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Apple’s Amazing New iPhone And Watch Feature Just Got Even Cooler

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Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch have a super-cool feature coming, and soon.

When Apple releases iOS 13.4 and watchOS 6.2, both of which are predicted to land as soon as March, a new feature called CarKey is expected to be on board. It’s already to be found in the public beta of iOS – there’s no public beta of watchOS updates. You can read every detail of the latest public beta in this post by fellow Forbes contributor Anthony Karcz. Note that CarKey doesn’t feature in Anthony’s notes as it hasn’t been officially announced. It was unearthed by keen sleuths at several tech sites from an analysis of the strings of code in the beta releases themselves.

But there’s now an addition to the exciting innovation which is CarKey and it is very striking.

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A couple of weeks ago, CarKey came to public notice. It revealed the notion that you could unlock your car with your iPhone or Apple Watch. If your car is compatible with being unlocked by an NFC key, you will be able to put that key into the iPhone’s Wallet app.

Once it’s there, you can hold your iPhone – or Apple Watch – next to the car’s NFC reader and once you’ve confirmed its you through Face ID on the iPhone or double-pressing the side button on the Apple  Watch, your car will unlock. Cool, huh?

It will also let you turn the engine on with the same method, and lock the car afterwards, too.

So, what’s new?

Well, already it was possible from the earlier beta to share these NFC keys with others, allowing them temporary access to your vehicle.

Now, as reported by MacRumors, the way you do that has become easier to understand. The wording is now more explicit, saying, “CarKey is not available in group conversations. You can send CarKey in conversations with an individual.”

So, by using the Messages app, then. Well, that sounds like the simplest way to do it, which is pretty neat.

Sharing the NFC key can be done on a permanent or temporary basis, which is handy if you’re using a car valet service, or you left your car at your friend’s house last night and they’re driving it back today. Which is considerate.

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How will it work?

That kind friend of yours will receive a message saying something like this: “[Vehicle Owner] invited you to use their [Vehicle Model] with unlock & drive access. This allows you to use your iPhone and Apple Watch to unlock/lock the car, start the engine and drive.”

Just Apple users, then?

Yes, that seems unmistakable. The message won’t work if you send it to an Android user, sorry.

What about Express Mode?

We don’t know yet. Just as you can invoke Express Mode when you’re boarding a subway or other compatible transit system without authenticating by Face ID etc, you can use Express Mode in CarKey as well, making getting into and starting your car that bit easier.

But it’s not clear whether that Express Mode will then work for your friend’s iPhone or Apple Watch as well.

When can I use it?

The software is coming soon but obviously using it is limited to NFC-compatible cars. How many will install the Apple wherewithal to make it happen is anybody’s guess, but I’m thinking it could prove popular.

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