Why can't I add my BMW Digital Key Plus to my Apple Watch or iPhone?

I had the same problem and was able to resolve it based on these comments, thank you! I had an iPhone 13 when I got my 2024 IX and when I upgraded to the iPhone 16 Pro Max I was unable to connect my new phone. I deleted the old phone and tried everything to get the new phone to connect. Even updating to iOS 18.3 didn’t help. What worked: I gave my boyfriend access to my car, switched him to the primary user, connected his phone to the digital key, switched me back to primary, and then I was able to successfully pair my digital key! I’m not sure why it worked but maybe I just needed to clear out my previous phone settings. I was able to drive my car with my phone for the first time in months today! Hope this helps!

Hi all! Apple update 18.1 has fixed the issue. I just updated and checked the digital key in the wallet and it now has all of the features as a digital key plus , so I am going to assume the passive entry should work. It is one of the listed bug fixes. Hope it works for all- it was driving me nuts.

Ironically I had spoken to BMW genius hotline earlier today and was told they didn’t know what to do except tell me the passive key was not working for some reason and the only troubleshooting available was to check if bmw key share settings was set to key access for unlock and drive.

i had digital key plus working great until I got the iPhone 16 pro/ios 18. I got the error when trying to add the key to my wallet. This finally worked for me:

Started with no keys in Apple wallet (on phone or watch) on my phone or my husbands. Switched my husband to the primary user through the car/bmw app. Had him set up digital key plus in the bmw app and it worked. Had him share a digital key with me through the wallet and it let me add the digital key to my wallet finally. Switched myself back to primary user and it revoked both of our digital keys but I did not delete the revoked key from the wallet. Then I went to set up digital key plus in the BMW app and it finally worked. Removed the old digital key that was revoked. Shared the new one to my husband (and he removed his revoked key as well). Then we went into the Apple Watch apps wallet and added the keys to our watch. Hope this helps someone else!

I work for a BMW dealership. I’ve tried everything with a client after he got his new iPhone 16 pro max. It stopped working with digital key plus. Tonight, I was told by the BMW genius line after speaking with 3 people that this issue has been reported with iPhone 16 pro max. Was told to contact Apple super seems to be the specific phone model.

For reference - old phone: iPhone 12 Pro Max with iOS 18, new phone: iPhone 16 Pro Max with iOS 18. iDrive version 07/2024.40

I took my 2025 to service two days ago for this issue. After 4.5 hours, they still did not have an answer. They opened a case with engineering. The next afternoon, they told me the iPhone 16 Pro Max (not sure about other iPhone 16 models) is incompatible with the Digital Key feature. For now, at least. They said the same issue happened with previous iPhones, and a solution was eventually found. I don't know if that came as an over-the-air update or an update only the service department can perform. One update showed as a recall. He said to check the Digital Key feature for compatibility after any update. EDIT: it was not specified if this was an Apple or BMW issue, but considering my previous phone worked, it may be a BMW issue, not Apple. FWIW.

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:

...

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.

...

copied from: Apple Beta — FAQ

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

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

I have news. Updated to IOS 18.2 today. My Digital Key+ now works just fine.

Problem solved!

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

Try not looking or typing when pressing the ‘Add’ button for the digital key so that Face ID or Touch ID is not recognised on the first attempt.

This allowed me to successfully add the key to the Apple Watch, which didn't work before.

Yes confirmed IOS18.1 soft upgrade did solved the Digital Wallet key issue. Just update to 18.1 today and it work. Thank you.

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 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).

BMW just got back to me and told me DigitalKey is only supported up to iPhone 15. It's still unclear to me if this is a BMW-issue or an Apple-issue..