Tech & Biz

Viper SmartStart iPhone App Locks, Unlocks, Starts Car Remotely

by Blaine Metzgar | October 13, 2009 at 12:51 pm

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The Viper SmartStart iPhone app just may be the most useful app on the market allowing owners to lock, unlock, start, even control the heat, trunk, and alarm all remotely from any distance. Because the signal is carried over cellphone networks anyone with the SmartStart app has unlimited range on controlling their vehicle. Although the app itself is free, to set it all up you'll need to drop $499.99, which includes installation, on the SmartStart system available at Bestbuy and then shell out another $29.99 a year after the first year of complimentary service.

Here’s how the system works: if you have a compatible Viper remote system installed on your car, you can download a free iPhone app and configure your car to hook up to your phone. Then, you can start your car and turn on the heat before you head out to the driveway. The Viper iPhone app can also lock your car (or unlock it) remotely too.

The advantage of the iPhone app over the traditional key-remotes is that the range is much larger than what you get with IR. I’m assuming the system works via satellite, because Viper calls it “virtually unlimited.” This would definitely be convenient for anyone who has a relative or a spouse with a predilection for locking their keys in the car.

In a demonstration for the product, Mike Simmons, executive vice president of Directed Electronics, the parent of the maker, unlocked his car in California all the way from Kansas City, Missouri.

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