Sync Destinations app

[hybridbear]

Thanks to an offhand comment by acdii I discovered the Sync Destinations app. I don't know a lot about what all it can do yet, but it seems really neat if you haven't already checked it out. I'm curious about how others use it and what value they find in it. I love discovering new features about the Fusion that I didn't know before!

Edited May 25, 2014 by hybridbear

[SteveB_TX]

Works for me. Used it yesterday to send a route to the MLT. :)

[Easy Rider]

How about a quick summary of what you know now.

 

It might encourage me to check mine out further.......when I get my car back from the shop, that is.

 

So far, the NAV system itself seems to do all that I need.

[acdii]

It will use your phones GPS to mark the location of your car, so if you are in a large parking lot, for a long time, you can tap the find my car and it will lead you to it. It has Roadside Assistance, for both Ford and Lincoln. You can report a traffic incident, or view traffic along your route. For the Navigation, whether you have the full Nav, or just turn by turn, you can plan a route, and send it to your car, and also is able to save locations you frequently use.

 

Pretty handy App, I used the prior Lincoln App this one replaces to send a route to my car several times.

[hybridbear]

It will use your phones GPS to mark the location of your car, so if you are in a large parking lot, for a long time, you can tap the find my car and it will lead you to it. It has Roadside Assistance, for both Ford and Lincoln. You can report a traffic incident, or view traffic along your route. For the Navigation, whether you have the full Nav, or just turn by turn, you can plan a route, and send it to your car, and also is able to save locations you frequently use.

 

Pretty handy App, I used the prior Lincoln App this one replaces to send a route to my car several times.

Thank you, acdii. I didn't know what it did. I just discovered it from your comment and downloaded it yesterday. I will try using it today to test it.

 

How long in advance of leaving can I send a route to the car?

[acdii]

As you walk out the door. By the time you get in and start it, all you need to do is press the i button and services. it will dial in and download the directions.

[Easy Rider]

It will use your phones GPS to mark the location of your car, so if you are in a large parking lot, for a long time, you can tap the find my car and it will lead you to it.

 

Am I missing something here........

Seems like that function is 100% contained within the phone itself.

Why do you need something in the car to make it work ??

[acdii]

You dont, its in the App. Its just a handy little gadget they added to it. Eventually they will merge all the Apps into one, where you can lock, or unlock the car using the phone, start it, etc. Not all models are capable of doing this yet, but the Flex/MKT Explorer now have this option. The Send to car feature for planning routes is pretty good and very useful, you dont have to sit in a hot or cold car punching in a destination, only to get frustrated because it switches screens while typing and you wind up in the wrong city or road, and have to back out and start over.

[Griswald]

That app no longer works...the last 20 or 30 reviews all state the same thing. It won't hook up to Sync. I emailed the developer but since they havent responded to the reviews, I don't see any help coming.

 

Too bad, the app looks like it would help.

[SteveB_TX]

That app no longer works...the last 20 or 30 reviews all state the same thing. It won't hook up to Sync. I emailed the developer but since they havent responded to the reviews, I don't see any help coming.

 

Too bad, the app looks like it would help.

 

Works fine for me. No connection problems here... the app keeps me logged in as it is supposed to. I read the same reviews, and have come to the conclusion those people are idiots. ;)

Edited May 27, 2014 by SteveB_TX

[md13ffhguy]

I installed this yesterday and I might use it to push directions - we'll see. The function to find your parked car is silly, since you have to manually tag your location in the app. I just noticed recently that Google Now does this for me automatically, although that's a little creepy!

[acdii]

I installed this yesterday and I might use it to push directions - we'll see. The function to find your parked car is silly, since you have to manually tag your location in the app. I just noticed recently that Google Now does this for me automatically, although that's a little creepy!

I much rather prefer for ME to input that information, than some autobot doing it. Talk about Big Brother, that just Scares the crap out of me. Person of Interest ring any bells?

[taullinis]

No scary is when you are on vacation and after a day at the hotel when you are out to dinner, the phone is telling you how long it will take to get "home" and you realize it is referring to the hotel...

[hybridbear]

How does this work for cars without navigation? I want to help our friends who bought a Fusion get this set up but I don't know how it works without nav to be able to explain it to them in Spanish.

 

Thanks!

[acdii]

It will do turn by turn directions, it just doesnt have a map like the nav does.

[murphy]

It has to be configured on the SyncMyRide web site.

That includes telling the web site what your bluetooth capable cell phone number is.

There you enter a destination and give it a name.

Or you can use the app to send a destination to the car.

To use it in the car you press the command button and give the command "Services".

It's been a long time since I used it but I think the next command is "Destination name" where name is the name you created on the web site.

The car accesses the builtin GPS system to determine where the car currently is located.

(The cell phone does not have to have GPS capability or even be a smart phone. I used it with a Motorola RAZR V3 back in 2009.)

It then uses the cell phone to call the Services computer system and sends the car's location and the requested name.

The computer system takes the start and end points of the trip and generates turn by turn directions for the trip and sends them to the car.

The car disconnects the cell phone and begins the trip navigation.

As the trip progresses the car monitors the GPS system to verify that the route is being followed.

If you deviate from the route the car will ask if you want to recalculate the route.

