Audi Massively Expands iPhone Car Key Support to 35 Models by 2026

Audi is finally making a serious attempt to kill the key fob. On December 2, the automaker announced a sweeping expansion of Apple Car Key support, targeting more than 20 additional models by mid-2026. It’s a massive catch-up play—competitors like BMW have offered widespread digital key support for years—but Audi is trying to make up for lost time by aggressively pushing the feature to both future showrooms and existing driveways.

The numbers suggest a rapid scaling effort. Based on yesterday’s announcement and updated Apple developer notes, Audi plans to support 35 distinct models by the end of 2026. That is more than double the 15 models supported in 2024.

The Rollout: Retrofitting the Recent Past

Crucially, Audi isn't just targeting new buyers with this update. While native integration is confirmed for 12 incoming 2026 models—including volume drivers like the A4, A5, Q5, and Q7, plus the e-tron GT—the company is also looking backward.

Eight existing 2025 models, including the A6 and Q8 e-tron, will receive retroactive support via over-the-air (OTA) updates starting in Q1 2026. Beta testing for these retrofits begins immediately this month for users in the U.S. and Europe.

This move sidesteps the usual hardware obsolescence that plagues car tech. By pushing software retrofits to 2025 models, Audi is ensuring roughly 250,000 U.S. owners can ditch their physical keys without trading in their cars—a retention strategy that acknowledges how frustrating it is to buy a "smart" car that becomes outdated within six months.

Under the Hood: iOS 19 and the Battery Question

Running on iOS 19, the new system ditches the flakiness of standard Bluetooth for Ultra-Wideband (UWB). While UWB isn't new tech, Audi’s specific implementation of "Express Mode" claims to solve the battery anxiety often associated with phone-as-a-key features.

Drivers can unlock and start the car without waking their iPhone, and Apple’s engineering notes from December 2 state this active use drains less than 1% of the iPhone's battery per hour. While efficient, it remains to be seen how this holds up in real-world scenarios compared to the passive drain of standard Bluetooth Low Energy implementations used by rivals.

Security is the other headline here. Audi is touting post-quantum encryption, a sophisticated protocol designed to future-proof vehicles against next-generation decryption methods. Is this overkill? Perhaps for today's average car thief. But with relay attacks becoming increasingly trivial to execute with cheap hardware, raising the cryptographic standard reduces vulnerability by a claimed 90%.

Market Context: Late Arrival, fast Follow

Audi is admittedly late to the party. BMW successfully integrated Apple Car Key broadly nearly five years ago, leaving Audi playing catch-up in the digital wallet space. Despite this lag, Audi currently accounts for 18% of global Car Key-enabled cars, a figure expected to rise as these updates hit.

Regional specifics for the rollout include:

United States: Prioritized rollout; FCC approvals were confirmed yesterday, December 2.
Europe: Germany and the UK gain access in January 2026. The EU press release explicitly framed this as a counter-theft measure, citing Eurostat data that showed a 15% spike in car thefts in 2024.
Asia-Pacific: Japan and Australia are slated for Q2 2026, while China faces delays due to strict local data residency laws.

The integration lives natively in the Apple Wallet app, avoiding the clunky third-party software often required by other manufacturers. This enables native iOS features like sharing keys via iMessage with expiration timers—convenient for valets or lending the car to a friend without handing over a physical fob.