PAAK door sense issue and Question

[flyct]

Recently in the last few weeks my iPhone had been acting weird when trying to use it to open the Truck door.

When using only either my or my wife's iPhone:

• When I walk up to the truck the truck doesn't sense the phone. The "Welcome Lights" don't come on. I can use the keypad to unlock the door fine.
• After entering the truck the truck starts fine with the START button.
• After turning the tuck OFF and walking away it does NOT activate Walk Away Lock.

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With the FOB in my pocket everything works as expected.

• When I walk up to the truck the truck the "Welcome Lights" don't come on.
• After entering the truck the truck starts fine with the START button.
• After turning the truck OFF and walking away, it activates Walk Away Lock

------------------------

So far I've done the following with no changes:

• Deleted my Phone as a Key and repaired it
• Disconnected the 12 v battery for several minutes and reconnected it

Called Ford Pass and they had me do several things

• Had me delete the phone from Ford Pass and pair again.
• Had me verify Bluetooth connection
• Had me verify Location Services was "Always ON" for the Ford Pass APP
• Had me log off and ON the Ford Pass APP
• Had me verify that the correct F-150 was connected via Bluetooth
• Had me verify that I had multiple cellular signal bars on my phone
• Had me verify the the FOB worked as intended, which it does.
• Had me move my Apple Watch away so it wouldn't be Bluetooth paired with my phone
• Had me power cycle my phone
• Had me turn Bluetooth off and on and verify the Truck was connected

He said he would contact me after discussing with 2nd level of his supervisor after running it by them


Some background.

A few weeks ago the mobile tech replaced the door keypad. In doing so he totally removed the driver door panel. I don't remember if PaaK worked to unlock the door after that visit. I know it was working fine immediately after taking ownership but don't remember when it began to fail.

It is like then external proximity sensor is not sensing the phone nut the internal sensor is sensing it fine. I am thinking that perhaps an sensor or antenna in the door panel was left unplugged and that is what is causing the truck to not sense the phone when near the driver door.

Has anyone had similar issue and does anyone have any thoughts?

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[The Weatherman]

Yes, but instead of trying to trouble shoot it, I just put the fob back in my pocket. It had been hit and miss for the past 6-8months and was tired of dealing with it.

 

[Heliian]

Paak will sleep in your phone if not in use, you'll need to change your phone settings to allow it always on.

 

[flyct]

Paak will sleep in your phone if not in use, you'll need to change your phone settings to allow it always on.

Thanks for the suggestion. That is one of the things they had me check. PaaK works to start and drive the truck. They also had me power the phone off and back on to reset it.

"Had me verify Location Services was "Always ON" for the Ford Pass APP"

The truck doesn't sense the Phone when I approach the truck.

 

[Tfarrell73]

I've seen welcome lights not activate if 12v soc is low

 

[bhelms]

PaaK is one of those things you will just have to accept will be unreliable as it does not appear that Ford can figure out how to make it reliable (they keep updating it and reliability goes down). I still put up with it because miniaturization has made it to all areas of technology except keyfobs and I don't like having that brick in my pocket. If you want reliable, carry the fob.

 

[digitaldad]

Whole slew of possibilities but a few points:

1. PAAK on this Ford just doesn't work as optimally as compared to our Teslas, but it's OK (I do not carry a OEM fob). In regards to iOS, I wish Ford would just join the official Apple key program. If it hardware-wise supported it, I would really like to just compare it to PAAK (for the nerd in me). I also wish apple watch was supported, individually (not an iPhone app extension).

2. You quoted the door keypad replacement in your notes but stated the OEM fob was fine, so don't think anything impacting iOS only, on that end.

3. Are you iOS 18 or 26 beta, didn't mention?

4. With the constant updates: truck s/w, fordpass app and iOS, pretty hard to nail down but I do see changes occur.

I'm on 26 beta but have had the continual aforementioned updates on my end so tough to pinpoint. As of late, my changes seem to be waking up the truck from the drivers door (ie. slow to wake up truck to unlock, or have to bring phone closer to the door handle). Ironically, I have been testing the rear drivers door and it seems much more quick to unlock/wake.

I have the welcome lights turned off but I wonder if that wakes the truck quicker and readies the door unlock procedure.

EDIT: I missed the point where you said the welcome lights do not come on when using the fob but stated "everything works as expected"...was this incorrectly stated?

 

[flyct]

Agreed, that Tesla PaaK has never failed. Plus the Apple Watch Tesla App works 100%

I don’t know if phone and FOB use the same receiver.

iOS 18.5

It was working pretty good until a few weeks ago. Both phones are experiencing the issue.

PS. I’m spoiled with Tesla tech reliability. Ford has a long way to go.

