My 2020 (last of the MkIII) Octavia Scout does not have the Skoda Connect feature (Bolero radio, Android Auto via Bluetooth+USB cable, no WiFi, no SIM card, no Internet connectivity).

Is there a service with which I could register my car's VIN to be notified when software/firmware updates become available for any component of my car (especially the driving assistants such as traffic sign recognition, the occasionally and always utterly false-positive giant red screeching "you're about to hit something" warning, etc)? [Including if there's a Skoda/VAG custom shop which will do it for a fee]

thanks,

Jay

Spain

 

Pretty sure Skoda Connect doesn't alert the owner to any software/firmware updates. Even if you take it for a service at Skoda, they probably won't do any updates either unless it's a safety related recall.

 

The 'best' way to find out about updates is to take a look at the TPI/TSB on erwin for your VIN.

 

Some maybe apply regardless, others may need certain pre-conditions such as a particular symptom or fault code. If you meet the pre-conditions, a local Skoda dealer should be able to apply the update for you if you tell them the TPI. If you don't, they will probably refuse the work 

Fair enough @langers2k.  Being a bit lazy, I'd still hope that a Skoda/VAG custom shop would be happy to take a few €/£/$ per year to check for me every few months :-)

Actually, part of the answer is to get a Skoda Connect Lite Dongle - you can either pay the Skoda Tax of 43ukp or you can pay a fiver from eBay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-VW-Volkswagen-Data-Plug-Connectivitiy-Connect-Bluetooth-Smartphone-OBD-/274299034260

 

That at least get the car to make bookings for you based on some of the features of Skoda Connect.

 That would be cool. The app that the ad for this dongle refers to is branded VW. How can I check in advance that it would actually work for my VIN? - Update, it's clear from various reviews of the device that it will work (people refer to 2016 models, and to the Yeti).

Aside from that, I have an OBDEleven; I'll send a request to OBDEleven asking if they are adding a way to use an OBDEleven device to connect to Skoda Connect Lite.

thanks.

  

15 hours ago, varaderoguy said:

Actually, part of the answer is to get a Skoda Connect Lite Dongle - you can either pay the Skoda Tax of 43ukp or you can pay a fiver from eBay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-VW-Volkswagen-Data-Plug-Connectivitiy-Connect-Bluetooth-Smartphone-OBD-/274299034260

 

That at least get the car to make bookings for you based on some of the features of Skoda Connect.

 

 

 

Edited 16 July, 20214 yr by JayLibove

Not the same thing. ODBEleven is a diagnosis tool not a system monitor tool.

 

Re:VW dongle. It works with any VAG car from 2012 onwards. You should be safe. Get the dongle, plug it into your ODBC port, start you car, download and run Skoda Connect Lite and connect to the Bluetooth dongle. You will need the passcode on the side of the dongle. Job done.

I have Connect but I've not subscribed and it's pretty much useless...

- The status page last updated when the PO Connect subscription expired meaning the fuel level, mileage and time until service are all wrong

- The health report 'works' in as much as it says "We have not found a defect" although the date is two months out of date and the mileage shows 0

- The trip planner is something I have no use for, I use Waze for nav

- The logbook is the same, I'm not going to log my drives

- The Skoda dealer address isn't helpful, I know where they are, I bought the car from them

- The details page shows me the VIN and that it's a 180KW manual vRS, all things I know

 

It wouldn't be so bad but my phone is always connected by USB and the car is parked in an area with good WiFi coverage. Before they merged the apps, at least I could see the service log but that's missing since the merge...

 

It might be better if I added a datastick and a Connect subscription, looking at the Connect subscription page, probably not. The functions may depend on vehicle age/spec, mine is a MY18.

 

 

Update: Just hopped in the car and poked all the buttons. It's updated the vehicle status page for the first time in my ownership! Although the health report is still out of date...

 

@varaderoguy I've never used the Connect Lite dongle, how does it compare? I think it does some driving analysis too IIRC?

