Apple CarKey and How to Set up the CarKey

3 min readAug 21, 2020

Apple Inc is a company that has done a revolution in the history of technology. It seems like the majority of the world is changing according to those findings in Apple. (Only it seems like)

Recently, Apple made its latest invention naming Apple Car Key. This is a digital icon of the car key which turns your iPhone into a real car key. You may lock — unlock and start the vehicle with your iPhone. This feature was introduced in iOS 13 and now in iOS 14.

How to work with Car Key

Here, the real key can be replaced with an app on the iPhone. You can simply hold your iPhone close to the car’s door handle to unlock it using NFC technology. This was demoed in WWDC 2020 keynote.

Once you’re inside it, put your iPhone in the NFC reader or wireless charger to start the car. If you have an iPhone 11 or later, you don’t even have to take your iPhone out of your pocket to unlock the doors or start the car thanks to the U1 chip — Apple says this feature will be available with new cars starting next year.

This does not need any authentication by default and all you have to do is, just a tap. This is the expressway of using the feature but there is a more secure way too. You can disable it to require Face ID or Touch ID authentication to unlock and start the car. Car keys can also be added to Apple Watch, making it even easier to use this feature.

What if my phone ran out of battery?

Don’t worry. Car Key still works for up to five additional hours through Power Reserve mode.

How to have CarKey?

This feature is managed by the Wallet app on iPhone, but you also must have the car manufacturer’s app installed to get everything working. Recently, BMW updated its Connected app to let users set up Car Key with their iPhone. BMW is the first car manufacturer to announce Car Key support, and it’s adding the feature to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, X5, X6, X7, X5M, X6M, and Z4 models manufactured after July 1, 2020.

Step Guide to Setup CarKey

Step 1: put your iPhone in the NFC reader of the car

Step 2: iOS will identify your car and redirect you to the car manufacturer’s app to complete the process

Step 3: If the automatic pairing process fails, users can manually add the Car Key using a PIN code generated by the car manufacturer’s app.

That’s it.

Note: The feature can be shared among 5 people using iMessage and can define the access type whether full access or just permission to unlock the car.