In last year’s holiday update, Tesla introduced the much-needed Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app. The feature allows owners to view Dashcam and Sentry Mode footage directly from the Tesla app, eliminating the need to review videos in your vehicle. Unfortunately, the feature was limited to iPhone users, but Tesla is now changing that.
With Tesla app update 4.43.5, Tesla is officially launching the Dashcam Viewer on Android devices.
Dashcam Viewer
The Dashcam Viewer makes it easy to access and manage your car’s Dashcam and Sentry Mode videos. Accessing videos on your phone is faster and more convenient, but it does come with a few requirements.
The Dashcam Viewer in the Tesla app allows you to view, delete, or save video clips right from your device. This should result in higher quality content being shared online and fewer videos of owners recording their Tesla’s screens with their phones.
How It Works
Dashcam footage remains stored locally on your vehicle’s connected USB drive, so Tesla isn’t streaming videos to your phone from the cloud. Instead, the videos are streamed directly from your vehicle to your phone—similar to how Actually Smart Summon delivers a live feed to your phone.
Because of this, your vehicle must be connected to cellular data or Wi-Fi for the Dashcam Viewer to work. Unfortunately, this may limit access for owners who park in underground or large parking garages where connectivity is poor.
How to Access the Dashcam Viewer
To view Dashcam and Sentry Mode footage in the Tesla app:
Navigate to Security & Drivers > Dashcam Viewer.
Wait a few moments for your phone to connect to the vehicle.
From there, you’ll be able to view, save, or delete clips right from your device.
Requirements
To use Tesla’s Dashcam Viewer, you’ll need a vehicle with MCU 2 (Intel) or higher. All models are supported except for the legacy Model S and Model X (2020 and older). However, we expect support to be added in the near future.
The legacy Model S and Model X are expected to receive support for Actually Smart Summon, which requires the ability for those vehicles to stream video to the Tesla app — the same capability the Dashcam Viewer needs. Once Actually Smart Summon is added to the legacy Model S/X, we expect those vehicles to also receive the Dashcam Viewer at the same time or shortly afterward.
Tesla has imposed some viewing limits to prevent high data usage. The viewing limits apply to streaming video from the Dashcam Viewer or viewing live video from the vehicle’s cameras. Tesla will limit video streaming from the vehicle to 15 minutes or 1 hour, depending on your region.
Android Support
Tesla typically releases support for newer features to iPhone users since they make up the majority of users. Recently, Tesla has added more features to Android. In January, Tesla added support for ultra-wideband to Android, which added support for the improved phone key and the hands-free trunk and frunk feature.
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Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, recently took to X and opened the floor for user input. There, he asked the community for features and improvements they’d like to see to make Teslas better heading into 2026.
This post generated thousands of suggestions - and we recapped the best of them. There were also a few that Lars responded to, giving owners hope for some much-requested future changes, so let’s take a look at what may be coming
Lumbar Profile Support
Today, lumbar support is one of the few items that is not saved in the Tesla profile. That means if you have multiple drivers who use the same vehicle, you’re often left adjusting this setting manually, as it retains the setting that was last used. One community member suggested saving your lumbar setting to your profile just like Tesla does for other seat settings.
Lars said making this change seems doable, but it’ll take some engineering magic. The lumbar support isn’t tied to an absolute sensor like the other seat settings. This suggests that Tesla does not have an exact value to save, as it does with other seat functions, but Lars believes Tesla can find a way to save lumbar preferences. Tesla could potentially time how long the motor runs to get to the user’s lumbar setting and save this value.
With that said, it seems the vehicle engineering team may take a look at this one, and we may see it included in a future update.
Model 3 Signal Stalk Retrofit
The move away from traditional stalks in favor of the steering wheel buttons on the Refreshed Model 3 has been a point of debate. While the author is squarely in the camp of steering wheel buttons (at least with the Cybertruck), many dissent and say that the buttons on the Refreshed 3 aren’t as satisfying or easy to use.
Many other drivers also prefer the tactile feel and muscle memory of a physical stalk for signaling. Tesla appears to favor stalks, as they retained the turn signal stalk with the new Model Y. There are also rumors that Tesla is going to reintroduce the turn signal stalk to the Model 3.
If Tesla adds stalks back to the new Model 3, current 2024+ Model 3 owners are still left without stalks. However, a user suggested adding stalks as a retrofit option. Lars said that he would try to consider a retrofitted signal stalk for the Refreshed Model 3, similar to the simplified version in the Refreshed Model Y.
While less definitive than the lumbar support response, it appears that Tesla may at least consider offering a stalk retrofit for the new Model 3. If you’re a lover of signal stalks and can’t wait for Tesla to get an official one - we recommend the Enhauto S3XY Stalks, which are customizable and feel very close to Tesla’s original fit and finish.
With that said, it’s nice to see Tesla incorporating more community feedback into its vehicle design these days. Perhaps one day, they’ll address the infamous auto wipers. They have gotten better, but they’re still not as reliable as what’s available in most other vehicles. With that said, we look forward to the changes that will emerge from these recent conversations.
Sometimes, even with Tesla’s intensive bug-testing regime, bugs manage to make it out into the wild. In this particular case, a European user (@darkwaffle48484 on X) noticed that their 2024 Model 3 was using up more battery than normal while parked. Normally, they noted that the vehicle would lose about 1-2% per week; however, recently, they noticed much larger drops of 3-4% per night.
They monitored their Tesla widget and noticed the car wasn’t entering deep sleep. The widget consistently showed a recent connection time—usually within the past 45 minutes.
Fix Inbound
After discussing the issue with other Tesla owners and realizing it was somewhat widespread, they contacted Tesla Service. The service team confirmed that it was a firmware bug affecting the Telematics Control Unit (TCU), which prevented the vehicle from entering deep sleep mode.
The TCU is essentially the communications hub of your Tesla - and is mounted on the ceiling of newer vehicles such as the Model 3 and the new Model Y. It enables cellular and location services (via GPS) and also handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth services. Tesla Service stated that this bug is planned to be fixed in update 2025.14.6, although the exact version number could change. However, they confirmed that they are aware of the issue and it is being addressed.
@darkwaffle48484
When the user reached out to Tesla Service, Tesla Service responded with the following (translated from Dutch):
“It has been confirmed that this is a firmware bug. The fix is in one of the next updates. Currently, it is planned for 2025.14.6 (subject to change). Do you have any more questions?”
Potentially Region-Specific
This bug could potentially be region-specific. TCUs often require specific hardware components, such as modems, as well as specific firmware versions that support different regions and cellular providers. These enable Tesla to comply with local cellular standards and regulations and ensure that your vehicle can connect to the networks available in that particular region.
At this point, it’s not clear when the fix will roll out, but given that update 2025.14.1 has practically stopped rolling out, Tesla may be waiting to resume the rollout with update 2025.14.3 or this 2025.14.6 version.
If you’ve noticed this issue and are in a non-European nation, let us know.
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