mbrace Reviews

by Rtp1340

The main reason I registered and paid almost $500 for 3 years was for the remote start feature. It took many attempt at trying to start the car, getting ‘too many attempts at starting’ message, at least 3 uninstalls, downloading mbrace again and again, to finally get it to start. The excuse I got at the dealer on why there was no remote start function on the key fob was lame, because Mercedes sells to many foreign markets and I guess some don’t approve of remote start, so let’s not put it in any cars. Ford sells to as many markets and yet I have remote start on the key fob my Edge ST, AND it keeps running AFTER I open a door. I won’t be renewing when the 3 years are up and after just a few hours am seriously considering cancelling it. I don’t need it to just lock/unlock the doors or to check where it is.
It would be so much easier to press a button on a fob, rather than take your phone out, turn it on, find mbrace , open it, enter the PIN number, select remote start to go to another screen to press that ‘button’ and then wait, and wait, and wait until nothing happens. I worked in IT for many years and this product would have never been approved. As much as Mercedes’ cost, they could very well give the US cars (and all other countries that allow it) remote start on the fob.

by Cedesrider

So I bought my 3rd Mercedes in September ‘21. The only thing that is negative about the experience is the brace app. From initiation, the rep who set up my account seemed like a swindler. It is my assumption that they are payed partially on performance base since I’ve called 3 times after my initial set up and requested to cancel ANYTHING THAT IS A RECURRING BILLING FEATURE. I don’t think that there is any ambiguity in my words saying I have a complimentary service for some functions that run until 2023. Keep those. Cancel anything else. Now after hanging up with my fourth call to get my account removed from collections from their reps not doing what I asked I’m frustrated and seriously considering abandoning their brace program all together. And if they ever even consider making heated seats or other functions of my car as a paid monthly service I’ll start shopping with their competitors.

by I54u2

App only works part of the time - specifically remote start - and when it does the latency time is way too long between pressing the start button on mbrace and the vehicle starting. Won’t work with less than half tank of fuel. Shuts off when door is opened (any door). Especially annoying because there is not a remote start on the key. Locking and unlocking is semi reliable. I have waited and been patient long enough with plenty of app updates and still it is below average. My other vehicle is not even remotely in the same class as my Mercedes and mbrace blows this one away from features to distance. There is no comparison. Quite frankly...Mercedes should be embarrassed. I don’t say these words light either as I truly enjoy the vehicle but cmon... struggles with remote start this day in age... really?

by Gri0213

Horrible Horrible Horrible!!
When you need mbrace “remote start” to work it doesn’t work! On those snowy icy days when you want to warm up your car for at least 20 mins especially when living in a high rise apartment, it comes back saying ....🔴Remote Start failed to initiate “unable to initiate because of a technical issue on our end”!! When I called Embrace they never know what the technical issue is. They always go through these repetitive trouble shooting steps that you’ve already done, and still nothing!! For god sakes I upgraded from a Honda to a Mercedes. At one point they told me to take the car to the dealership and see what they can do, really why, what does the dealership have to do with mbrace ??!! Thank god I still have a free membership, mbrace is not worth the money!! Get it together Mercedes Benz/CEO/VP.

Upset Consumer

by The DJ Platypus

I would be in absolute love with mbrace had I not been the unfortunate purchaser of a b250e where MBUSA decided to End of Life The EV Part of mbrace ! What manufacturer does something like this? Was it really truly that difficult to maintain the connection with a few thousand owners b250e charge, charger locations, MPkWh, Etc? To be completely honest I feel really let down with the purchase of my first Mercedes. I understand the limited production of this vehicle that includes a third party (Tesla) Engine snd Drivetrain but ending the support of your first US EV? Why the car is completely capable of reporting the data when polled at any time. The Communications Module. Is LTE so that is definitely still supported. this app works fine in fact the 2019 has the same Telematics unit I believe and is MercedesMe Connect Enabled. Just feel very let down by a manufacturer I have lived since a child.

by Izquiertoto

I’m totally dissatisfied with the auto start function
I been asking mercedes dealer for over a year already and the multiple service advisors I have spoken too , I have also call corporate to request this feature to be disable permanently but to go on deft ears and totally be ignore .
As a new mercedes owner i don’t like my new car to be going off at every traffic light It actually stresses me out , my car goes off when pulling into my driveway also at a rail road wish it is not safe at all .
When I ask bmw to turn the very same feature off permanently in my other car they did so and listen to me but mercedes won’t do the same .
This really makes me wonder if they really care about the consumer they would have already created a way to turn this feature off permanently ?

