Compustar has a similar system. I believe the app control portion of either system is an add on feature you have to get in addition to the remote start system. I have the Compustar system and know someone that has the Viper set up. Not sure if you can bypass having to buy a whole new remote start system and just add the app control feature to your existing remote start. I’ve always had it installed on vehicles that did not have a remote start system.


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You've going to have to get into the dash to the left of the steering wheel to see what kind of remote start you have. 12volt.solutions has a smartphone add-on to their remote start. The control boxes may be generic enough that you can plug it in to other remote start systems. At least you can use their instruction videos to get into the dash to see what the remote start control box looks like. It's about 10 minutes to get into there.

 

I had Viper Smart Start. While it is very cool to use, it is expensive and region dependent. Most if not all these smart phone controlled remote starts regardless of brand will be subscription based as they will use GSM or CDMA (Viper) networks as the link between your phone and car. If you live in an urban city, no issues but out deep into the country or parked in a concrete dungeon and it's useless. I have reverted back to my 2-way fob which gets very good distance.

But if you have Toyota's factory remote start installed, this will have to be disabled/removed in order for an aftermarket bypass and remote start system to be installed.

 

Too bad US Toyota doesn't have a long distance remote. Canadian Toyota does.



We went with the viper 2 way. Long enough range. We didn't get the cell phone app. That was even more money and a monthly fee. We must have about $1000 in the remote. Something I expected to be already included in my fully loaded Platinum.

 

I’m surprised no one has figured out a way to increase the factory remote start range. I’m clueless on the subject but could an antenna be added or something? I know one way to help increase range is to hold the fob to your chin when starting...

 

Well as far as I know the Toyota Canada Remote Start (what I have installed) has a separate additional key fob just for the remote start AND an additional antenna installed on the windshield of the car. In addition, they program your original key fob to also work as remote start, but with a much more reduced range. The antenna they install is ONLY for the additional remote start key fob they give you it does NOT improve the range of the original key fob. I don't know about US, but from what I understand they just reprogram your original key fob to work with remote start (ie there is no additional antenna but again the antenna is useless without the long-range key fob they give you).

Some info on the Canada version:

 

I tried for months to get that remote. How did you manage it?

 

I live in Canada but I have heard some people near border cities drive up for it? If you're not near the border I'm not sure of any other option sadly.