Rivian Mobile App 2.0 Review

Rivian has released the next major update of their mobile app and with it comes a redesigned UI with easier-to-access controls, info cards with more details on your vehicle, and improved notifications. Here’s our quick Rivian Mobile App 2.0 Review.

Enhanced Card Grid

In 2.0, the default Home Screen has been designed to bring more data to you from the very beginning with beautiful info cards. On the top right corner of the main card, you are presented with various different icons to show the current status of your vehicle.

Climate, Charging, Security and access, Location, and Vehicle updates now each have their own info cards presenting some basic data for you. Tapping into each one will slide into a new screen with a full list of options for each of the options listed above. Unfortunately, as of the writing of this you still can’t manage Amperage on your current charge sessions nor can you view your vehicle location in real-time.

Don’t Forget To Slide Down

Rivian decided to utilize the sliding down feature to bring up a new cool effect that will show you vehicle data in a variety of different mini cards on the top of your phone screen. Everything from current charging session, Pet Comfort mode being enabled, Temperature warning, and more.

Controls

Immediately upon opening the new Rivian app, you are presented with 2 new icons: Lock/Unlock and Controls (presented with 4 tiny squares in a grid pattern). Tapping on the Controls brings up a scrolling list of options you can do with your Rivian vehicle. This includes sounding the alarm, venting the windows, opening the front trunk, and in your R1T, opening the Gear Tunnels.

What’s Your Vehicle Named?

Looking for the name of your vehicle? Scroll down on the Home Screen and you’ll be presented with the name of your Rivian and the current mileage on your vehicle. Tap Vehicle Information and you’ll see a familiar screen with your VIN, Trim, Drive System, and more. This is also where you can change the name of your vehicle.

Your Wheels Finally Match!

In v1 of the app, no matter what wheel and tire setup you had, the default was the 20″ All-terrain wheels. With v2, Rivian will now show you the actual setup of your Rivian vehicle as you bought it. One note, if you changed your wheel setup after you purchased and never got your vehicle recalibrated with Rivian, make sure to do so otherwise you will not see your new tire setup.

New App Icon

With v2 of the Rivian mobile app, we are introduced to a new app icon that matches more closely with the adventure theme that Rivian is going for.

So What’s Missing?

As you can tell, the v2 redesign of the Rivian mobile app focused mainly on user interface and making the app more friendly to use. That being said, there are still plenty of features that are unavailable that should be such as:

• Enabling or disabling Pet Comfort mode within the app
• Live location view of your vehicle
• View your Gear Guard cameras from the app
• Adjust the amperage of your active charging session
• Visual indicator for those who have multiple vehicles

Many of these can be added in future app updates and might already be within the app but can only be enabled with a new OTA update, but for now, we are left without those much-needed features.

Overall, Rivian did a standup job with v2 of the mobile app, and it’s a big UI departure from v1 of the Rivian mobile app. Gone are the obscure graphics on the Home Screen. We now have an app that is functional and heading in the right direction. Is it perfect? Absolutely not. As a previous Tesla owner, the Tesla app went through various redesigns before getting to where it is today. I’m looking forward to seeing what the great team at Rivian will do next with app design and user interface.

The Rivian mobile app v2 is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.