The Toyota app on a RAV4: what's free, what costs money, and what to keep

Quick picks

Linking your RAV4 to the app

Download the Toyota app for iPhone or Android and sign in. Then:

• Get ready: park where your phone has good cell service, turn on Bluetooth, sit in the driver's seat and start the car somewhere with fresh air.
• Pair it: follow the steps on the car's screen. When a QR code or an 8-digit code shows up, scan it or type it into the app.
• Confirm the car: the app shows your model and year and asks you to pick a preferred dealer.
• Choose Activate or Deactivate: this is the screen that decides what data Toyota collects. It's explained in the next section.

The first two linking screens, from Lance's 2025 RAV4 Hybrid. Tap any picture to make it bigger.

The Activate or Deactivate screen

Before any services turn on, the app asks you to pick one of three things. It's worth reading slowly, because each choice means something different for your data.

• Activate Vehicle: turns on the trials. You agree that Toyota can use your car's location, driving and vehicle health data, including its precise location, to run the services and "for internal research and data analysis." The app also says your precise location is shared with Google for navigation.
• Deactivate Vehicle: turns off data transmission. Toyota says it won't receive your location, driving or vehicle health data, but none of the Connected Services will work, including Safety Connect's crash call and SOS button.
• Doing nothing (cancelling): you get no services, but Toyota says it keeps using your car's non-precise location, driving and health data for its own research. So skipping the screen doesn't stop the data. Only Deactivate does.

You can change your choice later in the Privacy Portal inside the app. Toyota's full rules are in its Connected Services privacy notice.

The Vehicle Activation screen, top and bottom, from Lance's 2025 RAV4 Hybrid.

What each service does, and what it costs after the trial

These are the trials Toyota's 2025 feature chart lists for the 2025 RAV4. Every trial starts on the day the car was first sold, not the day you set up the app, except Wi-Fi Connect, which starts when you activate it. That's why Lance's app showed only 3 months and 19 days left on Remote Connect.

One confusing line: the chart's fine print says the 10-year Safety Connect trial is "included for up to 10 years on select vehicles with paid Connected Services packages." Lance's app lists Safety Connect as a 10-year trial without any paid plan, so that's what we go by. If your app shows something shorter, ask your dealer.

Every service also depends on the car's 4G connection. Toyota's fine print says that if the 4G network is shut down, the services stop working.

The paid plans

These are the prices on Toyota's Connected Services plans page, checked October 13, 2026. Every plan includes Remote Connect.

• You pay for the music service too. Music Lover and Premium use your own Apple Music or Amazon Music subscription. Toyota's 2025 chart also says Integrated Streaming needs an active Wi-Fi Connect subscription, which the plans page doesn't mention, so ask before you buy Music Lover.
• AT&T customers can add the car to their existing phone plan, according to Toyota. See AT&T's in-car Wi-Fi page.
• Older RAV4s are different. Toyota's chart lists an $8 a month Remote Connect renewal only for some other models, like the GR86, not the 2025 RAV4. 2019 to 2022 RAV4s with the older system may have different trials and prices, so check what your own app offers.

The Go Anywhere and Premium plan screens. Notice that neither one shows a price in the app.

Is Remote Connect worth $15 a month?

Remote Connect is the one paid feature most owners actually miss. Starting the car from your phone to warm it up in winter, or cool it down in summer, is genuinely useful. Toyota only lists it inside a plan, so after the free year it costs at least $15 a month, or $180 a year.

• Try the key fob first. Many Toyotas can remote start by pressing lock, then lock again, then holding lock for about three seconds. Check your owner's manual for your car's exact steps. In 2021 Toyota told Motor1 that key fob remote start works during any active trial, including Safety Connect and Service Connect, which run up to 10 years. We haven't confirmed this on a 2025 RAV4 yet. We'll check on Lance's RAV4 when its Remote Connect trial ends, and update this page.
• Worth paying for if you live somewhere cold or hot and start the car from inside most days, or if you like checking that the doors are locked from bed.
• Not worth it if you mostly used it in the first few weeks to try it out.

Remote Connect with its trial time left, and the plans the app's Shop offers.

What you get without paying anything

• Safety Connect: the SOS button, automatic crash call, roadside help and stolen car tracking, for up to 10 years.
• Service Connect: maintenance reminders and recall alerts in the app, for up to 10 years.
• The Toyota app itself: free to download and use with the free services.
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto: your phone's maps and music on the car's screen, standard on the 2025 RAV4.