Start me up, iPhone app. REUTERS/Noah Berger Remote starting is nothing new for cars, but what if you'd rather use your smartphone to do everything under the sun and not have to worry about your vehicle's key fob?

According to TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington, Tesla Model S owners now have that option.

"What’s amazing (and surprising) for iPhone users is that they can now unlock and start their car from their devices if they forget their physical key fob at home," he writes.

Remote start is cool. I did it this morning with a Ford Escape that I'm currently test driving. But the range of a key fob is limited. Ford's Sync system does provide an add-on that enables remote start through a smartphone app, and Viper can install an aftermarket remote-start-by-smartphone feature. For GM vehicles and some other brands, OnStar enables remote start through its app.

For Tesla to not have smartphone remote-start capability was actually a far more glaring software omission than it would be for another automaker, because Tesla is supposed to be a creature of Silicon Valley and the world of tech, where this sort of integration is a given.

CEO Elon Musk has also been talking up the software upgrades to the Model S, so his company kind of had to address this issue.



But now Tesla is up to speed and Model S owners can happily start their cars while checking Twitter and making dinner reservations.