The door handles would need to have an ultrawideband reader installed. It wouldn’t work over the standard RF that key fobs use.
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iPhone's Car Key Feature Set to Improve as Apple Tests Digital Key 4.0
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Apple and the CCC don’t limit other entry options. They can offer whatever they want along with Apple’s Car Keys.
For instance, Genesis actually has facial recognition and Apple Car Keys, on the GV60 at least, it’s an interesting mix. You point your face near the door handle to get a read on it, like FaceID, but you can use Apple Car Keys too.
Im surprised companies haven’t put a fingerprint scanner on the car handle for unlocking or on the ignition button for starting.
You must live in a warm climate. We wear gloves outside of a car 3 months a year here. Fingerprint recognition on the door is exactly the sort of close-minded “solution” I keep worrying will become a standard. Even on the ignition it’s problematic.
The glove problem is one I worry about with the phone-as-key solution. Do most cars require you to tap the phone to the handle as so many marketing photos show? Again, with gloves, it’s very difficult to pull out a phone. I would love to dump my fob but NOT if it means taking a step backwards to pull my “key” (phone) out of my pocket.
This has been explained over and over again, but heck, why not another. There’s 2 types of technologies Apple implemented (and Android did too), NFC and Ultrawideband (which also uses Bluetooth for the com layer, UWB is the locator tech). NFC tap is what the first version required. And some people were confused that you need to tap again when you start the ignition. They thought it bugged out because they thought you only needed to tap the door. Nope. You needed to tap 2 times. The NFC reader was on the wireless phone charger and you put your phone on the charger to do the ignition tap.
The second and improved version using UWB did not require any tapping and you can leave your phone in your pocket. It unlocks when you approach the car. And the ignition was ready when you enter the car.
Unfortunately many cars came with NFC but not UWB. BMW was first with Apple’s Car Keys and they initially were all NFC. They added UWB a few years later. So many BMWs will have Apple’s Car Keys but being a few years old means it relies on NFC only.
Really?
I actually find this solution neater than with Tesla. I literally leave the house with my phone in my pocket…. The car unlocks and as I get closer. Get in, drive off. How is Tesla better? Plus you get a neat BMW/MINI ‘card’ in your wallet. Plus you can send a key to anyone anywhere to unlock and drive off. Tesla is better how?
Yes no manufacturer has a car that randomly stops when the key is not detected, that would be crazy frankly.
BMW has two different digital key types. Digital Key and Digital Key Plus. The Plus version already uses UWB so it might be software upgradeable to this new version. It depends on what's actually new in it and details haven't been released yet.
You can tell which version you have by how it operates. If you need to hold your phone up to the door handle to open and then place the phone in the charge tray to start the car, you have Digital Key. If you can leave your phone in your pocket/bag, you have Digital Key Plus.
As far as valet, you should have received a key card with the car and if not, you can probably buy one. Leave the card in the car but make sure it's deactivated so that you're not leaving a valid key inside the car. Then when you pull up to valet, you can activate the card in iDrive and hand it to the valet. Just be sure to deactivate the card again when you get your car back. It's a little bit of a pain but at least you have it with you if you unexpectedly valet the car or need a tow or service or whatever and didn't plan ahead to bring a fob.
My 2025 X5 has Digital Key Plus and I have it set up on my phone, yet still I always carry a fob. I've even noticed sometimes that my phone "dings" with the digital key when I touch the door handle even when the fob is with me, so it's clearly sensing the phone before the fob. Yet I still carry the fob. It feels absolutely bizarre to me to drive away without a key and just hope that technology works like it's supposed to when I try to start the car to come home. We all know technology ALWAYS works exactly like it's supposed to, lol. And no, I'm not 100 years old. I'm early-40s and work in IT.
And extremely unsafe! NHTSA would not allow that.
The worst that happens is you can't restart the car after you turn it off, which is still a problem if you get stranded and need to call someone to bring you the spare key, but the car will never just turn itself off while you're driving because it no longer senses a key. It will, however, annoy you to death with warning messages and dinging while you're driving so that hopefully you don't drive too far away from wherever it was you "lost" the key (usually your spouse/partner had the key and you dropped them off somewhere and they still have the key when you drive away).