Limitations and curbs coming to your iPhone car key, but it’s a good thing: this is why

Many modern cars support digital car keys, and for iPhone users, Apple’s Wallet app already stores them. A new patent suggests Apple may soon offer more flexible options for sharing and controlling those high-tech keys.

Many still see digital car keys as something straight out of a sci-fi flick. In essence, digital car keys let drivers use their smartphone or smartwatch to lock, unlock, and start their vehicle without a physical key. They work through technologies like NFC or Ultra Wideband, and can often be shared with others electronically for convenience.

Basically, that’s the 2025 version of tossing someone your car keys, but without the dramatic jingle. Apple introduced its version, Car Key, in 2020, integrating it into the Wallet app alongside credit cards, IDs, and passes. While current implementations are still limited, future upgrades might offer much more.

Apple is exploring new ways to expand how digital car keys work on the iPhone, a new leak suggests. The finding by The Mac Observer is a patent, titled US-20250263046-A, “Mobile Key User Interfaces” and it’s all about a system that would let users place restrictions on shared car keys.

Beyond today’s all-or-nothing approach (lock, unlock, start engine), the new patent describes options such as limiting access to unlocking only, setting time-based permissions, or automatically expiring a shared key. This could allow a friend to open the car without starting it. Or lending your car to a friend, but just for a few hours. What I’m personally interested in is what happens when the countdown timer goes to 0 and the car is doing 110 mph on the highway in the rain.

Joking aside, the new patent points to a more flexible system that could make car sharing safer and more practical. It would be useful for parents supervising new drivers, for example.

As with any Apple patent, there’s no guarantee it will become a product, but the concept fits into Apple’s broader strategy of making Wallet central to everyday life. Wallet already stores credit cards, IDs, hotel keys, and event passes, and smarter digital car keys would be a natural extension.