Hopefully they listen to this and honor my request
Everyone I have talk to in the dealer including service advisers and managers they tell me that they been getting a lot of customers requesting the same thing and there in no available update to be able to turn this feature off .

by Bactine

I’m baffled at how useless mbrace is. The remote start feature has been an actual help maybe once in the 18 months I’ve had the car. Every other time I tried to start the car, I got to the car and started it myself before the signal went through mbrace . No benefit there. The locate feature is quite slow and not worth using mbrace—my map application remembers where I parked all on its own. Without remote start, or the ability to open or close windows, or turn on seat heaters, check the fuel level or tire pressure, I don’t see the purpose. If mbrace was reliable in doing what it’s supposed to do, I could give it four stars for at least doing *something*.

I haven’t seen another mobile application as unreliable as this one. I’ve worked in software development for decades. In my experience, I’d expect to be fired if I was responsible for mbrace.

by Urmarried3

Insurance companies have great apps because they need to know how you use your car. My car was stolen from my driveway and even though I had EMBRACE and got them connected to local law enforcement officers they were unable to make a case to the officers or provide a link to track my vh. The car was confirmed stolen and I don’t know why Embrace just couldn’t have made the auto unable to operate until it was confirmed recovered by the police. Embrace also needs to help educate law enforcement officers about their anti theft and tracking devices on all the new models. I live in a small town 50,000 people and was surprised that local law enforcement officers had no idea about embrace. They had never heard of it and were incapable of understanding what the program was capable of doing.

by A New User 0987

Let’s face it, nobody downloads mbrace for the lifestyle or finance functions it’s the remote start function that we want. And that function is the least reliable thing that Mercedes has. Seriously, you email me reminders that a service is due and are spot on but you can’t make mbrace work. I’m going to say it doesn’t work about 30-40% of the time. That is Yugo level. I didn’t buy a Yugo.

So if you want it to start every time just get used to getting in the car a starting it yourself. It’s either a “technical issue on our end” or “failed to initiate” or you have less than a 1/4 tank of fuel”. Spend less development time on the lifestyle crap and make the one desirable feature actually work.

by Wexlax732

MercedesMe is a powerful tool for any Benz owner. The start screen displays my exact AMG in an elegant and beautiful graphic. The layout is clean and easy to navigate. I can rest well knowing my AMG is safe and secure where I parked it. Push alerts are sent for changes in location, vehicle speed and engine starts. The remote start works flawlessly (as long as you have 5 gallons or more in the tank) and locking/unlocking remotely works no matter how far from the vehicle you are.

My gripes are few: mbrace will error out occasionally and not send lock/unlock signals if service is poor. Some sort of sentry mode like our Tesla employs when leaving the car in a parking lot would greatly enhance peace of mind. My c63s amg has plenty of cameras to make this doable without tons of added cost.

by Daytonawhite

mbrace is super simple to use, really convenient, and you can even make your monthly payment through it. My only gripe is the auto start feature. In cold weather, sometimes 10 minutes just isn’t enough to get the car as warm as I’d like it. Jaguar’s app allows you to run the engine for up to a half hour before it shuts off, and it’ll even activate the seat warmers once you get in. This one shuts the car off once you get in and you have to turn on the seat warmers yourself. On top of that, you can’t adjust the cabin temperature before activating the auto start like you can with Jaguar. Those are my only complaints. Otherwise, I find it really convenient.

by FrankC-3

Overall I like mbrace and find it useful. A few updates would make it much better, however.

1) Valet mode must be reset to on each time the valet moves the car. Often valets will temporarily park a car when busy, the park it when they have no one waiting. Each time this is done, mbrace must be reset. Would prefer the setting to remain on until I deactivate it.

