iPhone unlocking is coming to your Audi

Apple introduced digital car keys to the iPhone and Apple Watch way back in 2020, enabling drivers of compatible cars to use their devices to remotely unlock their vehicles. However, the choice of connected cars has been fairly small to date: most compatible cars are made by BMW, with a smattering of Hyundais, Kias and Genesis models too.

Now it looks like more big brands are coming.

MacRumors has been peeking inside the code for Apple's Wallet app – the app where the digital keys are stored – and found some changes in the code. It suggests that the digital car key feature will be expanding to Volvo, Polestar and Audi cars, too.

When will your Audi get iPhone unlocking?

We don't know when Audi will jump on board exactly, but the most likely time is when iOS 18.1 drops. That's the version of iOS that MacRumors has been looking into, and it's due to launch soon. It's currently on its seventh beta, so is close to being finished.

We also don't know which models are going to be covered as yet, so it's possible that the code is for forthcoming models rather than existing ones.

And the new features are hard to guess because they can vary from car to car: some vehicles can unlock remotely, so you can keep your Apple Watch hand or your iPhone in your pocket. Whereas others require you to wave your device near a sensor.

Some even enable you to start the vehicle as well as lock or unlock it.

Apple's digital car keys are clever, and they're shareable: you can AirDrop them or share them in Mail and Messages so that family members can use them too. But industry adoption has been slow, and after four years support is still fairly rare.

That's partly because manufacturers like to do things in-house, and partly because there's no industry standard for digital keys: different firms do things differently.

Volvo and Audi in particular are hugely important brands though, and having them on board could surely persuade other car firms to embrace the tech too.