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The car location option of My Opel app does not work properly

16K views 27 replies 9 participants last post by  amhfour18@gmail.com 
#1 ·
I have noticed that for some time now, the car location option of My Opel application does not work properly - it seeks for a very long the location of the car and usually does not find it. OnStar could not give me a satisfactory answer for that. What could be the problem?
 
#7 ·
Anupanu said:
The location system works so well I can track my wife on the way home from work...
All very big brother!
Hi

I did that once to my wife and the car kept popping a message up saying something like location services. It freaked her out the first time it happened.

Cheers

Paul
 
#9 ·
For location tracking to work your car obviously needs good reception from the GPS satellites and a good mobile connection. It won't work in an underground car park and is unlikely to work in the middle of a multi-storey. Just being parked between tall buildings or in a bad mobile signal area will stop it working.

I've never had a problem with it though - mine works perfectly.
 
#10 ·
If your OnStar is working fine, what about the rest of the MyOpel app? Can you lock or unlock the car if myOpel has not found your car? That would lead me to believe it is a mobile signal issue rather than an OnStar or App issue
 
#11 ·
UKtekkie said:
For location tracking to work your car obviously needs good reception from the GPS satellites and a good mobile connection. It won't work in an underground car park and is unlikely to work in the middle of a multi-storey. Just being parked between tall buildings or in a bad mobile signal area will stop it working.

I've never had a problem with it though - mine works perfectly.
Yes, you are right... but I repeat that there is a problem only with the mobile application My Opel. Its feature "find the car" does not work.
 
#12 ·
Anupanu said:
If your OnStar is working fine, what about the rest of the MyOpel app? Can you lock or unlock the car if myOpel has not found your car? That would lead me to believe it is a mobile signal issue rather than an OnStar or App issue
The rest of the app works relatively well. For example, a few minutes ago, I locked the car for about 15-20 sec. Then it seems it is not a mobile signal issue?
 
#13 ·
Astra_dreamer said:
The rest of the app works relatively well. For example, a few minutes ago, I locked the car for about 15-20 sec. Then it seems it is not a mobile signal issue?
I guess you need to test the other parts of the App (Lock / unlock) only after the App has failed to find the car. Then you will know it is not signal
 
#15 ·
You can disable the vehicle location system by pressing the Onstar privacy button on the overhead console. Just a thought?
 
#16 ·
Anupanu said:
Astra_dreamer said:
The rest of the app works relatively well. For example, a few minutes ago, I locked the car for about 15-20 sec. Then it seems it is not a mobile signal issue?
I guess you need to test the other parts of the App (Lock / unlock) only after the App has failed to find the car. Then you will know it is not signal
I just have tried your test - I have successfully locked the car within 10 sec but have not managed to find the location. After a few minutes somehow the location was found... During the operation, "Please, wait" was standing on the screen...

Then I repeated the operation with more success - it has found the car for approximately a minute...

Third attempt - seeking for 2 min... and then the connection with the car failed... Hmmm... now the mobile connection should be the reason...

I will continue with experiments...
 
#18 ·
I think the app works via the internet, not via a direct signal to the car. Does it make a difference if you connect to the internet by mobile signal or by wi-fi?
 
#19 ·
You have to press and hold the Onstar privacy button to enable / disable vehicle location. If disabled, the status lamp flashes red / green when you start the car.
 
#20 ·
I am writing from the car after dozens of experiments...

As a conclusion, OnStar web service works better than My Opel app. IMO the problem is neither due to GPS nor mobile operators; it is a problem of the server processing the request. It seems, the server can not handle all the queries coming at once. So, I think the server is the bottleneck.

Tomorrow, I will do another experiment - I will trigger the alarm to see when I will receive an SMS and email on my phone (I have set both).
 
#21 ·
Astra_dreamer said:
I am writing from the car after dozens of experiments...

As a conclusion, OnStar web service works better than My Opel app. IMO the problem is neither due to GPS nor mobile operators; it is a problem of the server processing the request. It seems, the server can not handle all the queries coming at once.

Tomorrow, I will do another experiment - I will trigger the alarm to see when I will receive an SMS and email on my phone (I have set both).
Good idea, but I would have thought alarm activation would be a priority message. Thinking about it, priority order alarm activation then lock / unlock then find my car. What else can the App do that is even less of a priority than finding the car?
 
#22 ·
I haven't renewed my Wi-Fi with Vodaphone yet and just have Onstar. All my apps including getting a text and email to my phone if my alarm goes off work.
 
#24 ·
Some of the things you are saying do not appear to make any sense, for example "I locked the car for about 15-20 sec.". What has time got to do with it? Either it locks via the app or it doesn't? Are you using it correctly? Have you locked the car up, gone right away from it, connected to the internet, and tried to locate your car? Or are you actually sat in the car trying to test it? Please be a lot more specific about what you are doing so we can try and help a bit more. What do you mean by Onstar web service and the My Opel app and why do you think they are different and that one works better than the other?
 
#25 ·
Steel_Blade said:
What do you mean by Onstar web service and the My Opel app and why do you think they are different and that one works better than the other?
Hi

These are two separate ways of accessing the OnStar system.

You can have an app on your phone or you can use a web browser and access the OnStar website. I find that the OnStar website tends to work better than the app on the phone because I use the website from a computer connected to the internet via WiFi not via the mobile network.

Cheers

Paul
 
#26 ·
The original post was about the My Opel app not working. If the system works from a web browser, then either the app or the internet connection to his phone is faulty. I get the impression it sort of works sometimes so my gut feeling is that he needs to make sure he has a really solid internet connection. My app hangs just the same unless I have a really good signal to my phone. I have also noticed that I lose the ability altogether after a random time, but this is over a couple of weeks, not within hours of locking the car. It usually works really well.
 
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