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Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

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Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#11

Post by vincekerrazzi »

I had the same situation with my Polestar app up until recently. My solution was perhaps fewer moving parts? Worked well for nearly a year before I didn’t need it anymore.

-my backup phone connected to my NAS, running a signed in polestar app - a homebridge plugin that called a shell script that used adb to unlock the phone, open the app, grab the screen contents and parse it.

Boom, lock and battery status in homebridge and access to dozens of other tools for creating widgets and shortcuts.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#12

Post by znkynz »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #3

I wish that US car manufacturers would finally realize that they're software companies with a hardware device, and pivot accordingly. The differentiating factor between car models is not the hardware in the world of EVs. It's the software. And right now, if you aren't either on Tesla, Rivian, or Polestar the software experience is horrific.

This mindset gets the Demister function buried in a touchscreen. I don't want a touchscreen for most driving related functions; buttons or switches thanks.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#13

Post by standyro »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #9
DaSHacka wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What recourse (if any) do owners have if that happens?

It's not that bad, unless you don't have a backup way of getting into your car handy. You create a new account and associate your car with it. Many people have been bitten by this, it's a common thread on related forums. https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ford-suspending-acco... I don't understand Ford, VW, etc. They make these nice cars that are just unusable junk because of their software.

I briefly worked with folks in this industry. They’re generally underpaid and under resourced.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#14

Post by margalabargala »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #3

I wish that US car manufacturers would finally realize that they're software companies with a hardware device, and pivot accordingly. The differentiating factor between car models is not the hardware in the world of EVs. It's the software. And right now, if you aren't either on Tesla, Rivian, or Polestar the software experience is horrific.

Plenty of car companies have realized the don't have core competency in software and simply run Android with some addons. Chevrolet for example does a fairly good job of this.

Tesla has some great software ideas, and awful execution. Yes, they have the ability to continuously improve vehicles after sale and they use it. But they use it to scramble the climate control location every third month, and to charge subscriptions for hardware their customers already bought.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#15

Post by [deleted] »

magicalhippo wrote: post #8

Had a 2017 LEAF, and could never get that app working. Like once in a while it would show correct status, or sometimes it would start heating. But mostly it just lied. Like I could stand next to the car, issue the heating command, wait a minute, force it to check the car's status and it would tell me the car was heating while nothing had changed with the car. So yea, gave up on the app, didn't use it the last years I…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#17

Post by [deleted] »

vincekerrazzi wrote: post #11

I had the same situation with my Polestar app up until recently. My solution was perhaps fewer moving parts? Worked well for nearly a year before I didn’t need it anymore. -my backup phone connected to my NAS, running a signed in polestar app - a homebridge plugin that called a shell script that used adb to unlock the phone, open the app, grab the screen contents and parse it. Boom, lock and battery status in homebri…

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#18

Post by conk »

light_hue_1 wrote: post #3

I wish that US car manufacturers would finally realize that they're software companies with a hardware device, and pivot accordingly. The differentiating factor between car models is not the hardware in the world of EVs. It's the software. And right now, if you aren't either on Tesla, Rivian, or Polestar the software experience is horrific.

I don’t want to drive a computer. I want to drive a machine. Give me some buttons to control the car and a decent screen for nav (CarPlay/android auto) and I’m happy.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#19

Post by jdminhbg »

Nobody wants to hear it in 2025 but this is one of the reasons Tesla is still a much better experience than most of the legacy car manufacturers. Car People like to think of apps as a weird Tech People affectation, but in actual day-to-day usage, they're invaluable.

Re: Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

#20

Post by cyberax »

jdminhbg wrote: post #19

Nobody wants to hear it in 2025 but this is one of the reasons Tesla is still a much better experience than most of the legacy car manufacturers. Car People like to think of apps as a weird Tech People affectation, but in actual day-to-day usage, they're invaluable.

Tesla's UI experience is just about as shitty as of other automakers. And you don't have the escape hatch of CarPlay/AA.
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