 

Sorry to @JayLibove if we're going a little off topic, I thought it might be helpful to understand what Connect or Connect Lite actually add as I don't believe either will offer or alert you to firmware/software updates.

 

Edit:

Left the car on for 10-15 mins and it has updated the health report inc the mileage. Maybe it just needs more time in WiFi range whilst turned on... 

 

Edited 16 July, 20214 yr by langers2k

Please feel free to read up on Skoda Connect Lite -

https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/skoda-connect-lite

 

It has most of the functions of the full Skoda Connect - Connect Care.  It does also have driving analytics.

Edited 16 July, 20214 yr by varaderoguy

I ordered a VW "Dataplug" and after some farting around (on my principal mobile phone, neither the VW WeConnect Go app nor the Skoda Connet LITE app - which I had to get as an APK from Aptoide because it "isn't available in your country" on any of my geography-specific Google account, being Spain, Germany, and the US, *grr* - it wouldn't connect, and the apps hung) I finally got my older, backup phone to connect to the dongle via Bluetooth. At very first glance it doesn't seem to offer what I'm looking for. I'll play with it a bit further to see if it has any useful features.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

-Jay

 

Skoda Connect Lite is temperamental but it does work in Europe (Spain) so surprised you had issues. Make sure all power saving is switched off and that you DO NOT add the dongle to the phone. Then start-up Connect Lite, let it scan for the dongle (this may take several goes) and it should jump into life.

Just something to think about....

 

How much power does the dongle use when it's not connected to your phone?

I have an OBDEleven dongle and it flattened the battery when the car was left alone for a couple of weeks. With the dongle disconnected and the battery fully charged the battery was still good after 3 weeks. 

Very little really....I've never had any issues.

Thanks @varaderoguy. I've tried repeatedly, on two phones. One phone did connect to the dongle, once. But that wasn't my main phone, and now that I've disconnected that (including forgetting the Bluetooth association) I can't re-connect on that phone and I still can't connect on my main phone. The connect dialog always results in hanging the app (have to go to the Android task manager and swipe the app away to try again). I'm in contact with Skoda/VW tech support, but it's slow going...

  

On 26/07/2021 at 20:59, varaderoguy said:

Skoda Connect Lite is temperamental but it does work in Europe (Spain) so surprised you had issues. Make sure all power saving is switched off and that you DO NOT add the dongle to the phone. Then start-up Connect Lite, let it scan for the dongle (this may take several goes) and it should jump into life.

 

I wish I could help remotely although there is Android software to make this happen. Please make sure that the phone doesn't have power adaption or saving switched on. What is the make/model of your main phone? Different Android versions have different ways of working. You also need a phone which has Bluetooth version 4 and above to make the dongle work properly. You also need to make sure that "Making a call with a handsfree system" is switched ON in settings.

 

BTW - the hanging is not what you think it is. The version of firmware the dongles come with is faulty.....9.0.5.0. You need version 9.0.8.0 to fix this this. Connect Lite is upgrading the dongle in the background. Your phone might actually be updating the firmware of the dongle. This can take up to 15 mins.

That's great information, thanks!

 

I just tried again. And again. And again. I must've spent two or three hours total up til now trying to get this $@#$% thing to connect.

 

About the hanging, sadly I'm pretty sure that it is what I think it is (hanging), rather than updating the plug's firmware, because it comes along with this screen:

At that point, _nothing_ on the screen works except for the Android Home button, and the app can't be made to respond without killing it from the Android task manager.

 

About the firmware (which I assume is what is printed on the Data Plug label as "software "?) version, the label says SW 0705, and the one time that my older phone successfully connected to the device it went through the full update process (so I don't know what firmware is now installed on the device, but I hope it would be "current").

