Your iPhone will soon be able to replace your car keys, says report

BERLIN: An official announcement is still pending, but some newly spotted text buried in Apple's user privacy agreement has all but confirmed everything: You'll soon be able to leave your car keys at home and use an iPhone to unlock the car.

Apple has long been rumoured to be working on a new "CarKey" feature for an upcoming iOS release, but with the company's WWDC developer conference just around the corner in June, the launch of the digital car key appears imminent.

Tech paparazzi on the Apple beat such as Mac&i, iphone-ticker and 9to5Mac have pointed to a new passage in the company's data protection agreement stating that Apple's wallet app allows "adding and sharing car keys for certain vehicles."

BMW, Tesla and Audi already offer drivers the possibility to store a digital car key on their smartphones. However, this has mostly been exclusive to Android devices so far.

Now Apple's Wallet app appears set to manage your car keys for you. BMW is expected to be the first manufacturer with iPhone compatibility, according to Mac&i.

A corresponding CarKey interface is already available since the iOS version iOS 13.4, but tech blogs suspect the feature will formally arrive in the coming iOS 13.6 release.

According to the data protection declaration, the function can be set up using the app supplied by your car's manufacturer or with the help of a code that links the vehicle and iPhone.

Like when you add a credit card to your phone, a "token" containing information about the Apple ID and, if tracking services are enabled, the user's current location is transmitted to Apple. The company then shares an individual device ID with the respective car manufacturer to prevent misuse.

Apple reportedly also wants to let you share your keys with family members and friends. To do this, you'll simply tap "Invite" on the back of the digital key card and set what kind of access you want to give them.

You can then share the key card with others using Apple's iMessage chat service, presuming the other person also has an iPhone. Apple says in its privacy policy that it does not collect any data on how you use your car.