2) Remote start was unevenly implemented. My car has it. My wife’s car does not. Should not be more than a software update.

3) I can lock and unlock from mbrace , but not close or open the windows or the convertible top. If I park with the top down and need to raise it, I need to go outside and be within a meter or so to use the key fob to raise the top and close the windows.

4) Every where but the US mbrace can be used to unpark from a tight spot. I don’t often need the feature, or it would have been handy once or twice.

Unfortunately, mbrace is obsolete since the newest Mercedes-Benz pair with the new Mercedes Me Connect app. So I doubt Mercedes Me will ever be improved.

by Dada Moo

The apps really resourceful. First Mercedes and am pretty impressed. Provided a lot of insight on the health of the car such as mileage, gas, tire pressure, valet mode and remote start. All really useful information to plan ahead. Once of the best features is sending an alert when your vehicles unlocked. I’m really bad at that so it’s nice to have it. You can also see the location of your car if you rent it out or let family/friends borrow the car.

Seems like apples dropped the apple watch support entirely. Been wanting to use this feature for over a year now but no luck. Also would love to see one unified Mercedes app with the finance info instead of switching to the Mercedes Me connect app.

by JCC-3

I have been using the program for about a year now. I do really appreciate the ability to remotely enter my address where I’m going to and have it show up in the car when I start it. It is a little glitchy if you remote start the car with the address loading up and then have to be re-pulled back out when you restart the car.

The program in the last iteration was a little glitchy and would time out very often. The new version has been good for the last week or two.

by Rami.AlYousef

I love mbrace and everything done by Mercedes! However few things (me and many others asking for) could be done better.

(1) allowing the users to send an address form Apple map to the application. (2) enhancing the application performance, it’s too slow. (3) allowing the “Driving Journal” to be more than 24 hours, it’s annoying yo keep activating this feature everyday. (4) adding the “Locate Vehicle” as an icon to the top list.

Thanks you Benz for the amazing experience and I hope you do hear the voice of your customers.

by Ron The Goat

I actually love mbrace a lot it makes having a Mercedes Benz so much more Luxury. I mean we lay enough for the car so it’s cool they added this my favorite thing about it is probably the start the car just by telling Siri feature they added it’s a real show out move lol all my boys and the ladies were with love it 🤣🤣 it’s dope u can set ur temperature to only thing I don’t like the car turns off when u get it in it I think that’s kinda stupid. Y’all should fix that other then that dope feature.

by Shondra’s IPhone

My son was buckled in his car seat in the back seat. I put my bag in the car and closed the door. My key was left in my bag accidentally. When I realized that my key wasn't in my pocket, I tried to open the door to get my key but the door locked. I panicked. Luckily, I had my phone. I was so relieved to have mbrace to open the doors. I thought I was going to faint. I was so nervous because all of the windows were up. I feel like mbrace saved his life. Seriously. This is a true story.

by Spoody1*

mbrace is decent. There’s a few “ kinks that need to be worked out! Sometimes when I lock my car remotely from a distance, (inside a building, etc.) it doesn’t want to open when I arrive back at the car using the key fob. It’s as if it gone to a totally different channel and doesn’t recognize the key fob! This is a serious glitch! I usually have to unlock “remotely” even though I’m standing next to the car, then enter... Very Frustrating ! Please contact me if there’s a FIX...

by Sickofcandycrush

mbrace needs major attention.
Doesn’t unlock or lock my doors. Barely turns on engine. Always thinks my car is unlock when it’s locked. Also the payment financial system doesn’t even work. It always ask to click the link to actually log in on the website not on mbrace . Very inconvenient and also it sets up auto recurring payments in its own. When I didn’t even set it up. I was notified it was on. Whoever is in charge with website and app needs to get on it and fix this stuff. It’s so inconvenient and the customer service rep is so rude and doesn’t help at all.

by JoeBoxer7109

The car’s handling is flawless, mbrace only enhances the enjoyment of owning a Mercedes. I’m able to check the status of the vehicle from fuel to location parked.

