Tesla

Review by eFreeware

The Tesla app is the official companion app from Tesla, Inc., and it exists for one purpose: putting owners in touch with their cars and home batteries from a phone. It has been on Google Play since early 2013, and it now sits in the Lifestyle category with more than five million installs and a 4.7 average from over 66,000 ratings. The latest update, in October 2026, was a maintenance release with minor fixes and improvements.

The reason to install it is simple. If you own a Tesla vehicle or a Powerwall, this is the piece of software that lets you check on and control that hardware when you are not standing next to it, whether that is from a different room, a different city or a parking lot across town.

Built for people who already own the hardware

This is not a general-purpose app, and it does not pretend to be. The audience is owners rather than people curious about electric cars. If you are shopping for a car and want a configurator or a charging-map tool, this app concentrates on owners who already have a Tesla.

Within that group, the appeal splits in two. Drivers get the vehicle controls, and households with solar and storage get the energy side. Someone with both gets the full picture in one place, which is likely the point of keeping them together rather than in separate apps.

It is also worth thinking about who in a household would use it. The app allows passengers to control media, which suggests it can be useful for more than the primary driver on a trip.

Charging, climate and getting the car ready

The charging controls are the most everyday part of the app. You can watch charging progress as it happens and start or stop a session remotely, which matters when you want to time a charge around a utility rate or simply confirm the car is topped up before a long drive.

Climate is another routine feature. The app can heat or cool the cabin before you set off, and the developer notes that this works even when the car is in a garage.

Software updates round out this side of things. You can push a vehicle update from wherever you are rather than waiting until you are sitting in the car, which fits the way Tesla treats its cars as connected devices.

Finding, opening and moving the car

Locking and unlocking remotely is straightforward, and it is the feature most owners will reach for when they are not sure whether they remembered to secure the car. Location tools go further: the app can show where the vehicle is, give directions to it or track its movement.

If the car is somewhere unfamiliar, flashing the lights or sounding the horn helps you spot it in a crowded lot. The app also lets you vent or close the panoramic roof, which is a nice touch on a hot day when you want to let heat out before you get in.

Summon is the most interesting capability here, and also the most conditional. With Autopilot fitted, the car can pull itself out of a garage or a tight spot. It will not appear for every owner.

Navigation handoff is a smaller but genuinely useful piece. You can send an address from another app on your phone and have it start navigating in the car, which removes the step of typing it in again on the dashboard.

Powerwall and home energy in the same app

For households with home storage, the app adds an energy view. You can see how much energy is stored from solar, how much the home is using and how much is being exported to the grid. That is the kind of information that turns a battery from a black box into something you can actually manage.

The app also lets you download your solar production and battery usage data, which is useful if you like to review trends over time or keep your own records. Powerwall features need Powerwall 2.

What it costs

The app itself is free to download. There are no ads, and there are no in-app purchases, which is unusual for a companion app of this kind.

The cost of entry is the hardware, not the software. The Powerwall side specifically calls for Powerwall 2. For owners, though, the app is free.

How it compares with the alternatives

Most car brands now offer some form of connected app, and the general pattern is similar: remote climate, lock status, charging or fuel level, and location. What sets this one apart is the breadth of what is included at no charge, plus the energy monitoring for households with solar and storage.

Third-party apps exist in this space too, often built by enthusiasts to fill gaps or add logging.

The honest comparison, though, is not against other apps but against doing nothing. If you own the hardware, the alternative to this app is walking out to the car or the battery to check on it, and that is a comparison the app wins easily.

A straightforward pick for Tesla owners

The Tesla app does a specific job well and does not try to be anything else. Charging, climate, locking, location and software updates are all handled in one place, and the Powerwall side gives solar households a reason to open it even when the car is parked. The 4.7 average across more than 66,000 ratings suggests owners find it dependable in daily use.

The conditions are clear. You need a Tesla vehicle or a Powerwall, Summon requires Autopilot hardware, and the energy features require Powerwall 2. Within those bounds, it is an easy recommendation for owners and of little use to anyone else.

What's new in version 4.61.0-4607

This release contains minor fixes and improvements.