Volvo Cars Reviews

by Not Happy Ali

If you purchase VolvoCars, be aware that Volvo may choose not to refund your money in the event that your subscription is still active but you do not purchase an additional Volvo. That stipulation is in the Terms and Agreements policy you must review when purchasing VolvoCars ; however, I somehow overlooked that important detail. When I renewed my Volvo on Call app in April of 2019, I chose 18 months because it was financially the best subscription. I knew I probably would purchase another vehicle before 3 years was up and at the time I had planned to keep my Volvo for more than a year. I still have not figured out why a luxury vehicle needs an app to remote start a car when most other vehicles have that feature on the key fob. VolvoCars is only as good as the cell phone signal or internet access one has on their phone for starting the car. I am glad that I chose not to go with another Volvo considering the run around I am getting.

by BritGuyInOC

We just picked up our Volvo C40 yesterday. After owning four different EVs/PHEVs over the years from different manufacturers we’re keenly aware of what the competition can and can’t do with their apps. VolvoCars looks beautiful. That’s it. The charge status does not update. We plugged the car in at home, VolvoCars shows the charge status and time to charge. Fine. But that’s been it. We check VolvoCars in the morning, the car is supposedly still only at the charge status it was last night and the “time remaining” in VolvoCars has been extended. We worry, and go check the car instrument panel…. No… the car has been charging fine and will be done at the time it said on plug in. So VolvoCars isn’t helpful at all. There’s also no way to start and stop a charge in progress, change the charge percentage you want, or the amps drawn from VolvoCars . On the none-electric side of things, you can’t close windows if they’d been left open. You can’t flash the lights or turn them on from VolvoCars . You can’t honk the horn (when trying to locate it in a parking lot for example) The last items aren’t super critical, but the ability to see *accurate* charge level is crucial. Come on Volvo - the car seems amazing so far, but VolvoCars is making the experience feel like we’ve just a huge step backward.

by NotThatYouAskedBut...

When the gps didn’t work for half a day, I shrugged. Sure, it’s an $80k vehicle, but these things do happen with software. When it didn’t work for 3 days, I started deep breathing exercises. When the Volvo app disconnected from my car and did not recognize that I was signed into the profile on my car, I screamed into my heated steering wheel. When the car wouldn’t let me forget my phone without being connected to the on call app which I can’t do because VolvoCars doesn’t recognize the car, it became clear that Volvo needs to invest more in improving their tech—not so it’s good but just so it does what they say it should do. Volvo, increase your tech budget. Pay a market rate for skilled, experienced software developers. You don’t need to be hiring developers for a better online building and buying experience. You’ve got way bigger more important fires to fight.

When I drove my XC 60 T8 Polestar Recharge off the lot, I was concerned about when I’d get Car Play. Car Play?! How naive was I. Forget CarPlay. Just make the most basic integration happen. I beg of you.

When I trade this car in for a non Volvo vehicle, it will be because of this absolutely terrible infotainment system the likes of which I have never seen before. And I’m sure I won’t be the only one.

by Ant123456789-;()$(:)

When I had my 2019 xc60 VolvoCars then worked flawlessly. Fast forward to my 2022 model and VolvoCars has changed a bit. Everything looks great, nice and simple however it works when it wants. When I remote start the “start” option says “stop”. So as long as the car is locked I have to hit stop in order to start my car lol confusing right? I used to be able to use my key fob to lock the door and VolvoCars would always recognize that the car was off and locked. Now, it seems like they want you to exclusively use VolvoCars to unlock/start the car which on the go is time consuming. VolvoCars should be able to talk to the car no matter if you physically or remotely locking/starting your vehicle. Definitely seems like a software issue and hopefully Volvo is looking into this for the future.

by TMan162000

Really the only reason to have VolvoCars and to pay the annual Volvo OnCall extortion payment is if you live in a cold weather area. Unfortunately, the XC90 has bad seals on the rear door handles which in cold weather freeze the interior door latch in open position. So you have to wait 25-30 mins for the car to warm up enough to melt ice inside door. VolvoCars could help reduce this if you could just set the temp to ‘Hi’ or control if you want defrost or dash heat, etc. Alas, there are no options so you only get the default settings which make the car less-frigid but not warm enough to resolve latch ice issue. Enabling heated seats as an option would be appreciated too vs the bare bones options provided currently. Also, I would like to set the timer for longer than 15 mins for the reasons mentioned above.

