MySubaru Reviews

by Toddsul

About 60% of the time MySubaru locks up and I need to restart my iPhone to get it to work. Pay >30k for a car and cannot remote start it in the morning. My Hyundai, I just push a a button for remote start on the key fob and it works every time. Subaru really needs to improve MySubaru or better yet give the owner the option and allow them to remote start from the key fob. No need to enter a password, a delay, and a PIN number after restarting their iPhone. Subaru will lose customers. They need to do much better and not put all their trust in a very problematic app. Great car, but poor execution on an important accessory.
Update: A year later and still, MySubaru is slow and sometimes unresponsive. Cannot believe Subaru makes you pay for this service. Please just give me a hardware remote start. They are more reliable and that is what a remote should be.

by Molls101903

I love my car. Have had no issues at all with it, it’s the best car I have ever owned. I was so shocked to find out it didn’t come with a remote start though, and they said I can try MySubaru for $50 for the first year. Ok. Half the time, MySubaru crashes so I can’t even use it. When it does work, it feels like it takes forever to initiate anything. My biggest problem, however, is when I start the car and it automatically locks, when I go out to the car with my keys in my pocket or purse or whatever, it should automatically unlock when I put my hand on the handle...and it doesn’t. I have two toddlers, so I’m usually carrying 4 bags, and now I have to drop everything, to find my keys or my phone to unclock while we are standing in freezing Buffalo New York weather and I’m trying to keep track of my kids. I now know that I need to remember to unlock is right after I start it, but it’s just inconvenient and I don’t want to pay to be inconvenienced. I just love Subaru and their cars so much, I am just so shocked that this is a product of theirs.

by Waytoomanyadsforme

I purchased a 22 Outback and for the last 3 months I’ve used MySubaru sporadically. It’s worked fine but MySubaru is very slow.
I tried it this morning as it’s 25 degrees and MySubaru starts opening but never opens. I’ve restarted my phone, changed from wifi to data and then deleted the entire app and started over and nothing.
Now I like the long distance aspect of STARLINK but if I had this on my key fob and didn’t have the other abilities, my car would be started now.
The salesman discouraged me from even thinking about a car started and steered me hard to STARLINK and right now I’m almost sorry I trusted him.
Not the biggest deal, yeah I have to go start my car, but instead of an upfront sunk cost, I’m paying for STARLINK as long as I want to use it.

by Quart2000

First off, having to wait for the unnecessarily long splash screen when opening MySubaru just to remote start my car is annoying. Overall MySubaru is slow and clumsy to use, for the majority of the features this really isn’t an issue, but when it comes to the remote services it becomes a joke. If the startup of MySubaru was faster MySubaru would be tolerable. Another thing I don’t like is that I can’t change the default climate control temp for the quick start, 74°? Not this guy. It would almost be nice just to have a separate app for the paid remote services that doesn’t take so long to start up. Another nice feature would be adding an iOS widget and possibly even a watch app for the remote services.

**update** The latest app update showed a fourth last settings preset for previous settings, however I don’t see it in the update and it’s been removed from the description. This preset is the one I’d want most.

by BNA_ER_RN

Subaru can’t afford to hire developers who can come up with a better app than this??? I’ve had my Subaru since the end of August. MySubaru was okay for the first few weeks, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve had multiple problems. I get an error message when I open it. I’ve had to uninstall and reinstall several times. It works for a brief time, and then I get an error message again. I can’t believe I paid for this!!!

Update 11/23: I’m cautiously optimistic. Subaru replied to a message I sent them. They offered some troubleshooting advice, and MySubaru seems to be working better. I’ll upgrade to 2 stars for now, and if it continues to work I’ll come back and update it again.

by Dot-JMpeg

When MySubaru is opened, screen goes blank, and there’s no indication that there is any loading in the background. Now pe to be swiped away, uninstalled, and then reinstalled for it to work. Then, after restarting it one more time, yeah but again leaves me with a black screen on my phone. Uninstalling and reinstalling MySubaru every time I want to start my car remotely isn’t very helpful. Don’t even bother with signing up for the Subaru star link services; the weak point, aside from the car infotainment itself is MySubaru .
Just get a remote starter kit, which works even when there is no cell phone signal available. iOS version is the latest for February 2022, in the US. The phone is an iPhone 13 pro.

by HeavyLoader

All I want to do is start my car when I’m leaving. Is that so hard? When you open MySubaru there’s latency while they put forward their fancy graphic, then there’s the layer of security get through. Why can’t I turn this off? With my hands full I’m generally wrestling with the PIN because I’m wearing a mask. If someone accesses my phone am I really concerned they’re going to unlock my car or start it remotely? They can’t drive off without the key fob. Why can’t I PIN prompts off?

