IOS 26 - Passive Car Key (i.e. phone in pocket) functionality not working - anyone else seeing this?

[Deniolan]

Since the early days of the beta, I have noticed that passive car key functionality with my 2026 BMW X3 is not working. I see several posts on other forums reporting the same with Volvo and other manufacturers... Anyone else seeing this?

I reported it during the beta, however, Apple closed each of my reports saying they were unable to reproduce my specific scenario. I have now tried it with three different phones including my brand new iPhone 17 Pro with the same result.

For clarity - the functionality that specifically does not work are the proximity functions provided by the UWB connectivity between your phone and your car. I.e. with Passive enabled and a supported vehicle, you should walk up to your car with your phone in your pocket, and unlock, get in, and start the car without ever having to touch your phone anywhere on a door handle, and without having to put your phone on a specific pad in the car - once the car detects you are nearby with a passive key enabled - you're simply authorized.

Interestingly, this functionality seems to be working fine from my Apple Watch running iOS 26 - but on the phone, it only works for a short period of time after a reboot and then it stops. Restarting the phone and immediately trying it, it works again.

When it is *NOT* working - yes, I can pull up the key in the wallet and press the unlock button, and I can sit the phone in the charging cradle in the car and start it. The point is, until iOS 26 - I didn't have to... proper passive functionality was behaving just as it does on my watch... walk up, grab the door handle, the car unlocks. Get in, press the brake and hit start and the car starts. The nuisance of getting my phone out to touch the door handle and place it in a specific spot in the car was not required.

Curious to see if others are having the same, and what phones/vehicles are exhibiting the issue. Note UWB (true passive) functionality only works on devices that support UWB connectivity - so some of the older iPhones simply don't even have this option... I think maybe it was the 11 Pro or 13 Pro when the functionality was introduced.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Not seeing a difference with our Teslas (2018 / 2024). Still burning 6-8 hours of background usage per day as the cars are directly below us parked (only 1% battery used) - with iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I have noticed that the watch is doing a better job being a passive key than it was in the previous Watch OS... Maybe that's why it burns a bit more battery?

 

[Deniolan]

Not seeing a difference with our Teslas (2018 / 2024). Still burning 6-8 hours of background usage per day as the cars are directly below us parked (only 1% battery used) - with iPhone 15 Pro Max.

I have noticed that the watch is doing a better job being a passive key than it was in the previous Watch OS... Maybe that's why it burns a bit more battery?

I wonder if the fact that they are parked so close is keeping the connection alive? For me - the cars aren't close enough that they would be maintaining connection. On the watch, however, when I walk into the garage I can unlock the car no problem just by touching the door as intended. If I take my watch off and try the same with my phone - it works perfect on a fresh reboot but otherwise, it's dead. I have to touch the phone to the door handle to unlock. Same for starting - after a reboot - just having the phone in my pocket is enough - but after some time has passed, it has to be sat in the charging tray to start the car.

This is on both my X3 and my wife's X1.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I wonder if the fact that they are parked so close is keeping the connection alive? For me - the cars aren't close enough that they would be maintaining connection. On the watch, however, when I walk into the garage I can unlock the car no problem just by touching the door as intended. If I take my watch off and try the same with my phone - it works perfect on a fresh reboot but otherwise, it's dead. I have to touch the phone to the door handle to unlock. Same for starting - after a reboot - just having the phone in my pocket is enough - but after some time has passed, it has to be sat in the charging tray to start the car.

This is on both my X3 and my wife's X1.

I was wondering bout that but we did go on a ~1.5 hour hike yesterday and was able to open the car without issue.

The only other thing I can think of is... I know with this iOS 26 update, a lot of my applications changed from Always Allow location settings to While Using. I had to set them back to Always Allow (especially my Tesla App) for the keys to work again.

Settings --> Privacy --> Location Services --> (Set your BMW? app to Always) if it isn't.

Hope you figure this out - that would bother me a lot if it was happening to me.