Adding on to previous comments, but the new release is really frustrating in that the “new” features seem to only work with a hybrid or electric model. I still have the stock 72 degrees for remote start. Despite the new updates the climate settings essentially is remote start with a new name and icon. Do better, Volvo.

by Soutoh65

After multiple attempts of trying to get VolvoCars to function properly, I decided to contact support. The response I got was the following -

-“Thank you for contacting us. I am sorry to hear that you are having trouble with your Volvo On Call app. When running a new fault tracing which is a diagnostic check, it shows your TEM is asleep. In order to rectify this situation you will need to take your vehicle to an authorized Volvo dealer to do a hard reset.”

I have no idea what TEM is. I paid over $200 for this service and when I asked if I could start over again once the situation was rectified or get reimbursed for the 3 months that VolvoCars wasn’t working, this was the response that I received -

“Unfortunately, the Volvo On Call subscription is non-transferable or refundable once purchased, as stated in your Volvo On Call Subscriber Agreement. Please see the Volvo On Call Terms and Conditions below for the full description.
VOC Terms & Conditions
We appreciate your taking the time to contact us.
Thank you for being a part of the Volvo Family.”

If I knew what TEM was and if I knew it was asleep, then maybe I would have woken TEM up when I spent $1000 at my last Volvo service. I definitely don’t feel like a part of the volvo family . VolvoCars is not worth the money and not worth the aggravation.

by Candace0601

I love my Volvo vehicle, however VolvoCars is completely and utterly useless. There is a significant delay from when I tap a button in app (ex. Lock doors) and VolvoCars trying to communicate with the vehicle. Every time I have tried this, VolvoCars gives me an error message saying after several minutes that says “your Volvo could not be locked” - and that’s after several minutes of standing directly next to my drivers side door. I could have dug out my keys and locked it manually in that time, which I have just begun doing.

It is also unable to start or turn on the air conditioning from VolvoCars . I press the fan icon, and the button that says “stop” (this should say start, but something is programmed wrong), and nothing happens or it just turns on the fan but no temperature correlating. I have tried using the chat feature to troubleshoot, but they say that I need to be inside the vehicle to adjust the temperature and then have to stay inside the vehicle while the car is running. I cannot leave the car running but exit the vehicle and lock the doors.

The chat assist recommended I just leave the car running and doors unlocked …. Seriously? So that my car can get stolen?

Makes no sense that a 2021 “luxury” vehicle does not allow the owner to start the motor during inclement weather and prepare the car for the driver to enter when comfortable. Most luxury car companies like Cadillac have had that feature for years.

by JustAnotherSF

Volvo cars are great, and the Volvo infotainment is getting better with AAOS – kudos where it’s due. But this Volvo app is useless – and it does NOT seem to be getting any better, which is really worrying.

VolvoCars is at best unreliable, at worst doesn’t work altogether. I’m not talking about just this or that version but the whole of last year. Scroll through the past 12 months of reviews and you’ll find the vast majority of people gravely disappointed – and frustrated. It doesn’t work.

Look at MyBMW, Mercedes me, and even MySubaru apps, they’re all crushing it with 4+ ratings. This isn’t rocket science, this is 2022. We’ve had reliable remote start technology for over twenty years now, iPhones have been around since 2007, and the latest cars come with always-on LTE and AAOS, not to mention the GCP Firebase-enabled backend you all seem to be using. You’ve got all the right ingredients for a stellar app, it hasn’t worked properly in 12 months now :(

Dear Volvo responder, please do not copy-and-paste your canned “Thank you for sharing this feedback with us, we will forward your comments to your developers.” But rather – I ask you – share this feedback with your decision makers and executives instead. Because this is clearly not just a mere bug we’re talking about, but a fundamental problem with how VolvoCars is developed. Fix this, really fix this.

by Onfus

It seems that the problems is largely related to the car having trouble connecting to the network. Therefore since functionality of VolvoCars depends on it then VolvoCars , which already can use improvements, gets low rated.
1. Cannot configure notifications. I want to have options on what I get notified for, when and the sound. Now it is all or nothing. For example, car unlocked is random and I get notified multiple times. Yet check engine light when on and app still said “everything looks good”.
2. It often cannot connect to the car. Whether to send directions or starting the car. This I looks like network issue.
3. The setup of connecting the car via phone, via car modem, or wifi is very confusing. There are no clear instructions or documentation on that. I connect to anything other than car modem, nothing works - seems that while VOC/app is now free, they want you to subscribe to ATT...