Then there’s the layers of options. I don’t it want to change the settings on my car I just want to start it. Or maybe I want to change one or two quick items in settings on the go to accommodate a passenger… Nope. MySubaru would be awesome if it would just open immediately with a big button that said start car and it worked instantly without PIN or confirmation. Instead, you have to plan for the whole process.

The GUI is clunky and requires too many interactions for the limited options/capabilities.

This works as a minimum viable product, but when you’re leaving the grocery store with hands full, the implementation is poor.

Finally, no voice/macro support. That would be the ultimate in hands-free for people approaching their cars loaded with gear or groceries. Absent.

by Hermajasty

I love the STARLINK features where you can lock and unlock doors; remote start your car, and check on the vehicle status all under one button. However, I cannot access MySubaru unless my phone is connected to WiFi, which is horrible especially if you are in the store and you want to make sure you locked your doors or needed to unlock them real quick for someone who went to the car while you was still in the store. There’s no place to report this issue. Once the issue is fixed, I will gladly update my review and score because this is actually a great feature to subscribe to, when it’s working properly that is!

by Jeny Ann Kennedy

Most Subaru drivers that utilize the auto start are people living in colder climates. I for one, live in Fairbanks, Alaska...where it it is currently -30F. 10 minutes....even when repeated (it only allows you to repeat the auto start 1 time) is NOT LONG ENOUGH for the interior to sufficiently warm up these colder temperatures. I get in the car and it’s still quiet nippy inside. What’s the point of the auto start of you can’t actually run it long enough to fully warm the interior.

You have GOT to allow a longer running time of at least 25 minutes and do it quickly or I will be forced to consider canceling this subscription and getting a traditional auto start with a fob. I’m not doing this the whole winter.

by Not A Happy Reader

I’ve been using MySubaru since 2017 when I owned a 2017 Outback. Its been improving incrementally since then.I now use it on my 2019 Ascent Touring. I like the fact that I can control most of my climate control remotely via MySubaru ,however there’s always room for improvement. MySubaru should be capable of advising you if you’ve left the vehicle with a window, or the roof open and then allow you to close it remotely,or for that matter allow you to open the windows or roof on hot days. I’d like to be able to turn on the steering wheel heater on cold days or turn on the seat ventilation on hot days. And for the life of me I don’t know why MySubaru doesn’t work on the Apple Watch or with a Siri or Alexa. And if It worked faster that would be a major plus.

by Dwatso24

Painfully slow and sometimes doesn’t load at all. The custom presets are a nice touch. It gives quizzical messages at times, like when the car is running. Why wouldn’t you be able to lock the doors if the car is running. If the doors are locked just tell me. Rather I have to spend 5 minutes loading MySubaru , killing the engine, waiting for doors to lock and restarting the engine. And don’t get me started on the underpowered infotainment system. Sometimes it just dies altogether. Yeah, screw me. I don’t need to operate: the radio, the climate controls, the heated seats… and CarPlay is infuriating. Way too many tech issues for this day and age for a car whose big focus is auto tech. Cool car, lots of room for improvement on the UX side.

by Primping Place

I absolutely love MySubaru and the ability to start my car unlock my car etc. from outside of the car in bad weather etc. The reason for three stars is they did not send me a reminder email or a note that they were going to charge my card. I took the lease out three years ago it would’ve been nice to have been notified that this charge was going through. Also sometimes it can be glitchy which is a pain to have to go out and manually start it after being so spoiled. Highly uncivilized after being so spoiled!
All in all I do remind recommend just set yourself a calendar reminder if you’re leasing it so that you won’t get this big shock after the initial plan.

by Jimr4/15

I have had the my Subaru app for IOS for my two Subaru Outbacks. First was a 2018 this one is a 2020. I like the monthly report although it’s a little creepy how much they know about you and your car. I also like the remote lock and start feature though the phone. There are times where it seems like I always have to lock it twice. Fails the first time but locks the second time for whatever reason. Otherwise MySubaru works good. It is also nice to be able to look up a destination on the phone and then push it to the gps in the car. MySubaru could definitely use some polishing but it is useful and very handy.

by R & R W.