I do not like it however, when mbrace doesn’t recognize my login information this has happened more than twice. I was using the lock my vehicle from mbrace and it didn’t respond causing me to walk back to the vehicle to lock it. That’s is frustrating especially went away from home and out of town. That aside mbrace is a nice feature.

by Ske4

This is app is absolutely awful. The remote start feature rarely works; I consistently receive an error message stating a “technical problem on our end” took place and I should try again after a few minutes. The speed alerts don’t work at all anymore, though it indicates it’s still activated. I let my teenage son drive my car so that I can monitor his driving and location more closely. But with mbrace being nonfunctional, it’s just pointless anymore. So disappointing.

by John D 3

I have a 2017 E class. The remote start is great ... when it works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work most of the time, although the remote lock/unlock always works. I haven’t been able to use it for 45 days or so. When I call Mercedes, they say I’m going to have to wait for an app upgrade and they have no idea when it will happen. This isn’t helping Mercedes’ reputation.

Update June 21, 2020. It worked for a while, but now is back to not working. Sad.

by Beatboxmaster67

It’s lame that you have to use mbrace to remote start the car. This seemed to be a useful feature here in Texas to cool the car down as you finish in a store or business.
You must remember to turn the AC high when you leave the car as there’s no ability to adjust in mbrace .
Half the time it’s either very slow (over 5 minutes), or it simply doesn’t work. Maybe they should outsource this work to Silicon Valley and get it done right!

by Fonta2222

Each time that you have to use mbrace you are asked to read through this lengthy term of use agreement and then accepting. Before, once you signed the term of use agreement you are not ask to do this anymore and you can just go in straight to the login page. This update is absolutely ridiculous. Also, the apps ask you if you want to login using FaceTime ID every time you try to use it even when you checked the stay connected box.

by JacobFerg

mbrace has nice features, but has a lot of bugs. The most annoying is it requires me to sign the online agreement and login every time. So when you want to remote start the car but have to stop for 30 seconds just to get into mbrace , then 10-45 seconds more to send the signal to your car, it feels like a waste. This service is not cheap if you have to pay for it, and until they fix these bugs it’s not worth it.

by Kitkatsiam

I wish it had the remote start on the key fob like my other car. At least then I could start it before I get to the car.

mbrace rarely loads and when it does it’s so slow!

Also, some of us like to open our windows just a crack to ventilate the car while it’s in a hot parking lot. But of course if I do this I can’t remote start.

Also, if I am am lucky enough to remote start, why in the heck does the car have to shut off when I unlock it? My other cars keep running and all I have to do is press the brake pedal and the start button and I’m ready to go.

All in all, I thought Mercedes could have done better.

by Julsist21

It works almost all the time. The only problem is sometimes it does not work because of a window was open or gas was too low but it will be better if the will indicate the specific problem if it does not meet the criteria for remote start.

by CWPS&W

Although I think security is very important, the sign up process is a bit complicated. It would be nice if at the beginning one was informed of the requirement for information by providing a list of those that will be needed. Those information could be collected before beginning rather than scrambling to find each one during the sign up process.

by WTLLUC

Love mbrace , however there are a few things I wish it had... love to be able to lock and unlock car. So many times I lay in bed before I go to sleep and think did I lock the car? Nice feature not to have to get out of bed and go downstairs. I like the auto start but I wish it wouldn’t shut off when I get to the car. That is super annoying. I like ai can check my bill and pay from mbrace .

by Abladu

I love mbrace now. But to get it to work in the beginning was a struggle. The installation process and usage, during the first few days was difficult. It was difficult due to technical issues with mbrace . But recent usage has been a breeze! I am guessing that recent updates to mbrace to fix issues to get the Mercedes Me app to work, has proven to be successful. I haven’t had any issues 3 days after installing mbrace on May 19th, 2020.

by Veronauph

Great app

by Eb (Saphire)

I love mbrace just like I love my car.

I love that I can start my car, pay my bill, send address from my phone to my GPS, locate it when getting service and that if I forget to lock it in my garage I can go right to mbrace .
Yes I lock my car in my garage.
For me it provides luxury convenience.

by Happy With My C300 Coupe

I love mbrace, such as the car functions lock/unlock, engine on/off, start/stop car, ease of making a car payment etc. A must have accessory with your Mercedes.