by Auset Seven

I am very surprised that VolvoCars is so rudimentary and has so many problems. Volvo is a luxury brand and I expected VolvoCars to behave better and have more functionality than the Honda I traded for my Volvo. The only functions performed from VolvoCars are remote start, lock/unlock, and flash lights. Unfortunately , the start feature only works about 50% of the time. Either I’m told the fuel is too low to start (which it isn’t), there is a problem with the engine, or the car is in power save mode (a feature that Should be controllable through VolvoCars ). Also, the remote start is referred to as the climate system but, the in car climate settings cannot be manipulated from VolvoCars . I understand the vehicle learns the driver’s preferences but suppose a “comfortable” temperature for me today is different from what the system estimates. VolvoCars needs to allow for more control. There is just so much room for improvement.

by Skippy426

The only useful feature in VolvoCars would be the remote start. I say “would be” because it doesn't really work consistently. I have an xc90 T8. With that vehicle, there are 2 remote start versions. When it is plugged in, it isn't really a remote start. It is "preconditioning" and it almost never works. This may not seem like a big deal but on a cold day of the battery isn’t preconditioned, it might as well not be there. There is virtually no electric range with a cold battery and temperatures in the 30F range. The actual remote start is nice but could have been accomplished with a remote and no app. Paying nearly $15/month to use equipment I own is beyond frustrating. All of the other features of VolvoCars can be done just as well (or better) with free apps. If you're considering buying a Volvo because it's a "connected" car, think again. There's plenty of good reasons to buy a Volvo, but VolvoCars isn’t one of them.

by Cinderella8911

I literally only use this all to pre-start my car and make sure it’s locked. All things that come standard with other make key fobs.

VolvoCars at times logs me out or will not work. For example, today I was out with my 11 month old son and dog. I wanted to run a quick errand since I was near the store but VolvoCars would not allow my car to run without the key in it (there have been enough break ins in that shopping area that I would not leave my doors unlocked, especially with my dog left inside. Fortunately I live close enough that I was able to drive my dog back home and then had to drive back to the store (albeit with an increasingly cranky child), but had that happened during a longer trip we would have been out of luck in this heat.

by Boostfreakpsi

I’m not sure why Volvo decided from a corporate perspective that they would not invest in their development team to build an awesome app, or that they think their customers don’t care or use VolvoCars enough to make the investment to improve it, but I am here to say I care and use it a lot. Every time I do use it, it leaves me wanting more. Having used other car manufactures apps I can say that Volvo is way behind the curve. I don’t know for whatever the reason may be. Performance is finicky, and I have even witness digression in functionality over updates. I obviously do not understand all the intricacies involved behind the curtain, but simple additions as controlling climate and turning heated seats on/off remotely are common amongst other manufactures. Volvo seems to not be focused on their younger and mor tech savvy owners and I hope that changes in the near future.

by Misha Reviewer

A solid app, a few additions would good to have

- Lease calculator
I am leasing this car and have a limit on the mileage, since you already have the current mileage information, would you add a lease mileage calculator - will show how I am using the car relative to max in my lease.

- widget for quick start
The iOS widget is pretty good. One of the option I use all the time is to start car remotely (for ventilation). Currently it requires two presses to start the car, would it be possible to have a button at the top layer. Also, may be having iWatch app would be good too.

- parked in the garage option
I keep the car in the garage and keep doors and windows open. Because if this I receive tons of notification a night about them. This seems to be silly. I understand that is not a simple as it seems. However, this can be a notification configuration option to start with, or can be based on car GPS, etc.

- close windows
VolvoCars sends notifications when windows are open. While there is an option to lock car, it would be good to have an option to close windows and close the panoramic roof shade.

by XC60 VOC App

This feature worked when I was under the free trial. But when I paid for a year membership, it stopped working. I took my XC60 to the dealership per the advice from Volvo On Call representative. The two people I talked with could not resolve my issue. So they advised me to take it to the dealership. The dealership could not resolve it because it is an app from Volvo. I was lost for words. When the “Volvo On Call Service Required” message came on, I pushed the call button from the car. I was instructed to go to the dealership for a software update. Again the dealership did not know about the update. It was finally done. I was praying it would correct my notifications issue. Well it did not. It makes me wonder why I am paying for a non-service App. I was instructed to delete VolvoCars and reload. Still does not work. I love my XC60, but the lock/unlock notification was a plus for me. When I have to take my husband to the doctor/hospital I have to valet my car sometimes. The drivers do not always lock the car. This is a helpful notification. I forget sometimes to check VolvoCars to make sure it is locked. So the reminder is very helpful when it was working.

