Rivian Mudding Saves Family: A Rivian Owners Story

Rivian Mom · 2025-05-15T14:45:12+00:00

I've been using my phone's hotspot for months, and my Rivian connects to it automatically to run TuneIn and Spotify through the built-in apps on the main display. To be clear, this wasn’t Bluetooth streaming but actual phone data, and the apps worked perfectly without any issues. In Monday for the first time, I saw a Connect+ message pop up, even though the truck was linked to my phone’s data. I can still stream from my phone using Bluetooth, but the sound quality and user experience weren’t as good. This issue started between over-the-air software updates, though it might be tied to a specific date in the system. I tried a soft reset, but nothing changed. Has anyone heard if Rivian changed their policy on this? I remember Connect+ used to mention it provided "data" for streaming apps, suggesting you could use your own data instead. Now, it seems like you need Connect+ just to access the apps at all. I was surprised they allowed phone hotspots to work before, so this might be a deliberate change. I’m okay with paying for Connect+ if this isn’t just a temporary glitch. Any insights would be appreciated.

Rivian Mom

Active Wheeler

Mar 8, 2025

This is why capabilities are so important! Who would have thought a real estate showing would have turned into an unexpected mud crossing? Any other family EV would have been stuck. EV9 probably would have needed to be towed out.

Me, my sister and mom + two toddlers went to visit a cool acreage for sale in the outskirts of our city. There is improved road on the property but we ran into an unexpected patch of mud accessing an outbuilding on a pretty firm looking dirt road.

We’ll probably pass on the property due to the potential drainage issue but it’s fantastic to not have needed off road rescue. I saw the road myself. It didn’t look THAT rough but I could see other visitors getting stuck. First time I went there I did put the SUV on offroad mode so this was all purpose with 52 psi in the tires and it was the capability of the vehicle that got us out.

I know this is nothing compared to what some owners do out there but to me this instantly justified the cost of off road upgrade I had to do to get the compass yellow in the shop. This property had no cellular access so my sister, who just had major surgery and my elderly mom would have needed to hike out up hill through half a mile of driveway.