BMW Connected App Gets Apple Car Key Support Ahead of iOS 13.6

The BMW Connected app has been updated with Car Key support ahead of the public release of iOS 13.6.

Car Key was announced at WWDC 2020 to give users a secure way to use their iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock and start their car.

Digital car keys can be easily shared using Messages, or disabled through iCloud if a device is lost, and are available starting this year through NFC. Apple also unveiled the next generation of digital car keys based on Ultra Wideband technology for spatial awareness delivered through the U1 chip, which will allow users to unlock future car models without removing their iPhone from their pocket or bag, and will become available next year.


BMW notes that it is the first carmaker to enable support for Car Key. Most models manufactured after July 1, 2020 will be compatible. More details in the change log below...

What's New In This Version:
At the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference BMW and Apple announced that BMW will become the first carmaker to enable its customers to use iPhone as a fully digital car key. The strong relationship of both companies led to a real BMW car key stored securely on iPhone in Apple Wallet.

The BMW Digital Key for the iPhone will enable you to lock and unlock your car by holding iPhone up to the door handle and start it up by placing iPhone in the smartphone tray. The car owner can also share access to up to 5 friends. The Digital Key will be also available via your Apple Watch. Setup of the Digital Key can be done through the BMW Connected App while the Digital Key is stored in Apple Wallet after setup.

We are excited to announce the availability of Digital Key for iPhone for a broad range of models: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, X5, X6, X7, X5M, X6M and Z4 if manufactured after July 1st 2020. If your vehicle is capable it will be shown on the vehicle tab.


Compatible iPhone models will be iPhone XR, iPhone XS or newer and Apple Watch Series 5 or newer.

You can download BMW Connected from the App Store for free.

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