I like using the Subaru app from my phone I can start the car; I can unlock the doors; I can lock the doors. If you start from your phone the car will run for 10 minutes and then turn off. You can do it again a second time. It would be nice, however, if MySubaru gave you a countdown so you could know how long it would be until the car turned off because sometimes in the dead of winter 10 minutes is not enough and when inside the house I forget about it. MySubaru . costs $80 for three years. It sure would be nice if Subaru would just give it to you for the life of the car. Subaru isn’t much for giving free things to its customers. Our children own Hyundai’s and they give them three years of free oil changes. Subaru gives zero and even charges me $20 every time for tire rotation and I had to pay $50 for a cabin air filter. $30 for the filter and $20 for them to install what takes about a minute and a half. We like our Subaru but they sure could raise the bar in customer appreciation.

by Tim Cummings

First of all, I want to say I love MySubaru. It does everything I needed to do and a little more.

BUT, there is a usability issue that I feel if it were fixed would dramatically improve it as well as an owners happiness with their Subaru.

This concerns remote start. Engine run time is either 5 or 10 minutes. In northern Michigan, where temperatures can dip below zero degrees, this isn’t enough time to warm a vehicle. Remote start is a great way to prepare the vehicle for me to get in, but with this short time limit I find myself checking my watch to see whether or not the 10 minute limit has passed so that I can start the car again for another 10 minutes. Me having to do this defeats convenience. I would like to see a 20 minute limit.

We use our vehicle to travel and in the summer we often go out west to desert areas where temperatures can reach 120°. For the same reason I stated above, 10 minutes is not enough to begin to cool a very hot vehicle. 20 minutes would make a huge difference.

by Kellypal

I like being able to use my phone to start my car. However, it would be nice to be able to do it with my Apple Watch. Also, I wish you would make the time limit for how long the car stays running and the number of times you can restart it with the remote start were longer. 2 ten minute sessions are not long enough. Especially when you live somewhere with lots of snow and you don’t want to be going down 3 flights of stairs to start it. It should be at least 30 minutes, but an hour would be fantastic. Otherwise, I do like that I can do a preset and not have to go through all the steps every time I start it. If you could upgrade these I would definitely give 5 stars.

by Macdaddynyc@

I’ve used MySubaru for years for my 2019 Crosstrek Limited. The automatic starter, is a god-send and used almost daily. Especially during the hot and cold months. It’s nice to get the interior temp just right before getting in the car. The apps UI (user interface) is pretty good as well. It could use a facelift…something a little more modern and on par with the slickness of iOS (dark mode, and such). The maintenance schedule reminders are awesome, and being able to schedule oil changes right from MySubaru is perfect.

The apps biggest flaw is it’s reliably. Sometime it just won’t connect to my car. I have line of sight to the vehicle and I get connection errors the first 3 attempts, and than attempt number 4, boom!

It’s a mild inconvenience all things considered, but that’s the only real reason I didn’t give it 5 stars.

by Yoho Yoho Pirate

In my opinion, this is a nice app that does its job pretty well. I’m not sure why it gets so much hate. However, I do wish it had two additional features: 1) I wish I could make a preset to remotely start the car with the HVAC system off because sometimes the weather is nice and I just want to let the engine warm up a few minutes before I leave. 2) I wish the vehicle status screen also showed the state of the car locks so I can make sure I remembered to lock the car.

I may find other things I would like to see improved or changed as I have more experience with the vehicle and MySubaru , but for now that’s all.

by Pulaski Pete

We live in upstate New York and are experiencing an unusually cold winter so what’s not to like about the remote start that can be activated from inside a restaurant- further than a remote state fob. So, of course I like that
But the remote lock is the peace of mind feature. Countless times in the past I have had to leave church, or a meal or whatever when I didn’t recall locking my car. When I relax and and am suddenly unsure of my cars security I just lock it via MySubaru . What an unexpectedly handy feature. Thank you. It has changed my life

by R. Old Man

After 15.3 iOs update My Subaru app will not load on either device. Simply get a white screen with the Subaru logo and the words My Subaru. Removing and reinstalling MySubaru doesn’t resolve this issue. What happened? Update: Back to 5 star rating. After a hard reset of both devices that seemed to resolve this issue…or, alternatively, MySubaru was simply down for awhile. I use MySubaru almost daily for remote starts and other uses and rely on it.
Update: The latest update resolved any remaining issues that I previously was experiencing. It is stable, loads properly and remote start (and other functions) all work as they should.

