←back to thread

Show HN: Nissan's Leaf app doesn't have a home screen widget so I made my own

(kevintechnology.com)
122 points kcon | 2 comments | 14 Apr 25 02:42 UTC | HN request time: 0.417s | source

Nissan's official mobile app for their LEAF electric car doesn't have a widget for quickly checking the car's battery charge status on your phone's home screen, so for a fun side project I decided to make my own using free tools like GitHub Actions, Appium, Tailscale, and Apple Shortcuts.
Show context
MBCook ◴[14 Apr 25 03:07 UTC] No.43677716[source]▶
Ford will flat out lock your account so even the official app won’t work for you if they notice you using a 3rd party app.
replies(1): >>43677788 #
DaSHacka ◴[14 Apr 25 03:24 UTC] No.43677788[source]▶
What recourse (if any) do owners have if that happens?
replies(1): >>43677825 #
light_hue_1 ◴[14 Apr 25 03:31 UTC] No.43677825[source]▶
It's not that bad, unless you don't have a backup way of getting into your car handy. You create a new account and associate your car with it.

Many people have been bitten by this, it's a common thread on related forums. https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ford-suspending-acco...

I don't understand Ford, VW, etc. They make these nice cars that are just unusable junk because of their software.

replies(2): >>43677849 #>>43711101 #
1. standyro ◴[14 Apr 25 03:40 UTC] No.43677849[source]▶
I briefly worked with folks in this industry. They’re generally underpaid and under resourced.
replies(1): >>43683492 #
2. kjkjadksj ◴[14 Apr 25 17:08 UTC] No.43683492[source]▶
It costs more time and money to set up these walls vs not bothering. And there was a time when they didn’t bother and hacking was easy. Not just in cars but any consumer facing product running software.

Blame management structure. They hire out security devs because its expected they have a security team like other companies or shareholders pillory them. These security devs trot off doing the expected work they are all trained to do from school or their work at other companies. You end up with the inevitable locked down shitware everyone was hired to make and will make. No one asked for this. They only asked for something one level deeper into the abstraction (shareholders want company to look like other companies to price it appropriately, managers want security team to appease shareholders, security team head wants to see certain things they saw at their last job, security dev wants to deliver and get a raise) but what they got was the chain reaction leading to the user hostile app.