Tesla adds ‘Dog Mode’ and ‘Camp Mode’ activation from Smartphone app in new update

Tesla will reportedly add both the “Dog Mode” and “Camp Mode” features to its Smartphone app, allowing owners to activate either feature from their phones instead of their cars.

“Dog Mode” gained notoriety several years ago for its incredibly useful feature of keeping the cabin at a cool enough temperature to allow pets to remain in the car while the owner makes a quick trip inside a grocery store. The feature alerts other people who may walk by the vehicle that the cabin is set to a comfortable temperature for the animals. The feature has been adopted by other automakers and has even saved one Tesla owner from a hefty lawsuit.

“Camp Mode,” on the other hand, controls cabin temperature, light settings, and other features that would make the vehicle comfortable enough to sleep in. Camp Mode is ideal in Tesla’s larger vehicles, like the Model Y or Model X, and has shown merit as an acceptable alternative to spending hundreds on a hotel room.

According to Not a Tesla App, coding found in Tesla’s 4.7 app update reveals the automaker is planning to add these two climate features to the Smartphone app.

Additionally, Climate Keeper, a function that ensures the temperature in the cabin is maintained for an extended period, will also be added to the app. This feature will be active until the Tesla in use reaches a 20 percent state of charge, which will then prompt a message to the owner’s phone that they should return to the vehicle.

Climate Keeper is an advantageous feature for those who wish to either heat their cars in the winter before they get in or cool them down in the summer to avoid painfully-hot interiors.

Tesla will add all three features to the Climate Section of the app when the update is deployed to owners. According to the release notes, the Tesla App 4.7 Software Update was released on March 15.

The 4.7 app update could also include new languages, like Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovenian, and an Automatic Seat Temperature setting. Not a Tesla App states these are “undocumented changes,” so they are not yet confirmed.