by Jarh

When using engine start on my 2020 Outback and I go to change the climate settings in MySubaru before pressing “Start Engine” the climate settings just revert to old settings. This is very annoying since if you start your engine without checking your climate settings EVERY time you could be coming to a very hot car, a/c on for no reason, defrosters on, and heated seats turned up all the way, even though it could be a warm day. It appears the developers do not know their product since they continue to respond that the latest settings are retained. This is not true. Very disappointed in Subaru in putting out such a poor product.

by Falterx

Note: if I saw a clear way to report issues, I would have done that. Since I didn’t, I’m leaving a review.

The latest version gives me nothing but network errors since having installed it, yesterday. I will often get 5 network error dialog boxes, stacked on top of each other. My best guess is that something isn’t right in their backend, but the user experience shouldn’t be this terrible. I also have the sense that maybe UI interactions have to wait for a vehicle response, which feels just awful.

I think a great deal of work could be done to provide a better user experience if/when there are network issues. It’s as though the developers only tested perfect conditions, where there might be no delay between a user request and and vehicle response. I’m not sure the developers actually drive a subaru with star link equipped. They’re just not aware of how crummy it functions.

by Midori-omoi

I bought my car back in October ‘19 and decided to splurge and upgrade my auto start system so that I could start my car from anywhere off of my phone. I gotta say I regret purchasing it since MySubaru doesn’t work so I’m limited to desktop remote start. I reached out once to customer service and their response was to uninstall and reinstall to make sure I had the most recent version of MySubaru (like I hadn’t already checked that). Since October I decided to upgrade my phone in hopes that maybe that was the problem and yet even with a brand new phone MySubaru still doesn’t work. 🤦🏻‍♀️

by Finegranny

Nothing but problems with trying to start our 2020 Outback using iPhone XR. We have to continually remove and re-download the My Subaru app to get the auto start to work and then it only works once or twice at a time. Then get layers of error messages or system stalls completely. Wish we would have checked out all the negative reviews before we bought this car. This system is certainly not reliable and we will likely have to have the standard Astro Start system installed if we want to be assured that we can warm the car in cold weather. Needless to say this has been a very disappointing experience.

by Lek1200

Normally not one to leave a review, but I was so excited because I just bought a new Subaru and wanted to use the remote start. However, it took 12 attempts at logging in with the correct information before I finally got anywhere IN MySubaru . It would kick me back to and empty log in page after I hit the “log in” button. When I finally did get logged in after a few minutes of exploring MySubaru I got several pop up notifications that my session had expired, without closing MySubaru or touching anything.

by JimFeet

The features of MySubaru are barely adequate for my plug-in CrossTrek. I can pre-condition the interior with a delay of zero to ten minutes - if I can remember. Why not 15, 30 or more? The locate feature uses maps that are more than 5 years old - my subdivision, built over 5 years ago shows as woodlands in satellite view and no roads in map view. The “status” feature reports everything is “normal” and clicking the Details button says the same - why not give me some real status information like ambient temp, miles to next service, etc. ?

by Frozoloft

For the last 2 days I have been unable to remotely start my car because of network errors. Of course these are the coldest days since I got my new car and the times when I need to remotely start it the most. Ive tried restarting phone, force quitting app, logging in and out. Its a problem most definitely on Subaru’s side. Please fix this.

————-

Is there no way to incorporate the heated steering wheel into the warmup options? It takes a little while to warm up and it would be nice if it were already warm when we first get into the car.

Also is it possible to incorporate seat cooling in the remote start setup?

Why is “No Delay” on a separate page? No need for additional step. Just add it to the remote start settings in the page before. Thats a head scratcher...

And please add an Apple Watch feature and Siri Shortcut support. “Hey Siri, start my car.” The future is now! Embrace it!

by Gsnaponfire

So we live in MN where winter is not forgiving. My only qualm is the run time for remote start; 10 minutes isn’t enough. 20 minutes is perfect, and I understand I can start it again, but when getting ready in the morning my mind is focused on an array of preparations, not on starting my car again in 10 minutes. Change it, and I will reconsider my rating. Thanks!

