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When you are new to Tesla, you might have thought that the default Tesla app, which is available on both iOS and Android, is good enough for daily use.

However, the Tesla app does not implement many features already available in its API. Maybe those require extra storage space and have privacy concerns, as every trip and charging details will be logged.

The charging stats screen of the default Tesla app is so basic.

One of the many benefits of using a third-party Tesla app is that every trip and charging details will be logged. So you get a breakdown of each trip, including the cost, and you can log how much you spend on each charging session.

Using the third-party app the moment you get the car is recommended, so all the details can be logged from that point on. Sadly, I didn’t do this, so I lost about 400km of data.

Two of the most popular third-party apps are Tessie and TezLab. Both apps are available on iOS and Android. Both also have a 7-day trial period.

Pricing-wise, Tessie is two times more expensive than TezLab, and for good reasons (do read on).

• Tessie Pro Monthly: US$12.99 (S$17)
• Tessie Pro Annual: US$129.99 (S$171)
• Tessie Pro Lifetime: US$299.99 (S$394)

• TezLab Pro Monthly: US$5.99 (S$8)
• TezLab Pro Annual: US$49.99 (S$66)
• TezLab Pro Lifetime: US$249.99 (S$328)

The prices above are taken from their website, as there are markups when you subscribe directly from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. I recommend avoiding doing that.

TezLab
I started with TezLab as it is cheaper, and I have no idea what to expect from a third-party Tesla app that the default Tesla app cannot already do.

So, after the 7-day trial period of TezLab, I subscribed to the 1-year plan, which cost US$49.99 (S$66), as I needed more time to evaluate.

TezLab is less overwhelming when you first open the app. Similar to the Tesla app, it will show you the status and controls of your car, followed by notifications and recent drives and charges.

At the bottom of the screen, it will show you your car’s stats and how it compares with others within your region.

TezLab positions itself as a Tesla community app, and hence, its social elements include messages, groups, and badges. I think they are useless and take up real-estate space on the screen, especially the “Forest & CO2”.

There are five tabs at the bottom navigation bar: Dashboard, Activity, Controls, Charger Map, and Community.

My favorite tab got to the Activity tab, showing your trips and charging details that are group by charge.

Tapping on a trip will bring you to the trip detail page, which will show you more details including your trip efficiency.

If you are charging at a location for the first time, TezLab will prompt you to set up the location so you can enter the charging cost.

However, if you are charging using Tesla’s SuperCharger, it will automatically fill in the cost.

I don’t use the Controls tab much, as I still use the default Tesla app to control my car.

Charger Map is not useful for me as it only shows Tesla’s chargers. I still prefer PlugShare where it shows third-party chargers.

Community is pretty much useless since I don’t even tap on it.

The UI/UX of TezLab is buggy and doesn’t feel as polished as Tessie. Some pages on TezLab take long to load.

When entering the charging cost, the validation logic tries to keep it in a minor decimal format, and hence, it keeps jumping.

Tessie
After a month with TezLab, I have a sense of what I want and need. I decided to give Tessie a try since it is the most popular third-party Tesla app in the market. Tessie also has a 7-day trial period.

Tessie uses a tile-based approach, and there are no bottom navigation bars.

The animated background will change according to your local weather. So if it is rails, it will rain in the background. It is a nice touch.

There are ten tiles: Drives, Battery, Climate, Charges, Tires, Schedule, Idles, Activity, Automation, and Alerts.

Every tile is self-explanatory and has its purpose for the car.

Unlike the TezLab Activity Tab, Tessie separates the Trips and Charges into two pages instead of grouping them together.

Again, tapping on the trip will give you the trip details page.

Like TezLab, you can create charging locations and set the associated cost.

Of the ten tiles, the only tile I don’t use is the Schedule, as in Singapore weather, you don’t need to preheat your battery. I also don’t have a fixed charging schedule since I stay in HDB and am not a landed property with my private charger.

Two features that set Tessie apart from the competition are Automation and Alerts.