If you stay no it will be silent until you get back on the original route at which time it will resume turn by turn directions.

If you say yes it will repeat the previous process to generate a new route based on your current location as the start point.

When the destination is reached if the car gets to the actual destination coordinates the route will automatically cancel.

If the car doesn't reach the actual coordinates (the coordinates for my house end up being in the middle of my back yard) the route has to be cancelled manually by voice command.

 

When I used it in 2009 it was linked to Google Maps. Today I think it is linked to Mapquest.

There was no way to customize a route and I didn't like the strange routes that it generated.

I went back to using my Garmin GPS and stopped using it. I did not renew the services feature when it expired after 3 years.

[Barsoom]

I use the SendToCar app that integrates into Google Maps. You can find a location on Google Maps and it will send the location to Sync Services. Then you call Sync Services from the car and it will download the destination into the Navigation system.

 

It doesn't plan routes or track traffic, but it will send the address from Google Maps on your phone to the car so you don't have to look for it with Point of Interest or manually enter the address.

[hybridbear]

This question is for Kim or anyone else who's knowledgeable about the app. What is the search radius for businesses? Can it be expanded? I quite often use the app when traveling far away from home, when I try to type in the name of a business where I'm going I cannot find it until I'm in that area. Is there a way to adjust that? Also, perhaps I know that I'm going to Rochester, MN, for example, so I want to search for a business there before I leave Minneapolis so that I can send it to the car. But if I type in a popular business name like Target it will only show me results near my current location. Is there a way to change the search area? If not, please document that as a feature request for a future version of the Sync Destinations app. Thanks.

[FordIVTteam]

This question is for Kim or anyone else who's knowledgeable about the app. What is the search radius for businesses? Can it be expanded? I quite often use the app when traveling far away from home, when I try to type in the name of a business where I'm going I cannot find it until I'm in that area. Is there a way to adjust that? Also, perhaps I know that I'm going to Rochester, MN, for example, so I want to search for a business there before I leave Minneapolis so that I can send it to the car. But if I type in a popular business name like Target it will only show me results near my current location. Is there a way to change the search area? If not, please document that as a feature request for a future version of the Sync Destinations app. Thanks.

 

Hey hybridbear,

 

The radius will depend on what you enter in the search bar. The app will attempt to provide you with options closest to your location. For example, I'm located in Dearborn, Michigan. When I search for TARGET, the app provides me with 3 locations within 10 miles. When I search for CHICK-FIL-A (there are no locations in my area), I receive one result that is 38.4 miles away.

 

You can search for businesses in other areas, but you must include the city or zip code in your search criteria. For example, if I change my entry from TARGET to TARGET NEAR CANTON MI, I see results closer to Canton than Dearborn.

 

Kim

[hybridbear]

 

Hey hybridbear,

 

The radius will depend on what you enter in the search bar. The app will attempt to provide you with options closest to your location. For example, I'm located in Dearborn, Michigan. When I search for TARGET, the app provides me with 3 locations within 10 miles. When I search for CHICK-FIL-A (there are no locations in my area), I receive one result that is 38.4 miles away.

 

You can search for businesses in other areas, but you must include the city or zip code in your search criteria. For example, if I change my entry from TARGET to TARGET NEAR CANTON MI, I see results closer to Canton than Dearborn.

 

Kim

Very cool...except it doesn't work for me. I'm currently in Wausau, WI for work and I tried searching for Target near home by typing in "Target near Minneapolis MN". The app told me "no results found". So then I tried typing in "Target near Canton MI" just like you did and I still got "no results found". Any ideas Kim? Thanks!

[FordIVTteam]

Very cool...except it doesn't work for me. I'm currently in Wausau, WI for work and I tried searching for Target near home by typing in "Target near Minneapolis MN". The app told me "no results found". So then I tried typing in "Target near Canton MI" just like you did and I still got "no results found". Any ideas Kim? Thanks!

 

After doing a little more testing, it seems that the business search feature on the SYNC Destinations app will only search for businesses in the current state you are located in. If you search for TARGET NEAR MINNEAPOLIS once you're back in Minnesota, you should be able to pull up some results. If you're located in MN, try searching for businesses in different cities within MN and let me know what happens.

 

Keep in mind that SYNC Services will still allow you to do a business search in a different state, but this must be done through voice commands. Once you give the command DIRECTIONS, your system will ask you to name the city and state that you're going to. Next, say BUSINESS SEARCH and follow the prompts given to you.

 

Kim

[hybridbear]

Has anyone else had issues recently with Sync Destinations signing out? For months my app stayed signed in, which was great. Recently, it seems that every time I try to use the app I have to sign in again. This makes it a hassle to use. I'm using an iPhone 5s running iOS 7.1.2.

[jeffo65]

I just checked the app on my phone (Android) and I had to sign in as well. The problem is that it does not recognize my username/password. I have no problems logging into SYN on the SYNC site though. Hhhmmm

[hybridbear]

I just checked the app on my phone (Android) and I had to sign in as well. The problem is that it does not recognize my username/password. I have no problems logging into SYN on the SYNC site though. Hhhmmm

It always recognizes my e-mail & password to sign in, it just annoyingly signs us out a lot now...