How to Fix Changes in Teslas V11 Holiday Update

UPDATE: 12/30/2021 Elon Musk confirms Tesla working on revisions for its Holiday Update V11. View article

Teslas latest update brings loads of cool new features, including the awesome holiday light show, In addition to adding new features, Tesla completely redesigned the user interface, and this is what we’re going to focus on today.

What's New In V11

Before we talk about the new UI, Let’s go over all of the new features included with V11

In this new update you get:

• Updates to the Navigation. New navigation features allow you to hide map details for a cleaner look and you can now add and re-order multiple stops on your route.
  

• New entertainment now includes TikTok and new video games Sonic The Hedgehog, Sudoku and brings multiplayer support to the Battle of Polytopia.

I want to mention that you will need a controller to play Sonic and other games like Cuphead. If you don’t have one, you can get one at my website, accessoriesfortesla.com, which features great tesla accessories, apparel, and tesla updates.

• There are new changes to the audio settings as well. You are now able to adjust the output of your subwoofer as well now 5 levels of immersive audio compared to the previous 3.
  

• You are now able to use your exterior boom box speaker as a megaphone, this means you can talk to people outside your car from the interior, expanding the feature from the mobile app.
  

• You can now enable blind spot cameras when signaling to change lanes or make turns. So now when you use your blinkers, you will get a live camera feed from either the left or right fender cameras.

Quick tip. after you update, the setting will be off by default, you can turn it on in the autopilot menu under automatic blind spot cameras.

I do think this feature is a bit unfinished and also, since the camera is on the turning signal, when used at night, the light actually blinds the camera which almost makes it useless at night.

• For those outside the US in North America and Europe, you now get Live Camera access for Sentry mode, meaning you can now view live footage from your autopilot cameras directly in your Tesla Mobile App.
  

• And lastly, cold weather features have been improved. You can now activate cold-weather features during a Low state of charge, allowing you to precondition the cabin or heat the charge port in cold conditions. Automatic seat heating has also been added apart of this, this means your heated seats will be activated based upon your climate control settings.

New User Interface

So now that we have that out the way, let's talk about the new UI changes. Tesla says the update was made to simplify the user experience, however since the update was released there has been a high amount of people coming forth, complaining that the new UI is actually a step backward, and unfortunately, I do have to agree… Somewhat.

Now, this is not a hate article, so I will talk about the things I do like and feel were improved, as well as the things I don’t like and feel like we're a step backward.

Ok, so right off the bat, we can see that Tesla is going for a more simplified main screen, and to do this, a lot was removed from the main screen and stuffed into the settings menu. This means things you were able to get to easily with one tap while focusing on driving now take a little extra effort to get to. This seems to be the main problem many people are having with this new update.

For instance, let's take a look at the main screen. In the previous version, we had a menu bar at the top that featured connection settings like Bluetooth/Wifi/LTE settings, user profiles, window defrost, and sentry mode. In the addition to this, we also had access to windshield wiper controls, tire pressure, and our charging screen. All of these things have now moved into the settings menu. Not only that but the icons that ARE still available on the main screen have been made much smaller which makes them even harder to accurately tap while driving.

In various tesla forums, I’ve noticed that whenever someone complains about the new update, people will reply saying that person is overreacting and needs to shut up and get used to it. My take on this is that I don’t believe these people are overreacting and definitely have a right to be upset with this update, this is because, at the end of the day, the update is supposed to be intended to make things more simplified and easier to use. In the case of V11, some of the most useful options are hidden away and other icons are made smaller and harder to tap while driving. These may seem like small things or that we are being picky, however, it definitely can be frustrating to users who are used to the layout in the previous version.

How to Fix the changes in V11

When I first installed the update I was really surprised by the design choices, and was a bit frustrated as well. However, after spending a few days with the new UI. I did find ways to make things a bit easier again.

Included in the new UI is the ability to customize your Home Screen by adding and removing your apps, however, You are unable to add or remove settings and you can only add up to 4 apps. With this new feature, you can add back the missing apps like your sentry cameras and Bluetooth settings, however, user profiles and connection settings are not an option. The customizable app drawer won’t fully solve the issue, but it can definitely help.

For those who want windshield wiper settings back on the main screen. You can easily access these settings by simply tapping the windshield wiper button on the left stock. This will bring up the settings right where they were previously on the main menu.

A quick way to get to your heated seats and window defrost is to swipe left on the cabin temperature to open up a smaller menu with these options.

For those of you who are experiencing the music app taking up lots of screen real estate when playing music, there is a fix for this also. Simply tap the button with 3 lines and a triangle and the extra bar will go away, after that you can swipe down to just show what’s playing or get rid of the entire screen.

I also want to mention that you are also able to use voice commands to do pretty much anything you need to do, which can also make things easier if you like using that feature. However, some important commands don’t work, at the moment, for example, viewing the tire pressure. I do believe lots will be added in future updates.

V11 Improvements

Even though I’m still a bit disappointed with some of the UI choices, there are some things that I do like.

I do like the updated controls page which now features large icons instead of lists, I like the new text font which is now bold and more modern looking, and I like that the climate controls are now separated for the driver and passenger.

Final Thoughts...

I think tesla is good at listening to their customers, and with the amount of negative feedback across the internet, I believe these issues will be fixed in another update. I know I’m a small outlet at the moment but if anyone out there from Tesla is listening, it would be great if we can get quick access to controls for the glove box, seat heaters, driving profiles, and driving modes.

For now, I think the update will be easy to get used to if you’re willing to have patience and work with it. Luckily new Tesla owners will have no issues at all.

How do you guys feel about Version 11? Do you love the new update or despise it? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

UPDATE: 12/30/2021 Elon Musk confirms Tesla working on revisions for its Holiday Update V11. View article

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