You can automatically set to enable Sentry Mode when you are charging. This is something that I do manually, but now, it can be automated with Tessie.

Alerts are not new, TezLab also has them. What sets Tessie apart is the number of useful alerts.

Two useful alerts are the Movement and Alarm Sentry alerts. Tessie will send you a push notification when either is detected in Sentry mode.

You can also set alerts to remind you when your tire pressure is low or tire rotation is due.

The UX of Tessie is very polished. I have not encountered any bug or lag. Everything loads fast, and the transition is smooth. They use a lot of icons mixed with typography to make it look nice and allow you to eyeball the information you need fast.

Tessie supports many integrations. You can integrate with smart home systems like Alexa, Google Assistant, Home Assistant, Homey, HomeKit, and even IFTTT.

It supports data import for TeslaMate and TezLab. I imported my TezLab trip and charging data from TezLab to Tessie.

I encountered a bug in TezLab’s export for charging data. They have two columns named Coordinate, so Tessie could not import them. A quick fix is to rename the duplicated column to Cost since that is what the column is. I left a reply on X to @TezLabApp, and I am still waiting for them to acknowledge it.

Last but not least, Tessie is available on both iPad and Desktop Web Browser (dash.tessie.com). So you can even use them control your car. If you are locked out of your car, you can use your iPad or browser to unlock the car.

The only issue I had with Tessie is when in parked mode and connected to my BlackVue DR770X-2CH LTE Dashcam hotspot, Tesla doesn’t seem to send the telemetry details to Tessie very often, and hence, the data shown in the Tessie app is stale. This doesn’t happen with TezLab.

Luckily, this is an easy fix. I don’t need to connect to my dashcam’s LTE hotspot unless I need to upgrade Tesla’s firmware. So, I will connect on demand and forget the network when I am done with it.

TeslaMate
If you do not want to pay for any third-party Tesla apps, you can consider TeslaMate. This self-hosted solution uses your own Tesla API key to pull data from Tesla. You need to be technical to set it up.

Teslamate is written in Elixir, visualizes data using Grafana, and is stored in Postgres database.

Since it is free, I also gave TeslaMate a try. It works, but it doesn’t have an app for me to visualize.

Also, Grafana is best viewed using a desktop browser. To view it outside your home network, you must port forward it.

You will need to remember to take backups of your data in Postgres if it crashes and you lose your data.

I don’t like how TeslaMate handles charging locations because you have to do it outside Grafana and on the TeslaMate settings page itself.

You cannot edit individual charges to enter the exact amount you are charged with.

I feel TeslaMate is only suitable for users who want to visualize their car data at home and nothing else.

Conclusion
Overall, if I had to choose between Tessie and TezLab, I would choose Tessie mainly because of:

• Very polished UI and UX
• Additional alerts
• Additional automations
• App is available on iPad and Desktop Browser

TezLab is a very simple app, hence the lower price. You can consider getting TezLab if you have budget constraints and are sure you will use it only for trips and charging details.

So is a lifetime membership worth US$299.99 (S$394)? The answer is Yes.

As of today, you will not find a better third-party Tesla app than Tessie and you will use it every time you drive. Do note that it is a lifetime subscription. So, if you change to another Tesla after 8 years, you can still use it for your next Tesla.

They have a promotion right now that offers you a US$50 discount for a lifetime membership. So, you will end up paying US$249.99 (S$328). You have to apply the code 50LIFE upon checking out on their website.

If you want, you can use my Tessie’s referral link, share.tessie.com/OdrlQVS5JSb. I don’t get any benefits since I already paid for a lifetime membership. I just want to know how many referrals I did.

Note that this is not a sponsored post. I paid for both TezLab Annual and Tessie Lifetime membership.

After getting Tessie’s Lifetime membership, I will let the TezLab Annual plan run its due course and not renew it.

If you are interested in getting any Tesla models in Singapore, feel free to use my referral link: tesla.com/referral/lester68357.