Apple first introduced support for digital car keys back in 2022 and a number of car brands already offer the feature on some of their models, including BMW, BYD, Lotus, Mercedes-Benz and the Hyundai Group. Audi has been missing from that list for the last couple of years though, until now.
The German car manufacturer has recently enabled Apple Car Key support for its A6 Avant e-tron model, which sees the digital key feature coming to Audi’s electric car platform for the first time. The support was spotted by Mac4Ever and picked up by MacRumors, with the suggestion that the Car Key support may also make its way over to Porsche for its next line of vehicles.
The A6 Avant e-tron model is the second model to launch from Audi on its Premium Platform Electric (PPE) platform, and with Porsche sharing this platform, it would make sense that the support for Apple Car Keys also transfers across soon.
What is Apple’s Car Key feature?
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The Apple Car Key feature, for those not familiar, enables you to unlock your car with an NFC-enabled Apple Watch or iPhone. A digital version of your car’s key is stored within Apple Wallet on your iPhone or Apple Watch, and the car will unlock as you get close by, or when you tap on the door handle.
You can set your iPhone or Apple Watch up so that Face ID is required to authenticate you and then unlock your car, but there is also an Express Mode that will allow for quicker unlocking by bypassing the authentication process.
Once you set up the digital key on your device, you’ll see it when you double tap the side button on your iPhone or Apple Watch, as you would your cards for Apple Pay and boarding passes if you’re travelling.
Code changes were previously spotted in the Apple Wallet backend back in October 2024 by MacRumors suggesting support for Apple Car Keys was in progress for Volvo, Polestar and Audi.
For now, Volvo and Polestar don’t yet support digital car keys but with Audi having now joined the list, albeit only one model, it’s possible Volvo and Polestar won’t be far behind. You can see the full list of car models that support Car Keys in a list on Apple’s Support Page. Look for the grey key alongside the car model to spot them easily.
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