by Mr.adriancarey

I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a decent app that really is useful and not just mostly a gimmick..
The new 2016 and upward Volvo’s are awesome cars with great tech. VolvoCars looks good, has some good features but like all the other apps out there, is rather expensive for a very limited set of actual useful features.
One saving grace is not needing a Sirius subscription for it to operate. They just spam you until you lose your mind and pay up. Lol
So you can lock and unlock your doors. See where the car is. Flash the lights and make the horn sound and get some basic information from the dash like current mileage and vin number. All handy at times BUT....
Volvo engineers, if you’re listening. Make it so that we can open/close windows.
Let us do more with the parking climate. Rather than just have a set schedule (nice touch) let us see what the current temp is and let us have a 5-10 min timer in case we need the car to warm up or cool down before leaving the store or the likes. Just please give us a little bit more excitement for our money rather than just the bare bones.
Give us the coolest app and we might buy an EVEN NEWER VOLVO in the future.
Just my $0.02

by WADE1217

The car’s built in nav interface rarely finds the destinations I am searching for. Because of this, I greatly prefer using the phone interface to search and send destinations to my V90’s nav unit. After this update , VolvoCars thinks I am in France instead of the US and I can no longer find the destinations I am searching for. I realized that the reason the nav search is broken is that VolvoCars no longer knows where I am when I am in the car. It now has a message explaining that for safety reasons the location is hidden and app to vehicle communication is disabled when the vehicle is in use. UGH! This is very disruptive change to VolvoCars and takes away much of its usefulness to me. Suggestion for the next update: If you feel the need to continue with the “safety” argument and keep communication and location hidden during use (I would like to know where valet drivers are taking my car), please enable VolvoCars to use the phone’s location instead to search for, select and send destinations to the car Navi while the car is in use (please). When the car is not in use, use the vehicle’s location just like it did before. Clarification: The developers have done a great job with VolvoCars but the new policy change preventing VolvoCars from working when the car is in use is very disappointing.

UPDATE: Volvo responded to my concerns with 5.8.2. The latest version fixes my concerns! (Yay!)

by Babygirl11234556677899

VolvoCars can do so much! I was not expecting to be able to start my car without getting something installed by the manufacture. I was totally prepared to do that until the dealer informed me that all I would have to do is download VolvoCars and sign up for a membership. Actually the membership came free for the first couple years with this car! I was so pleasantly surprised. But even more pleasantly surprised by the functionality of that. I agree with Philip you about the things that VolvoCars should be doing like accessing the cameras when the car is off, however what it does do now is absolutely fabulous! I love that I can unlock the car and lock the car from wherever I am. I love that I can start the car! I love the pre-conditioning feature because in the summertime I’d rather do that then start the car. End it really does cool the car down versus turning it on and using the AC. I love the map feature and I love that I can switch cars between other members of my family. My mom always forgets to start her car before she leaves the house and now I can start her car and mine because were both in the same family and both have a Volvo! I could go on and on. VolvoCars is worth this high car payment, i feel like i am really getting my monies worth.😊

by Bp526264

VolvoCars works flawlessly. Maybe it’s because I just downloaded it and it looks like VolvoCars is updated very frequently, but we use it on three phones to control two cars, and it’s problem-free. Sending commands does take about 30 seconds (lock/unlock, etc.), but given that it runs through a cell network and isn’t direct to the car it makes sense. It’d be nice if the phone could communicate directly with the car to speed this up if it’s nearby! Charging/plug-in-related alerts are awesome, as is seeing how much gas is left in the car.

Please consider adding a few features - roll up/down windows, close sun shade, and turn off anything activated in-app (flashing lights, lights & horn, etc.) - this would all improve the experience somewhat. Overall a super solid app, though. At $200/year for this + auto 911 calling for accidents + stolen vehicle tracking, it’s a fair deal.

by Phillip U.

Overall, VolvoCars is good. It's nice that for the 2018 model year, this service is included free for four years.

The remote start and preconditioning feature for plugin hybrids is really nice. I use it a lot in the winter.

The driving journal feature is nice as is calendar integration and the Apple Maps share extension for sending destinations to the in car navigation system.

Siri control is neat but limitations from Apple are frustrating. Apple should add support for remote start and preconditioning. It seems Volvo has implemented every other command that Apple allows Siri to perform.

I wish there was a way to activate cameras remotely. Along with this, I wish there was a way cameras could be triggered (proximity sensors) to record footage to an attached hard drive and be accessed by VolvoCars. But there are probably hardware limitations in the vehicle that prevent this.