I would also like to recommend an Apple Watch app. It would be very beneficial! Remote start via the watch would be epic (especially considering we have to pay extra for remote start to begin with).

by Brownhedge

Between the poor radio design and the poor app design I’m beginning to doubt Subaru’s abilities to create user friendly experiences.

I agreed to having a remote start with my 2019 Forester Sport. Now that it’s winter I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately I get an error message saying it could not connect. Yet when I look outside my car has started? People think all of these new bells and whistles are worth it but it’s more of a headache when it doesn’t work how it should.

Now, let’s discuss the poor radio design...

by Caskbin

Just purchased my first Subaru and am loving it. But I have downloaded both this app and Subaru STARLINK as instructed and not loving them. I am trying to make changes in STARLINK (which shows me absolutely no information) but it just sends me over to this app - which will not open. All I ever get is either nothing but the open screen or an error - ‘Unavailable. Something went wrong. Please try again later.’ By looking at prior reviews it appears to be something others have had issues with as well. I have tried deleting and reinstalling MySubaru and still no luck. Very frustrating. Am I missing something somewhere? There is evidently no other way to make the change I need made then through MySubaru .

by Iam3ksmom

MySubaru is okay when functional but there are spots when MySubaru will not start the car. I have been two hours away from my car and started it, yet there are times I’ve been sitting within a few feet of it and it wouldn’t work, even when connected to WiFi. I’ve called multiple times and am always told there must be no service in that area although there is perfect cell phone and/or WiFi service. One of the features I was looking for in a car when I bought this one was the remote start. When I saw that it wasn’t on the key fob I handed it back to the salesman and said “nope, it doesn’t have remote start.” He then told me about MySubaru and I was sold. Little did I know it would only work 80% of the time. Not very satisfied.

by Paul185

Just started using MySubaru and it’s a bit limited. Why can’t I simply start my car with whatever settings it was set to when I left it. There should be two options. Simply START and START with PRE-SELECTED settings. Also, there should be a countdown timer which shows how much time is left u til it shuts off. Also, please add a 15 minute timer option to the current 5 and 10. There should also be a way to adjust the temp and heated seat settings within MySubaru while the car is on via MySubaru . Currently to change anything while running, the engine needs to be stopped first which defeats the purpose of this being convenient.
Please add a feedback section within MySubaru so us the owners can suggest new features and report bugs when the happen.

SUBARU: Compare MySubaru with similar apps from other manufacturers and make improvements that provide a make it a pleasant experience that want us to stay with the brand and enjoy our cars.

by Realdevictor

I liked MySubaru for starting the Forester remotely. MySubaru was updated yesterday and now it gives multiple errors when trying to open MySubaru and is now non functioning. Please fix this. I subscribed (paid) for this functionality.

Update: Developer responded that they believe the issue has been resolved. I agree. It works as before. I hope future updates are not rolled out to the end user until it has been fully tested and determined to be operational as intended.

by SirGerman3

While I do miss having a physical remote to start my engine, using an app on my phone is pretty cool. Having a companion Apple Watch app as well with the ability to start my Impreza Sport would be fantastic!

Siri Shortcuts integration would also be tremendously helpful. Being able to say "Hey, Siri. Start my car" should be something us as owners should be able to do and let's be honest, it's pretty cool. 😅💯

Animations and speed when going through the different menus would greatly benefit MySubaru as well. Other than that, MySubaru is pretty great. Looking forward to future updates 😌

by App Master B

Ok, nothings perfect but kudos to Subaru for acknowledging that improvements where needed!
I use MySubaru daily to start my 19 Forester Sport and what a pleasure it’s been being able to warm up or cool off my vehicle.

What I would like to see Subaru change is when you open MySubaru to just have the start button only on the screen with a separate tab to access all other features. I think it would look much cooler and that’s pretty much the only button that’s used more frequently and it would look a lot cooler!!

I also use the start button to turn my vehicle on to charge my battery pack for my dash cam even if I’m not driving my Forester that day.

To Subaru:
OR MAKE MySubaru VERSATILE ENOUGH SO THAT CUSTOMERS CAN TAILOR MySubaru TO SHOW WHAT BUTTONS THEY WANT TO SHOW ON THE MAIN SCREEN

Subaru owner for life here!