Start your car with the new GM smartphone app

The smartphone just morphed into a car-key fob.

General Motors announced Wednesday that it will make key-fob functions available on a free smartphone application starting with all 2014 model-year vehicles that have OnStar capability.

People who download the application will still need to carry key fobs to start their cars.

The application has already been available to OnStar subscribers, who pay $19 to $28 a month for the safety, security and navigation service. The free version of OnStar’s Remote Link application provides reduced functionality of the version that paid subscribers get, GM said.

The free version allows users to honk their horn remotely as well as lock, unlock and remotely start their vehicles, as long as their vehicles have remote starting capability, GM said.

GM global connected consumer president Mary Chan called it a “freemium” business model, which allows many users to get the application for free while a smaller percentage choose to pay for increased functionality.

Right now, about 320,000 paid OnStar subscribers regularly use the application, and 1.5 million have downloaded it.

The application, which must be downloaded during a free OnStar trial period, will be free for five years in the U.S. and Canada.

GM said it would be available this week for buyers of 2014 model-year vehicles that have OnStar.

“This is really about connecting with the consumer. We’re talking about a feature that customers told us is important to them,” GM chief infotainment officer Phil Abram said. “We think that adding this value to them will help us sell more cars and trucks.”

The new feature comes as GM is placing a bigger bet on the future of OnStar. The automaker recently struck a deal with AT&T to offer high-speed Internet services to most of its 2015 model-year vehicles, a service that is likely to require monthly payments.

GM CEO Dan Akerson has instructed his team to squeeze more value out of OnStar, which has about 6.5 million subscribers.

Chan declined to reveal pricing for the 4G service but said GM is in discussions with AT&T about the possibility of allowing AT&T smartphone service subscribers to wrap their car’s 4G payments into their phone bills.

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