Goodbye car keys, hello Apple CarKey

It’s already replaced cash, credit cards, calculators, spirit levels, dictaphones and even the humble camera... and now Apple says the iPhone will replace your car keys too.

OK, so it won’t replace the car keys to a 1979 Ford Falcon, but owners of modern cars will soon be able to use their iPhone to unlock and start their vehicle without their car keys.

The upgraded BMW 5 Series is the first car to use the Apple CarKey digital protocol, which was officially announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference, and the new technology will be offered in Australia before the end of the year with the 5 Series.

It works with the iOS 14 software but can also be set up on the iOS 13 operating system and works through the Wallet App.

Once you’ve set up CarKey on your smartphone and paired it to the car, you can touch the phone to the door handle and voila – access granted.

Using NFC or near field communication to wirelessly send data to the car, drivers won’t even need to remove the phone from their bag or pocket to start the car. Just hit the starter button, slot it into gear and away you go.

CarKey will also work with the Apple Watch (Series 5) and is expected to be functional with most BMW vehicles built after July 1, 2020, not including SUVs (X1, X2, X3, X4) and the 7 Series limo.

Owners can share the CarKey system via iMessage (read: text message) and these can include time limits on how long any of the five ‘trusted’ users can operate the vehicle.

Only BMW has jumped into bed with Apple on the CarKey system thus far, but expect other brands to follow suit.

The iOS 14 updates will also add new features to Apple CarPlay, such as custom wallpapers and new app support for things like electric car charging and parking.

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Apple is also tinkering away to allow CarKey to work at longer ranges and with more functionality.

The idea of unlocking a car with a phone is not new – many car brands offer such conveniences and Tesla has mastered the art of remote controlling many vehicle functions – but this is the first time Apple has developed a system that could now be adopted by most major car brands, just like the intuitive phone-mirroring Apple CarPlay software.