Frequently asked questions

No. Hello # has no servers of its own. The app talks directly to smart's servers from your device, using your smart account. Your trips, commands, locations and login details all stay between your device and smart.

The only thing we run is a small service that fetches car pictures from smart's public website, so older models still show up correctly even after smart removes them from sale. No personal data passes through it.

We never see anything else.

Yes, Hello # is free. No ads, no subscription. We build it on our own time because we own smart cars too and wanted a better app.

Developers run on coffee! If you'd like to thank us, you can buy us one from inside the app.

Hello # currently ships in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Finnish.

If a language is missing or you notice something off, let us know through the feedback button.

To join, write to us through the feedback button and ask for a TestFlight invite. We'll send you an Apple invitation link.

To leave, open the TestFlight app on your device, tap Hello #, and choose Stop Testing at the bottom.

You can switch between the App Store and TestFlight versions whenever you like.

Yes, both apps can run side by side on the same device. They use the same smart account and connect to the same servers, so they don't conflict.

Each app can even have its own digital key, independent from the other.

Hello # can't add or remove cars directly. To transfer a car you've sold, release it from your account in the official Hello smart app. The change takes about an hour or two to process.

The new owner then adds the car in Hello smart first, since that's where smart asks for personal details. After that, they can log in to Hello # with the same account and the car will appear automatically.

If you bought a used car and can't reach the previous owner, smart's support can help. Get in touch with them directly and they can release the car so you can claim it.

You can schedule charging directly inside Hello #. That part works.

Departure time and scheduled preconditioning are different. smart themselves haven't built this feature into their app or servers, so there's nothing for Hello # to call. Even the official Hello smart app doesn't support it.

In the meantime, you can build your own schedule with Apple Shortcuts. A daily automation triggering the Start Preconditioning shortcut gets close to a real departure time.

smart doesn't expose the battery temperature in their public API. Hello # only displays what smart actually provides, so we can't include it.

If smart starts exposing it, we'll add it.

smart's servers and your car decide between themselves when to wake it up. There's no public API for forcing a refresh.

Hello # has an Attempt Refresh button when you tap the status indicator at the top left of the main screen, but it's unpredictable. The car may respond, or it may stay asleep, mainly to protect its battery.

No. Opening or refreshing Hello # doesn't affect your car's battery.

Hello # talks to smart's servers, not directly to the car. The servers hold the latest known data and decide for themselves when to wake the car for fresh values. Calling Hello # a hundred times will not make the car wake up a hundred times.

A few things need to be in place for trips to appear.

The car must have its in-car location service turned on. If location uploads are off, smart's servers don't get the GPS data Hello # needs, and the trip tab is hidden.

Trips are only available to the car's owner. If you use Hello # through a shared key, you won't see them.

On-vehicle trip recording must also be enabled. You can toggle it from the trip history settings inside Hello #.

If all three are in order and trips are still missing, let us know.

All trip history data in Hello # comes from smart's servers. smart doesn't record energy or consumption for smart #1 and #3, so it's not something Hello # can show or track on its own.

Only smart #5 reports it for now. We're hoping smart will make it available on #1 and #3 in the future.

Hello # shows exactly what smart's servers send. When an indicator looks wrong, the issue is almost always upstream. smart's servers may be holding stale data, or your car may have lost 4G coverage temporarily.

For example, the parking brake may briefly show on after a drive if the car's last update was sent before you started moving. Or charging may show as in progress on a car that has just unplugged.

Most of these resolve on their own once the car sends fresh data. If something stays wrong for hours, check the official Hello smart app. If it shows the same thing, it's a smart-side issue and nothing Hello # can fix.

Hello # surfaces errors immediately, while the official Hello smart app often just looks unresponsive without telling you why. So sometimes Hello # looks broken when it's actually smart's servers having trouble.

If this happens, try not to log out of either app first. Your digital key keeps working as long as you stay logged in, and Hello # often picks up automatically once smart's servers are back.

The timestamp at the top left of the dashboard tells you when the data was last refreshed. If it stays stale for a while, the official Hello smart app is a good way to check whether the issue is on smart's side or possibly on ours.

Hello # can send your car's live data to A Better Route Planner so it stays up to date during a trip.

To set it up, copy your generic API token from the ABRP app (Your Vehicle, Live Data, Link, Copy generic token), then paste it in the ABRP section inside Hello #.

How often updates reach ABRP depends on how Hello # is running. With the app open, the data refreshes close to real time. With the lock screen widget visible, it refreshes about every 20 minutes.

This is an Apple limitation we can't fully work around. iOS restricts what apps are allowed to do in the background, especially for Bluetooth, so Hello # can't always wake up and connect when your device is locked or the app isn't open.

When this happens, opening Hello # usually triggers the connection within a couple of seconds. If you'd rather not have to do that, the physical key always works as a fallback.

It depends on smart and on your region.

In Europe, digital key is supported on smart #1, smart #3 and smart #5.

In the UK, smart only enabled it for smart #5.

Outside Europe, digital key support varies and is more limited.

If you're not sure whether it's enabled on your account, the official Hello smart app is a good check. If it offers to create a digital key there, Hello # can use it too.

You can install Hello # on any of your Apple devices through the App Store. Same login, same garage. The layout adapts to the bigger screen on iPad and Mac.

Open a place in Apple Maps or Google Maps, tap the Share button, and pick Hello #. The destination goes straight to your car's navigation, ready to start when you sit down. Your car needs to be on for it to arrive.

Most actions in Hello # are wired up as Siri shortcuts. Try saying:

"Siri, lock my car with Hello #"

"Siri, defrost my smart with Hello #" (smart #5 only)

"Siri, open the charging lid with Hello #" (smart #5 only)

"Siri, open my digital key with Hello #"

You can also build longer automations in the Shortcuts app, like preconditioning your car every morning at 7am.

While your car is charging, Hello # has a Charge StandBy view that fills the screen with the current battery percentage. Perfect for leaving on a desk while you wait. You'll find it inside the Charge tab.

Hello # has a CarPlay extension that shows your car's status from the dashboard, including battery level and charging state.