Don't know about the RX but my 2020 ES had the remote start by app 3yr trial and subscription after that. This is not the digital key. Car can be started from anywhere in the world and stay on for 10 minutes or shut off by app and lock and unlock doors. Car does shut off when open doors and that is where the digital key would come into play. Seems to me that Lexus would rethink this and give everybody that paid for the digital key a wallet key and make available to others for purchase. Like I said before my dealer thought the wallet key came with the digital key option as it did with some other Lexus model. He even called his parts dept and they told him not available.

 

The app does communicate directly with the car. it might use network to verify the digital key eligibility on your phone, but the phone communicates with the car directly. On my Android phone it shows it as a bluetooth device as Lexus Digital Key

 

Yes, if you are within 10 m of the car it will be able to use bluetooth to connect to certain parts of the car (such as the infotainment, system, etc), but you'll notice that you're still able to control remote functions (lock, unlock, etc) beyond that distance (or if you disable bluetooth) because it talks to the server.

Obviously, things like the automated remote parking will only work through bluetooth (or at least I hope so).

 

An added digital key feature is if I try to lock my car and the it refuses, it means I left the iPhone in the car. Mine is usually sitting on the charging pad, but I can't forget my phone now.

 

I had a different issue. When I had my phone out that had the digital key on it, the car would not lock when I hit the button. The car would show that a key was in the car. I had to change the sensitivity of the key and now it works most of the time.

 

Same. With high sensitivity it thinks the phone is inside the car.

 

I keep getting a bluetooth connection error when setting up my digital key.
Is there is a fix for this?

Im on the newest iOS and newest software for the Rx.

 

1- Does the app have permission to use bluetooth under iOS settings?
2- Is Bluetooth on
3- Is battery saver mode off?

 

We recently purchased a 2024 RX (late March, 2024), and yes as others here have reported we were rather shocked that at the time of delivery, it only included one key.

Fortunately, ours has the "Tech pkg, digital key" option which allows for up to 5 cell phones (we have iPhones and have tested this) to open the doors, start, and drive the vehicle without a key!

Has anyone else with that option used it? Our dealer did not know about it and they seemed to be knowledgeable in every other aspect about our new RX.

This is a REALLY long thread, and I'm sorry if this has already been discussed .

Jim

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2024 RX-450H+ PHEV (Cloudburst Grey, Macadamia interior)
2021 RX-450H (White, Birch interior)
2021 Audi RS5 Coupe (White, Black interior)
2010 RX-350 - gone
2007 GS-450h - gone

 

You will not find many positive comments on the digital key in this forum. Lexus support recommends that you carry the key fob with you and not rely solely on the digital key. We basically spent a fair amount of money on an unreliable digital key. Don't leave home without the key fob!!!

 

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As already mentioned, Digital Key appears to be kind of iffy, and end of the day requires you have good cell phone connectivity as it doesn't talk directly to the car, IIRC.

 

That was how we felt when we first got our RX350h back in December, 2023. I drove it to office without the physical key fob for about one week. From my experience, it seems that the Lexus app has to be active for the digital key to work. Even so, it sometimes took a few tries to unlock and/or start the engine. But then one day, the digital key lost the connection to the vehicle for no apparent reason. Luckily it happened when the car was at home. I tried to reconnect/reactivate over the next few days with no success. I went so far as to delete the app from my phone and reinstall it. It always gave me the Bluetooth or Wifi connection error, even my phone was fully charged. One day it magically went thru while I was repeating the same process which I had done countless times. We drove it to nearby park for picnic after testing it a few times at home. It gave us a scare when it failed to unlock and then start the engine a few times when we were leaving.

So, a great feature only if it is reliable. For us, we never go anywhere without the key fob ever since.

 

New to Lexus and my iPhone Digital Key loaded on the Lexus app. Do you trust it, or as Lexus recommends, do you carry your key fob as a backup? I'm not 100% clear but I think you need cellular service, bluetooth, or both to use phone as a 100% replacement for the key fob. I travel where there is no cell service, so phone-only as key is a no go for that I guess.

 

I just use my fob. The problem with the digital key is it drains your iPhone battery if you keep the app open even in the background.

The digital key is more of a backup for me, but not what I would call reliable or convenient.

 

I use it occasionally. Not very reliable.

On few occasions it unlocked the car, I got in, but the car was not detecting the key to start. I had to play with settings for few minutes to start the car. Other times i had to reboot the phone so that it actually worked.

I would not go far from a family member that could bring me a key in case it decides not to work.

Lexus still has lots of work to do with digital key and the profile systems. That are great ideas, but seems like they released beta versions and decided not to update them after release.. just my observations and opinion.