same problem, uninstalling the app and re-installing solved it. But it works for a week or so then does it again.
     
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  22. KentuckyKen

    KentuckyKen Well-Known Member

    AFAIK, the Free Honda Link services are the same for Touring and Base models in the US and that includes preconditioning. There are several threads on this.
     
  23. Breezy

    Breezy Member

    yes, seems to issue updates every 15% vs pinging when you refresh the app. Still, it seems accurate when texting me that charging stopped. Even found that I didn't need the app open for the car to text me it was done charging. I also used the app to locate L2 chargers on the trip and found them easily. Though one I knew of on a college campus wasn't showing up.
     

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