How to Keep Tesla Climate On After You Leave (and at Every Stop)

Short answer: set Keep (or Dog or Camp) in the climate controls before you leave the car, and your Tesla keeps heating or cooling the cabin while it is parked and locked. It stays on until you turn it off, the battery falls to about 20%, or you drive off. That last part is the catch: the next time you park, the mode is off again, and you have to set it again at every stop. Climate Keeper turns it back on automatically each time you shift into Park.

Why your Tesla’s climate turns off when you leave

By default, a Tesla shuts its climate system off shortly after you walk away and lock the car, to save the battery. To keep the cabin comfortable while you are away, you have to tell the car to keep climate running. That is what Keep Climate On, Dog Mode and Camp Mode are for.

How to turn on Keep Climate On

Set the temperature you want on the touchscreen.
Tap the temperature or fan icon to open the climate controls.
Choose Keep (or Dog or Camp). On some cars the option appears in a pop-up as Keep Climate On.
Leave and lock the car as usual. The cabin is held at your set temperature.

Dog Mode and Camp Mode can also be turned on from the climate screen in the Tesla app. Several owner guides report that Keep Climate On itself has to be set inside the car; menus change between software versions, so check your own car and app.

Starting climate from the Tesla app without one of these modes is a different thing: owner guides say it only runs for a limited time (about two hours), not until you return.

How long does Keep Climate On stay on?

Keep Climate On keeps running while the car is parked until one of these happens:

You turn it off, on the touchscreen or in the app.
The battery reaches about 20%. Tesla stops the mode around this level and the Tesla app warns you, so it is best not to rely on it with a low battery.
You drive. Once you shift out of Park and drive away, the mode ends.

Two side effects while it is on: software updates cannot install, and the cabin intrusion sensor is switched off (moving air could set it off).

Keeping climate on at every stop

The “you drive” rule is fine for one long stop. On a day of short stops it means a lot of tapping: vet, pharmacy, groceries, coffee, each time setting the mode again before you get out. And the one time you forget, the cabin heats up or cools down while you are away.

Climate Keeper removes that step:

Connect your Tesla once. You sign in on Tesla’s page and approve a virtual key in the Tesla app.
Pick a mode and a time. Pet (Tesla’s Dog Mode), Keep or Camp, for anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours.
Just drive. Each time the car is in Park, Climate Keeper turns the mode back on. When the time runs out it stops, and your phone gets a notification.

It never sends commands while the car is moving, and it uses the official Tesla Fleet API.

A note on safety

Keep Climate On is for comfort, not supervision. Tesla’s own guidance is to never leave a child unattended in the car and never leave a pet for long periods. If someone is in the car, check the cabin temperature in the Tesla app and come back quickly. For pets, use Dog Mode, which shows passersby that the climate is running. See Keep vs Dog vs Camp mode for which mode fits which situation.