One persistent problem is that setting timers for the aforementioned hybrid preconditioning feature is not super reliable with several attempts often needed. Setting the timer in the vehicle is reliable so it's not a huge deal but it still needs to be fixed.

Also, for some reason my app is set to use British English instead of American English for some things. So, I see a petrol level instead of gas. Again, not a big deal but I know that others see the American English labels so this should be fixed or at least user configurable.

by Joshua Sands

If you use remote start when you open your car the car turns off. This is a safety feature. I think it’s silly, but I’ve been told there’s no way to fix that. The troubling part is that VolvoCars interprets the engine shutting off as an error and it begins to bombard your iPhone and your Apple Watch with error messages saying that your Volvo could not be started. Well, of course that’s incorrect. The Volvo was started and deliberately stopped by VolvoCars . What’s worse, the driver has now been distracted by a series of three text messages that Volvo feels like it has to send. Sometimes they don’t come in for several minutes. I’m driving down the road and my phone starts going crazy with error messages.

This is awful. The fact that this application is as old as it is and this has not yet been fixed is really troubling! I see that Volvo updates VolvoCars frequently with bug fixes it… Why not this one? If you’re only gonna fix one bug, this is it!

And stop sending me text messages while I drive.

If this gets fixed I will change the review to five stars.

by Scam Alart

Three major drawbacks! I have a 2017 V60cc and I love VolvoCars for the most part! I flip people out being able to start my car from my watch! It’s nice to get all the info you get but...

1. EXPENSIVE!!! Cost way too much! I’m still on the free road side on call thing and VolvoCars alone cost $150 not to mention the $120 oil changes! That’s $400 a year folks!

2. You get a ton of info, but that slows it down! I wish the developers would offer a “lite” app. Lock&unlock doors, Start&stop, windows are open, gas and maintenance is good! That’s it!!! I gotta wake up and start the car to have it warm/cool by the time I get out there cause VolvoCars takes so long to do anything. Going through the watch is even longer!

3. Connect the windows to this thing! If you can tell the sun roof is open, close it no??? For the love of god connect the sunroof power to the windows. I stop, the car auto turns off so I turn off the ignition, the side window still work, the radio is still on, the sunroof is open, but I gotta turn the ignition back on to close it???

Other than those three things I love it!

by Joenapp

VolvoCars was the pits in 2017. It is gotten much more stable; however, very little functionality has been added in the over two years I’ve been using VolvoCars. It seems VolvoCars is a very low priority. I wish Volvo would at least update VolvoCars to work with the latest Apple Watch. It was very convenient to start car from watch face. Complications on the latest watch faces do not work. I also do not understand why remote start does not work with the latest smart home devices like Alexa. VolvoCars also asks me to sign in way too much.

by RefreshingMedia

VolvoCars seems great at first but fails in the wild. The ability to see where you park, blink lights and honk the horn, lock/unlock and start the engine or internal fans can be handy. However, when it comes to safety like having your car towed or stolen, VolvoCars fails horribly and doesn’t update until the vehicle is on. As told by an on call service rep-the location feature ONLY works if the vehicle is on. Recommend to get a separate gps finder for security. Physical Remote also seems to be vulnerable to replay attacks.

Additionally. VolvoCars NEVER notified that the vehicle was moved or tampered with despite notifications being turned on for both my phone and my wife’s iPhone.

by Laur Mish

App works well on my iPhone, unless for some reason my car is in “standby” on VolvoCars . Unsure what that is, but it will not remote start when it does this. The remote start should run for up to 30 minutes- 15 isn’t enough is very cold weather. Maybe this is a safety feature if someone does it in their garage with the door closed? Silly to do, but who knows. VolvoCars DOES NOT WORK with my series 5 Apple Watch. Being a doctor, I can’t dig around for my cell phone all the time to start my car. My watch is always on. I wish the car would start/work at all with my Apple Watch that has cellular. Please fix this.

by SMG XC90

I happened upon this page while updating VolvoCars and was surprised to see middling reviews. I use VolvoCars to check fuel levels from home or my desk, lock the doors, get service reminders, and check the location of my car when it’s been parked by valet or I’m out of town.

I’ve had occasional carrier (Verizon) issues due to living in a home not designed for cellular service but never a single blip or malfunction with VolvoCars or the in car information system and display.

I had misgivings about VolvoCars and in-car computer at first but I have to say that I’m impressed with the integration and updates so far.