I keep a programmed FOB locked in Center Console safe in a Faraday bag. As long as the keypad works or my watch works to unlock the doors I shouldn’t get stranded.

 

[RocketGhost]

Try opening the Ford app on your phone immediately before you approach the truck to see if that makes a difference. Also try approaching the passenger side. But that does raise a question, is the phone sensor in each door, or it is a central sensor?

For me welcome lights are hit or miss with PaaK, usually a miss. I also usually notice a delay with unlocking, and often I have to stand beside the door for a moment before it detects my phone.

When I have trouble opening the app on my phone again usually solves it.

 

[flyct]

UPDATE:

The Ford Pass rep called me back this morning and asked me to verify that Walk Away Lock was selected, which it was. He asked me to turn it off and turn it on. After that there was no change with PaaK. Then he said was going to escalate with tech support and call me back later.

WELL, I just went to pair my wife's phone since it was deleted when we were doing the testing. Surprise, it worked for all features.

Then I tried my phone and it works also.


UPDATE to the UPDATE:

Looked at Software Updates on the Truck center screen and it appears that they may have pushed a Gateway Module update 24.2.5.7 to the truck. I assume it was installed today. I don't know how to check when it was installed.

Called Ford Pass. They told me that 24.2.5.7 was installed in March 2025 so that is not what fixed it. There is a more current update 24.2.5.7.3 that hasn't been pushed to my truck yet.

So for now it appears fixed for reasons unknown. Fingers crossed is remains fixed .

 

[TaxmanHog]

UPDATE:

The Ford Pass rep called me back this morning and asked me to verify that Walk Away Lock was selected, which it was. He asked me to turn it off and turn it on. After that there was no change with PaaK. Then he said was going to escalate with tech support and call me back later.

WELL, I just went to pair my wife's phone since it was deleted when we were doing the testing. Surprise, it worked for all features.

Then I tried my phone and it works also.


UPDATE to the UPDATE:

Looked at Software Updates on the Truck center screen and it appears that they may have pushed a Gateway Module update 24.2.5.7 to the truck. I assume it was installed today. I don't know how to check when it was installed.

Called Ford Pass. They told me that 24.2.5.7 was installed in March 2024 so that is not what fixed it. There is a more current update 24.2.5.7.3 that hasn't been pushed to my truck yet.

So for now it appears fixed for reasons unknown. Fingers crossed is remains fixed .

I wonder if they sent a unique push of the updated version as a test (just for you), they have the ability to do this at the engineering level.

 

[MountainAlive]

Your originally described PAAK issues in post 1 mirror my own issues. And I have not had the keypad replaced. It’s just been flaky since day 1.

 

[flyct]

3 MONTH UDDATE:

I believe my original issue finally is resolved with replacement of the driver door handle.

A little history of my quest to get it resolved.

While dealing with Ford Technical Customer Service in the phone, the issue corrected itself for a few days. I thought it was just a software glitch

Then when it returned the Local dealer sent the same mobile tech who replaced the door keypad out to my house. He spent 4 hours at the house, half the time with engineering on the phone.

We were able to isolate it to the truck didn’t sense when my phone was on the driver side only and it refused to unlock when drivers door handle was touched. The passenger side worked 100% of the time.

It appears that there are several (5?) Bluetooth antennas on the truck exterior. One is actually inthe driver door handle.

A new handle was ordered but it came in unpainted. They sent it to their body shop and tech once again came to my house to swap the handle. I refused the paint match and they sent to be back to body shop for a repaint.

It was installed yesterday and SO FAR it works every time.

 

[digitaldad]

It was installed yesterday and SO FAR it works every time.

Do you notice a change in the actual lock button on this replacement? I realize you're descibing more the PAAK/unlock capabilities.

I've never known if these are physical/tactile buttons or only touch sensitive...but my driver door seems different than the other ones on my truck. Intermittent is the best I could describe the driver door/button (and unlock PAAK).

 

[flyct]

Do you notice a change in the actual lock button on this replacement? I realize you're describing more the PAAK/unlock capabilities.

I've never known if these are physical/tactile buttons or only touch sensitive...but my driver door seems different than the other ones on my truck. Intermittent is the best I could describe the driver door/button (and unlock PAAK).

No, on the original handle neither the lock button or the door handle open sensing was responding. Now with the new handle both sensors are responding perfectly.

Now when I approach the truck on the driver side with my phone in my front pocket the power running boards extend, confirming that the truck sensed my Phone. When I LIGHTLY touch the inside of the driver door handle the door unlocks and when I LIGHTLY touch the lock button on the drivers door it locks immediately .

There is no difference in response when touching the driver front door lock sensor button compared to touching the rear door lock sensor button.

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