Problem with BMW Digital Key Plus on Apple Devices

If you updated your iPhone to a Beta version, this might be a reason for this issue, and you should report this directly to Apple:

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The iOS, iPadOS and macOS betas come with the built-in Feedback Assistant app, which can be opened from the Home screen on your iPhone or iPad or from the Dock on your Mac. The Feedback Assistant app is also available from the help menu of any app by selecting Send Feedback. If you’re running the tvOS, HomePod software or watchOS beta, you can submit feedback through the Feedback Assistant app on an enrolled iPhone, iPad or Mac. When you experience an issue or something does not work as expected, send your feedback directly to Apple with Feedback Assistant.

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copied from: Apple Beta — FAQ

Sorry, but issues with Beta software can not be discussed in these communities.

Non beta ios

iphone 16 pro max

secondary user keys no longer working.

the BMW forums are Talking same issue.

seems to be an IOS18 issue.

To me it seems to be an iPhone 16 issue, not an iOS 18 issue. iPhone <= 15 with iOS 18 seems to work fine, doesn't it?

Just got IOS 18.0.1 on my 16 Pro.

secondary keys still don’t work.

Try switching primary and secondary users. Pairing again and it works. Then can swap back again after that.

This did work for me! Now I have both our iphones 16 pro working with Digital Key. It still will not share key with either of our Apple Watches, but gets us going for now. Thanks.

Yes I've been experiencing this issue for a month, iPhone 16 pro with iOS 18.1

I would agree with this although some people seem to have issues with iphone 15's also. I had an iphone 13 previously updated it to IOS 18 the day it was fully released and my iphone 13/IOS18 combo had no issues. This week I bought an Iphone16 out of the box with IOS18 and it does not work as a secondary digital smart key. It only seems to be the proximity part though, it will let me unlock the car if I touch the phone to the door handle and will start if the phone is in the tray. So for me this seems to be an Iphone 16 problem as IOS 18 worked for me on my 13.

I have the same problem, after upgrade my Apple Wacht Ultra from watchOS 10.0 to watchOS 11.0.1 my bmw digital key Plus stop working. I try to remove main key, reinsert couple of time working with iPhone 15 Pro Max but not with Apple Watch Ultra.

This is way worse than anyone knows !!

Its digital key and plus and wait for this -

I bought a 2025 m4 comp convertible 2 weeks ago. Installed the digital key no problem and it worked great for the few days I drove it. Went to target to grab something real quick and ran in and out and when I got out 2 mins after I ran in and out I placed my phone on the tray and it said key not recognized. I was parked in an awkward spot as I just ran in and the saga began but I was starting to panic and I remembered I had the physical digital credit card in my pocket which was tested and started the car before a few days prior and that place on the reader failed as well. After a handful of attempts and a phone restart and getting and back in and trying everything the car essentially said place actual key next to steering column which I didn’t have the actual key with me as why should I and I was stranded for 3 hours. Thank god Sunday was nice ans didn’t rain as I couldn’t raise the roof of windows or anything. I had to send a friend to my house to get the actual key and once that was placed next to the steering column it started no problem. Car had 120 miles on it.

keep in mind I had a 2023 m4 comp with digital key and never had an issue. Seems iOS has something to do with it and yes I did get a 16 pro and had updated to 18.01 a few days before but no beta. I’ve never used beta. And keep in mind it let me start the car and leave my garage and 20 mins later it decided it was going to not start and strand me.

bmw is involved and they spent hours trying to get it to fail but we couldn’t and now bmw engineering wants to have the car and reprogram every module in the car in a potential multi day event which I really don’t want to do. I think there is a problem with the tray because it acts funny and sometines depending on position doesn’t charge which I don’t care I use the cord usually but the nfc got funky and caused the car to lock down and require the actual key !! Imagine if I was 100 miles or more away from home or in a place that wasnt safe and it stranded me like this.

this is a safety issue and quite epic so for now I’m carrying the actual key with me in case but this isn’t what I paid for !

I found a solution. I also had a iPhone 16 pro max and was primary user. My wife then changed from 15 pro max which was working perfectly to a 16 pro max and was secondary user. Same issues as outlined in this forum. I then just made her primary user and me secondary and it’s all working fine now (and then swapped it again).

Hello there from Germany,

i have the same Problem. The secondary Key dont work with digital Key Plus on iphone 15 pro with iOS 18….

It only works as Digital Key. (only with NFC and not UWB?). So, i have to hold the iphone nearly the opener to open or close the car und to start the car, the iphone must be in the charging case of the car. Before everything, i have to sign in with face id in the wallet app.

The iphone 11 from my wife works fine..

Hope they fixed it fast.

greats

You can do this either from the My BMW app on your iPhone or also can do it from the car in the profile settings. I had already set up myself as primary and my wife as secondary. I had an iPhone 16 Pro Max and my wife had a 15 Pro Max. When she changed to a 16 Pro Max is when it stopped working. But just changing it around and making her primary user and me secondary - all our devices worked as digital key. It does also mean you have to re-pair the phones / watches / digital car keys.... but after a bit of switching around it all works seamlessly as it should have done in the first place!

I had that issue and see my response to below post - definitely worked after switching primary and secondary users and re-pairing phones / watches / digital key to work properly with UWB and not only NFC (had same issue). Definitely works properly after doing all of that. (Also I did this with 2 x iPhone 16 Pro Max, 2 x Apple Watch Ultra 2 and 2 x different BMW's - one on iD8 and another on iD9

When I make my wife's phone the primary user, and set up CarKey for her phone, I can successfully send a CarKey to my iPhone 16 Pro's wallet. However - it does still not support Digital Key Plus. I am still not able to unlock my car from my pocket; I have to physically open the wallet and press my phone onto my car door, and then on the tray. And even then it refuses to recognize my profile, so I have to do the whole QR-code thing.

So this is very much still a bug that needs to be fixed. I am still unsure whether the issue is on BMW or Apple. Though BMW's website claims Digital Key Plus is supported on "iPhone 11 or newer".