You have done me and all of us a huge favor with this info, I will STOP trying to get the key to download now because of the battery use. Maybe they will fix it someday, but until then, this battery use would be terrible to live with. The app without the digital key seems to not be an issue, thanks!

 

glad I could help!

it’s a great concept, and you’re totally right, this wasn’t the case until I actually set up the digital key - battery drain was not present.I’ll also follow up with Lexus head office to see if they can and have any suggestions for it.

 

If you remove the digital key and the battery goes back to normal let us know please.

Would be good to know that you can’t cause any permanent issue. I mean I’m sure once the digital key is removed from Bluetooth on the phone it couldn’t continue to cause problems but you never know I guess.

Thanks again.

What happens if you go into Bluetooth settings on the phone and disconnect the key after you’re using it, will it stay disconnected and stop draining?

 

The main thing to cut battery drain is probably to turn off Background App Refresh, assuming you've decided you don't need the functions that require it.

 

Got it! I’ll try the following over the next few days and let you know:

1. turn off background background app refresh and rest what functionality is lost and the impact on battery drain - good idea!
2. remove digital key and see what impact there is on the battery drain

 

Like this other person just said turn off background app refresh for a while and see if that solves it that would be very interesting to see.

 

Update: I turned off Background App Refresh - the battery drain issue is gone as long as you swipe away the app.
To summarize, if the app is running in the foreground - i.e. you leave it open, it will continue to hammer at the battery.
Background App Refresh doesn't do much in this situation - the app still tries to do... something... locally, perhaps try to constantly establish a Bluetooth connection somehow? Invoke the connection without waiting for the iPhone to do it? I don't know. Over the past 1.5 weeks of ownership, the app has used 125mb of data, so I don't know if it constantly trying to talk with Lexus's servers non-stop.
IF, however, you swipe away the app - the battery drain is gone. Leave it running? It will continue using the battery.

One note on the Background App Refresh - and correct me on this if I am wrong - this applies to data usage - accessing the mobile data network. If an app is "processing" something locally - I believe that "background app refresh" doesn't really have an impact on this.

What a headscratcher,

 

Thanks for the update, my digital key won’t work with my iPhone no matter what I do so it doesn’t matter at the moment. I was told to go into Bluetooth settings and click on “forget device“ for the digital key to start over and now the phone won’t find the digital key.

There is a known issue with iPhones iOS 15 but you have one and yours is working so that’s interesting.

 

Ok folks, I think I’m done with the digital key on IOS. I had been mistaken in my reports that “swiping the app away” fixes the battery drain - nope.
Disabling background app refresh also doesn’t do much.
this may be a glitch specific to iOS 15, but I believe that the issue and culprit here is Bluetooth. I live in a house, and my car is parked in my garage or driveway. The car is still able to maintain an active Bluetooth connection while I’m inside the house. This causes the app to use significant CPU time to do whatever (poll the distance via signal strength or who knows). All I know is that it’s not using mobile data.

in any case, I’m going to disable the digital
key and report back. Sadly it’s too much of a battery hog for me now, as my iPhone can barely make it through the day - when it used to let 1.5 days+ with my regular usage patterns.

at least the Battery setting does a good job of identifying the culprit.

 

thanks will take digital key try to get it to work reminder off of my phone for now ha ha

 

I think @Peterun had the same problem and solved it. He had a whole thread or two about the isssue/s

Good Luck

YMMV,
MidCow3

 

I was having issue with the digital key, had to remove and add it back, technology is still kinda new, I now just bring a key fob with me and not have to worry about it anymore

 

Just want to update a few things. I think the Bluetooth "polling" is the issue - I'll discuss why I think this is the case in a bit.
I have tried to live with the Digital Key for a few weeks - but it is now not something I could rely on. Let me explain.

I ran into the battery drain issue and was unable to get consistent results. Playing with the Background App Refresh, Location etc had mixed results. Sometimes battery drain was less, and sometimes it was more - but the fact that the battery did not last me as long as it did prior to the digital key being set up.

So, this brings me to my next point. I started trying to "live with it", as taking the phone to the gym was far more convenient than bringing my keys. Sometime between then and now, I started taking the keys with me (and I don't have a reason why) - but, what I did notice is that my battery life was normal, I was like "That's great!", something that I changed (background app refresh, location), or just swiping the app away fixed it, however, this was not the case.
The battery went back to normal because the digital key no longer worked. Like @LiBeRtAs mentioned - no Bluetooth connection. Looking at my phone, the Bluetooth connection is usually registered as being connected to "LEXUS NX" - this allowed the digital key to work.
Now, since the Digital Key no longer works, due to Bluetooth not connecting, made battery life go back to the way it used to be - this seems to point out that the Bluetooth connection was chewing through the battery of the phone. My guess is it was constantly trying to connect to see if a Bluetooth connection to the car was available.

So, that's one thing (presumably) solved. The battery drain was a result of the Lexus App trying to connect to Bluetooth. Of course I could be completely wrong about this, but it's just somewhat odd that everything is fine now.

The bigger issue is why the app suddenly stopped working? The key is still added. As Lexus pointed out - this is a bug in IOS 15.x, but why was it working before?

Let this be a cautionary tale - the Digital Key is not a replacement for a physical key. Although I was able to use the digital key as my main key for a number of rides (as in no physical key with me at all), there is a quite good chance that this could have happened during a real trip, where the digital key stopped working - thus I would be SOL.

For those wondering, no - even if you unlock the car using the app, you can't start it, as the phone and car won't pair with Bluetooth to start the car. Yes - Bluetooth works as a means of communication for audio and calls - but not for the Smart Key.

I'll try a remove-add, but the fact remains that it's not a technology I can trust at this time.

 

Lexus had a junior engineer ( a millennial, or letter generation) working on the Digital Key. He/she did individual unit testing but did not do integrated systems testing and as a result, it conflicts with several other Lexus memory, profile, and access systems. Lexus has since fired the culprit, but they found out he/she did not document any of the work on the Key System. Lexus is trying to hire an overall Integration Manager, but they have to reverse engineering the Digital Key and try to smooth out the integration. Lexus issued one bandaid software fix, but several major issues exist. One of these days even Lexus will learn sometimes shortcuts to sound engineering principles and engineering integration testing just doesn't ensure a totally successful product.

Best advice for the near-term K.I.S.S. and don't try to use the Digital Key which is a broken crippled product until it is completely fixed!

YMMV,
MidCow3

 

That's more true than you know. As someone who works with devops, secops and agile, this is exactly why we work in sprints and produce what's called a MVP - minimum viable product, plus test. Sad that companies are able to get away with half-assed products.
Agreed. I'll poke around to see what can be fixed, and maybe try the iOS 16 beta to see if Lexus's "It's a iOS 15.x bug" argument holds true.
If I come up with a solution, I'll let you know.