Parking climate doesn't work at all, neither does lights on the map tab. The doors locked status was not correct when I checked the car (it wasn't) and there's no way to refresh status. At least remote start works, which is the most useful feature. This is supposed to be a standard feature when buying the car? I'm glad I'm still in the no-charge phase and not paying for this app/service.
Reviews for Volvo Cars
← Back to Volvo CarsI have the app for my XC40 recharge - I have had no major issues with the app though a little more functionality would be nice. On occasion the precondition has not worked due to not connecting to the car but other than that all works ok. I have the app for free as I bought a new car the idea of paying for it as part of a subscription would frustrate me.
Stopped working all together about a month ago. For the first 10 months it worked great. Suddenly it stopped working, won't open and freezes my phone. I deleted the app and reinstalled it. It worked for a few days, then went back to not working. I'm not paying for an app that doesn't work and it's only free for a year, so saying goodbye to this worthless app. Sad when my car was over $70k and the app doesn't work, but much cheaper cars/brands have completely free apps that work just fine.
Now my app is showing a different colored car than what I have and my trunk is missing when I go to try and start it. I love the attention to detail, but overall, it's missing quite a bit. This app constantly has glitches where it won't start my car or won't connect to cell network or to my WIFI even in the most perfect conditions. Plus the app itself is pretty basic, and should involve more information than it has. My previous vehicle (Nissan) has an amazing app and was never glitchy or buggy.
This app is going through some issues. In the past couple of days I haven't been able to get the app to open. I uninstalled and reinstalled and was able to open the app. I'm not sure this is a permanent fix but it seems others are having similar issues. It was quite the hassle to reinstall the app (took 3 attempts). It'd be nice if Volvo would update it's customers if there is a known issue, because quite frankly my free trial is coming to an end and I don't want to pay for an unreliable app.
This app has very basic functions like notifying me that my car is unlocked or starting remotely (which I would prefer to be less complicated than having to open the app set time for start, leaving time etc. Much easier to press a button on a key fob). Now my subscription is ending and the renewal fee is $200 FOR SIX MONTHS??! That's insane. Who would pay that?? Not me.
Latest release completely broke an often buggy app. Doesn't see my car, but also won't let me register it again. No worry though it can still give me notifications when it's unlocked. Disrespectful that Volvo can't put more effort into their app, it's never been smooth, but this is awful. Update: I was able to restore proper functionality after full uninstall and reinstall.
Since the last couple of updates nothing works right. The new interface is horrible. Maps and sending location to car does not work most of the time. Remote start heating and cooling no longer work. The app is in dark mode and I hate it. I have found no option to turn it back. Just keep reading other reviews. What a waste of $200/yr. Infotainment center in the car also sucks. no wonder Volvo is at the bottom of Consumer Reports top autos list. QA the damn app before a release!
Update: March 2025. App now takes a minimum of 2 minutes to open. The location is consistently wrong. For example, I am at a location 20 miles from my home, but the app shows I am home. I think you purposely break this app at least once a month. Update on 4.28.2021 caused disruption. No longer can login, I receive an error message "sign in timed out, a connection was unable to be made. Please try again." This did not start until the update.
The latest version removes the auto manual. Instead, buried in the about your car tab, under the maintenance option, at the bottom of the screen is a link to a web page where you have to jump through so many more steps to get what used to be readily available with no more than two taps. And the manual is no longer on your device so if you have bad or no connection to the internet, forget it. And no dark mode on android? Really? And you still can't set the temp from the app.
The Volvo app has been fine so far, even helping me figure out what direction I was parked in while in a large dark parking lot. Last week I got logged out of the app, and when I tried to login I kept getting an error that "Something went wrong." I cleared my cache, but I still wouldn't work. Finally uninstalled and reinstalled and it's working properly again.
It just plain doesn't work. Volvo needs to completely pull it. It was connected to my car, but didn't do anything, so i deleted and reinstalled and now it won't work at all because i can't get by the pairing page in the app. The car says it is already paired, so it is checkmate. I don't have time to goof around with tech support. Fix it, fix it, fix it! Disgraceful.
Sometimes, I wonder who's running the ship on this Volvo car app. A feature was introduced on charging the car through the app. There is no clear explanation on the pricing. the charging locations show up occasionally, and then they disappear. If you go to one of those locations, it does not show the location on the Volvo app, so you can't charge. It appears that there is no thorough vetting of the application before it is released to the public. Great cars, very poor app, Volvo change vendors
Considering how much I have to pay for this app, it malfunctions too often for me to rate it more than 2 stars. It says the vehicle is unlocked or in use when it is not. Too often I've used the remote start and get to the car while the car is still running, but my car key can't unlock the door. I have to pull out my phone and use the app to turn the engine off before it allows the key to unlock the car. I have a 2015 S60. Of course the latest model comes with the app paid for. Smh!
As others have noted, this is a fairly rudimentary app. Its cleverest thing is that the icon for my car is the same color of my car. It lets you remotely start and lock the car, but it's a much slower process that most fob-based remotes. Yesterday, whether it was a result of an update or not i don't know, the app for got my car and when I try and manually enter or scan the VIN i'm told that it isn't valid, so I now don't ever get the limited functionality that it provided.
getting started initially was not easy and it took several iterations before I could log in. having said that, now that it's working is fantastic. I was blown away when I was able to update the capability on the car and get a better level of cruise control than when I bought the car over the air just using the app. there was a fee but I thought it was an amazingly inexpensive option and who says that about Volvos? 😁
While the app is very handy for checking things on the vehicle, it's not quite as in-depth as apps like OnStar. I would like to see tire pressure and there is currently duplicate buttons after a recent update. The app is straightforward to operate and the ability to forward destinations to the vehicle is convenient for trip planning. I would like to see support for WearOS devices so I can check status of my vehicle without needing to pull out my phone.
Works well when it lets you log in, which is only 10% of the time. Other 90% is either being told your login info is wrong (it's not) or it just hangs in the Signing in screen. I had to delete/reinstall the app AND reset my password just to get it to let me back in, even though my PW never changed... Update 2023... Just as terrible. It can easily tell when the car is in use or not but starting it remotely, even standing right beside it, is next to an impossible task for Volvo. Update 2025: same.
Minimal at best. I had a 2024 XC60 for 8 months. During that time the app communicated with my car and worked flawlessly. I upgraded vehicles to a 2025 XC90. I'm extremely disappointed with the app in this car. It's constantly reporting incorrect data. Tells me it's unlocked when it's not. Tells me the car is across town when it's in my driveway. Remote start works, but not without issues. I'd be much happier if I trusted the app as I never know if it's being truthful or wonky.
If I could give it zero stars I would. It's completely broken. Access denied. Put in a tech support request & received an acknowledgement but that's all. App used to work then suddenly it didn't. It has been rendered useless. I forced stopped, deleted cache & data, deleted the app, restarted phone several times. It's the only way the vehicle can be remote started & I need to leave my dog in the vehicle for a few minutes when we're traveling. So this is a huge inconvenience for me.