Become a Sidecar beta tester

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About the Beta Tester Program

As a beta tester, your feedback is critical to improving the Sidecar experience. This guide explains the requirements to become a beta tester, the benefits of participating, and how to get started.

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Beta Tester Requirements

To become a Sidecar beta tester, you’ll need:

1. Access to a car: Ideally, you’ll test with your daily driver, but infrequent drivers (even garage queens) are welcome.

2. iOS 17+ device: Testing should ideally be done on your primary iPhone. Android support isn’t available yet, but if you’re interested, email Jeff at support@clutch.engineering to express interest.

3. Willingness to share feedback: You’ll be asked to provide feedback regularly via Sidecar’s companion forum, cars.forum.

4. OBD data sharing: If you’re testing OBD support, you will need to share scan logs and screenshots to help with data accuracy.

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Beta Tester Benefits

As a thank you for your participation, approved beta testers will receive a free, two-month Sidecar subscription. This gives you access to all of Sidecar’s features to aid in testing the app.

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Conditions

• A finite number of beta testers are allowed per vehicle make, model, and year, and only when a tester is needed. If your car is not listed in the supported cars list at all, it probably needs a tester :)

• Registration operates on a first-come, first-served basis.

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How to Register

To become a beta tester, you must first create an account on cars.forum, the community forum for Sidecar and other Clutch Engineering products. If you don’t have an account yet, you can register here. It’s free.

Once logged in, search the Beta Testing Registration forum for your car’s make and model. If no thread exists for your vehicle, create one using this template:

Subject: [Make] / [Model] / [Year]
Body:
I am interested in becoming a Sidecar beta tester for this make/model/year.

My tester profile:

iOS Version: [e.g., iOS 17.1]
Apple Watch Available: [Yes/No]
watchOS Version (if you have a watch): [e.g., watch 11.1]
Internet connected vehicle: [Yes/No]
OBD Device Available: [Yes/No]
OBD Device model: [e.g. OBDLink CX]
Testing Availability: [e.g., Daily, Weekly, Monthly]
Time zone: [e.g. PST, UTC−08:00]
Additional Notes: [e.g., Has aftermarket parts, modifications, etc.]

If a thread already exists, simply reply using the same template.

If a beta tester is needed for your vehicle, Jeff will reach out to onboard you with the next steps.

You will receive your subscription promo code after you have:

1. been added to the beta tester group on cars.forum,

2. installed Sidecar and connected it to your car either with a Connected Account or via OBD-II (you can connect your car without a subscription),

3. started or contributed to a thread in the vehicle onboarding forum, and

4. if you are testing OBD logs, you’ve emailed an export of your OBD logs to support@clutch.engineering.