 

My two devices are both OnePlus models, a 5T and the newer Nord. My OnePlus 5T runs Lineage OS (version "dumpling", based on Android 11, Lineage OS v18.1) and my OnePlus Nord runs OnePlus' own Android 11-based Oxygen OS operating system (also the current version). Both behave the same (the same "FAILED" message as in the picture above) except for the one time that the 5T did successfully connect (since then, it has returned to failing every time).

Power saving is not switched on.

About the "Making a call with a handsfree system", I'm not sure what that refers to. It doesn't look like either a Head unit setting nor an Android Bluetooth permission. Could you explain please? (Also, why should this data plug require any form of telephony privileges...)

 

thanks again,

Jay

 

1 hour ago, varaderoguy said:

I wish I could help remotely although there is Android software to make this happen. Please make sure that the phone doesn't have power adaption or saving switched on. What is the make/model of your main phone? Different Android versions have different ways of working. You also need a phone which has Bluetooth version 4 and above to make the dongle work properly. You also need to make sure that "Making a call with a handsfree system" is switched ON in settings.

 

BTW - the hanging is not what you think it is. The version of firmware the dongles come with is faulty.....9.0.5.0. You need version 9.0.8.0 to fix this this. Connect Lite is upgrading the dongle in the background. Your phone might actually be updating the firmware of the dongle. This can take up to 15 mins.

 

31 minutes ago, JayLibove said:

About the "Making a call with a handsfree system", I'm not sure what that refers to. It doesn't look like either a Head unit setting nor an Android Bluetooth permission. Could you explain please? (Also, why should this data plug require any form of telephony privileges...)

This is in Skoda Connect Lite - under settings.  If you can the connecting to the dongle bit (or press - continue without dongle), go to settings and Make a call with Handsfree - it make the dongle and phone share a bluetooth connection between the MIB system and Connect Lite dongle.  Without this ticked, it can cause connectivity issues....

Can you also make sure you don't have the dongle in your Bluetooth device list please.  If it is in there, remove it (or forget the dongle).  Many a time have I hit that brick wall.

Thanks. Ok, I've turned on the Hands Free thing in Connect Lite.

Yes, I've been making sure that the phone's Bluetooth pairings DON'T already include the dongle, each time I try try try again to connect.

With that one further change (Hands Free in Connect Lite) I'll try again...

BTW do you find that Connect Lite is infuriatingly insistent about tracking you/GPS, Analytics (including for marketing...), "Challenges", etc? Sheesh, I just want to connect my car, not have my choices to NOT share my location, NOT share analytics (if it will be for marketing purposes - I'd love to share analytics for them to improve their crummy software quality!), be ignored and be re-asked all the time...

 

 So, I've tried again (and again, and again).

Turning on the hands-free option in the Connect Lite software didn't affect it - same experience as before.

I also tried turning the phone's WiFi and Mobile Data OFF, just in case the Connect Lite app WAS reaching the dataplug but was then getting hung up on something else - no effect.

I also point out that, from the moment that the Connect Lite app starts to try to detect/connect to the dataplug (that is, as soon as I tap "Establish connection"), the app is frozen. (The "connecting..." animation continues to move up and down like a Cylon lying on its side, but) the app ignores its own Cancel button at the bottom centre, and its own ... menu button at the top right.

Any other thoughts? At this point I plan to reach out to the parts dealer from which I bought the dataplug to request that they replace it.

thanks,

-Jay

 

On 06/08/2021 at 12:23, JayLibove said:

Thanks. Ok, I've turned on the Hands Free thing in Connect Lite.

Yes, I've been making sure that the phone's Bluetooth pairings DON'T already include the dongle, each time I try try try again to connect.

With that one further change (Hands Free in Connect Lite) I'll try again...

BTW do you find that Connect Lite is infuriatingly insistent about tracking you/GPS, Analytics (including for marketing...), "Challenges", etc? Sheesh, I just want to connect my car, not have my choices to NOT share my location, NOT share analytics (if it will be for marketing purposes - I'd love to share analytics for them to improve their crummy software quality!), be ignored and be re-asked all the time...