Is Toyota Remote Connect Free? (Subscription, Services Plans)

Does Toyota Remote Connect have an included trial? It used to be the case that, when you bought a new car, you made one straightforward payment and that was it.

Now, it feels like there are hundreds of different available upgrades, options, and services that you might need to pay extra for. With that in mind, is Toyota Remote Connect free?

Toyota Remote Connect is not free but it is included at no extra charge with the Go Anywhere, Premium, and Music Lover subscription plans.

Read on to find out what Remote Connect is and how much you might need to pay to access it.

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What Is Toyota Remote Connect?

There is a lot of different terminology around the various apps and services that you can get with a new Toyota these days, so what exactly does Remote Connect do?

Toyota Remote Connect is a way to interact with your vehicle via your smartphone (or other smart devices, like a smartwatch). It has several key features that can be incredibly useful and save you a lot of time and hassle, including:

Remote Start/Stop. Using Remote Connect you can start or stop the engine of your vehicle from your smartphone.
Remote Lock and Unlock. You can also use Remote Connect to lock and unlock the doors to your vehicle using your smartphone.
Guest Driver. This is a feature that gives you alerts while your vehicle is being driven. You can preset speed limits, time limits, mile limits, area limits, and curfews and Remote Connect will tell you when the driver goes beyond these limits.
Vehicle Finder. With Remote Connect you can locate your vehicle from your phone, so you never need to worry about memorizing roads in a new city or navigating complicated parking lots.

Ultimately, Remote Connect is very convenient but it is not an essential service. You can start and stop your engine and lock and unlock your doors just fine without it, but it does make things that little bit easier.

Perhaps the most game-changing things about the service are the Guest Driver and Vehicle Finder features.

If you’ve ever let your teen borrow your car then you’ll understand just how much peace of mind these can offer you!

How Much Does Toyota Remote Connect Cost?

Now, let’s get to the crux of the question here. How much are these conveniences going to end up costing you? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t as straightforward as you might hope.

Toyota Remote Connect is available as part of a subscription service but you cannot just pay for Remote Connect on its own.

Instead, you will be given access to Remote Connect as standard with all three of the subscription plans that Toyota offers.

Basically, you can access Remote Connect by paying either $15 or $25 per month for one of the three Toyota subscription plans: Music Lover, Go Anywhere, or Premium.

While you might think that these monthly prices are a little pricey for the convenience that Remote Connect offers, there is a lot more to each plan than just Remote Connect access.

Which Subscription Plans Offer Toyota Remote Connect?

So, we know that you will get Remote Connect with any one of the Toyota subscription plans on offer, but what exactly are they and what else will you be getting for your money?

Music Lover Plan

Monthly Cost: $15

The Music Lover plan is pretty self-explanatory: it’s for people that love music. With this plan, you will be given unlimited integrated streaming so that you can browse and play music directly from your vehicle through your Apple Music and Amazon Music accounts.

Of course, you will also get Remote Connect as well.

Go Anywhere Plan

Monthly Cost: $15

With the Go Anywhere Plan, you get access to Drive Connect as well as Remote Connect. Drive Connect gives you up-to-date maps and guidance with Cloud Navigation, navigation assistance from live agents with Destination Assist, and a virtual Intelligent Assistant so that you can be sure that you will always get to where you need to go.

It’s a lot of different mapping and navigation tools, on top of the ease-of-use features that you get with Remote Connect.

Premium Plan

Monthly Cost: $25

With the Premium Plan, you get all of the features of both the Music Lover and Go Anywhere plans together. You have access to Remote Connect, all of the Drive Connect navigation assistance options, and integrated streaming for your Apple Music and Amazon Music account as well.

The difference is, you pay $5 less each month compared to signing up for both.

Can You Get A Free Trial Of Remote Connect?

You might be thinking that Remote Connect (or any of the other subscription options) sound interesting but you’re not sure how much you will use them. That’s where a trial period can come in really handy.

With most Toyota models, you will be given a complimentary trial subscription that includes Remote Connect, which will give you a chance to test it out before you sign up for the monthly payments.

This free trial is not available with all Toyota vehicles, though – and make sure to set a reminder on your calendar so that you can decide whether or not to cancel your subscription when the trial runs out!

How Do You Enable Remote Connect?

It’s very easy to actually get started with Remote Connect when you do sign up. Basically, everything is done through the Toyota app (now called the MyT app).

Here are the basic steps to get you started:

Download the MyT app from the Google Play or Apple App Store. Choose your location and language preferences, give the app permission, and sign in with the email address or mobile number associated with your Toyota account.
Activate your complimentary trial or paid subscription service.
Check the email account that is associated with your subscription for an email that contains a 6-digit authorization code.
Enter the 6-digit authorization code in your MyT multimedia system within the vehicle.
Your Remote Connect account should now be active!

How Do You Use Toyota Remote Connect?

With everything set up, you can now start using the Remote Connect features, and they are pretty easy to get to grips with.

Remote Start/Stop

In the MyT app, go to My Garage. Select the vehicle that you want to start or stop and you will notice a “Start” or “Stop” button at the bottom of the screen.

Press and hold Start for one second to start the engine. It will automatically turn off after 10 minutes if the vehicle is not driven in that time. Simply press the same button again (which now reads Stop) to turn it off yourself.

Remote Lock/Unlock

To the left and right of the Start/Stop button on the vehicle page, you will see a lock and unlock button. Press and hold the lock or unlock button for one second to lock or unlock your vehicle. It’s that simple!

It will lock/unlock all doors at once, and you can tap “View Status” at the top of the screen to see which doors are locked and unlocked, and also whether they are open or closed.

Guest Driver

At the bottom of the screen, below the Lock and Unlock buttons and the Start/Stop button, you will see a Guest Driver Settings option. Tap this and it will open all of the settings for this feature.

You can set up notifications for up to 5 different guest drivers. For each driver, you can set speed, miles, area, and time limits as well as a curfew. Once you have decided on the driver settings, you can enable notifications for that guest driver in the same area of the app whenever you want.

Vehicle Finder

If you scroll down a little further you will see the Vehicle Finder map. Tap the “Last Parked Location” option to open up a map showing a pin of the last known location of the vehicle, which you can zoom into by tapping the car symbol in the bottom right-hand corner.

You can also locate yourself on the map by tapping the arrow in the bottom right-hand corner.

Toyota is NOT Charging You for Remote Start: UPDATE!!! >> Check out the video below:

Summary

So, is Toyota Remote Connect free? Unfortunately, it is not, but it does come as standard on every one of the subscription plans that Toyota offers.

You can pay either $15 or $25 a month for one of these plans, and you will get access to all of the Remote Connect features as well as the other benefits of your chosen plan.

Remote Connect is certainly convenient, but your vehicle is completely usable without it. You just need to decide whether the features are worth the cost!