Good question. I've had that exact thing happen to me, where I wasn't able to start the vehicle with the FOB no matter what I tried, while long way away from home and the spare. I had to get out, lock the car with the FOB then use the App to remotely unlock it. That resolved the issue. Had I not had that solution (outlined in the owners guide) I would have been SOL.

 

Thanks for the reply. Are you still able to unlock with the app today? Or is that option disabled nowadays, as it seems to be for me in the UK?

 

Yes I can. Can't speak for the UK. I know there are some features of the Remote app which are restricted in certain geographic regions. Don't know about that one.

 

And what the heck do you do if you disable your key far from home, if you can’t rescue the situation with the app? There are a couple of threads suggesting it’s a serious pain.

I was sitting in the parking lot of the dealership, along with the sales guy, who was showing me the features. We used the app to lock and unlock. Now, the FOB is being ignored; can't start the car anymore. I had to go home and pic up the 2nd key. Then, they took the car in, an programmed back in the disabled 1st fob. I still believe they could have brought out a portable diagnostic device to reprogram the disabled fob but perhaps dealers dont have portable ones?

Bottom line: Personally, I try to avoid using the APP - especially if I am out of town. In my experience, the APP seems to have the risk of accidentally disabling the car (see https://www.rangerovers.net/posts/2471389/ )

 

I've personally never had a single issue using the App. 3 total JLR vehicles. I use it all the time, for convenience, to unlock/lock the truck if my FOBs are in the house and I'm out in the garage working (phone always in my pocket, or using app on my smart watch). In fact, as mentioned above, the App has saved my ass when the FOB went into temporary disable mode.

Quality of cell reception in the area at the time does play a major role in reliability of using the App, just generally speaking.