Digital Key

[Whiskery]

Security and user experience has to be balanced.

Indeed. I would think that a fair few of us have such security anyway as it is a requirement for Google/Apple Pay. What I found on my Digital Key expedition was this:

I arrived at the Tesco car park and locked the car with the digital key.
Went into Tesco and because I have both data and wifi enabled, the phone switched from data to the free Tesco wifi.
When I left the store after a few minutes, it switched back to data. No real problem with this as it was what the phone should do.

I did find though that to unlock the car again, I had to go through the iSmart menus, re-input the 4 digit code and then wait for it to recognise through the server and unlock the car.
There is absolutely no real problem with this but it would have been quicker with the key fob.

There's no doubt it is a clever feature which would be useful in case of lost/misplaced keys.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Indeed. I would think that a fair few of us have such security anyway as it is a requirement for Google/Apple Pay. What I found on my Digital Key expedition was this:

I arrived at the Tesco car park and locked the car with the digital key.
Went into Tesco and because I have both data and wifi enabled, the phone switched from data to the free Tesco wifi.
When I left the store after a few minutes, it switched back to data. No real problem with this as it was what the phone should do.

I did find though that to unlock the car again, I had to go through the iSmart menus, re-input the 4 digit code and then wait for it to recognise through the server and unlock the car.
There is absolutely no real problem with this but it would have been quicker with the key fob.

There's no doubt it is a clever feature which would be useful in case of lost/misplaced keys.

Around were I live the phone signal can be nonexistent. I thought it was Bluetooth and didn’t rely on the phone signal?

 

[Abaker Mk2]

Lets's just clarify key types:-


This screen has a central locking button which will only work via your phone cellular signal or wifi whichever is availble.

This screen is the bluetooth connection to the car which is a direct connection and independent of your phone signal. Range is about ten meters.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Lets's just clarify key types:-


This screen has a central locking button which will only work via your phone cellular signal or wifi whichever is availble.
View attachment 11012

This screen is the bluetooth connection to the car which is a direct connection and independent of your phone signal. Range is about ten meters.
View attachment 11013

Ah, so it doesn’t need phone signal, just works off BT for digital key?

 

[Whiskery]

Ah, so it doesn’t need phone signal, just works off BT for digital key?

I'm not so sure it works on BT alone. Just been out and tried with data/wifi disabled. ISmart app wouldn't connect to the car with me standing next to it.

Perhaps @Abaker Mk2 means we need phone signal and BT to use it.

 

[BugEyed]

A bit of both. The creation of the key requires a data connection but it can be used via BT. So imagine that you are parked in an underground carpark with no data connection then you need to create the key when connected to data before going back to the car. But how this would work somewhere remote with no data connection anywhere near is beyond me.

 

[Abaker Mk2]

I'm not so sure it works on BT alone. Just been out and tried with data/wifi disabled. ISmart app wouldn't connect to the car with me standing next to it.

Perhaps @Abaker Mk2 means we need phone signal and BT to use it.

The app won’t update charge level and remaining miles without a data connection ie cellular or WiFi. However the digital key will as it directly connects to the car.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Okay, I've sorted it out.

The first thing to do on your phone is to enable the digital key. You need a WiFi or phone connection with data to do this. Once achieved, the digital key will remain active on your phone and you won't need a WiFi or phone signal again unless you purposely disable the digital key.

At your car use the digital key to first unlock your car, you must be close to the car for this to work. Then use the digital key to enable the start button. Once you have enabled the start button with the digital key you can start the car as normal.

When leaving the car you can use the digital key to lock it.

As such, once you have enabled the digital key you can unlock the car, start the car and lock the car without a phone signal. The digital key will remain active even if you power off/on your phone.

 

[Abaker Mk2]

Okay, I've sorted it out.

The first thing to do on your phone is to enable the digital key. You need a WiFi or phone connection with data to do this. Once achieved, the digital key will remain active on your phone and you won't need a WiFi or phone signal again unless you purposely disable the digital key.

At your car use the digital key to first unlock your car, you must be close to the car for this to work. Then use the digital key to enable the start button. Once you have enabled the start button with the digital key you can start the car as normal.

When leaving the car you can use the digital key to lock it.

As such, once you have enabled the digital key you can unlock the car, start the car and lock the car without a phone signal. The digital key will remain active even if you power off/on your phone.

Yeah, what he said!

 

[GavinThain]

Your house is keyless?

Mine is now. Yale Conexis.

 

[sgt4hed]

Your house is keyless?

My house is keyless thanks to the yale smart alarm and connexis door lock

 

[Abaker Mk2]

Mine is now. Yale Conexis.

My house is keyless thanks to the yale smart alarm and connexis door lock

The screwfix review are quite negative. How do you find using it?