I spent 2 hours today with three dealer people trying to activate the digital key with various phones. No luck.I decided I’m ok to let this percolate to see if it’s a software issue that comes to light. Anyone else with this? The Lexus App does everything else fine. Remote starting etc is ok.

 

Amazingly mine works. Even started the vehicle with it. My salesman told me they were having trouble getting it to work. I got home and got it to work the next day and shared it with my wife. Probably would not have done it if I had 2 key fobs.

 

If you are runnung iOS 15 or later, you will have to contact customer support. There is some bug in the software and you have to execute certain steps in certain order. Unfortunately I forgot the steps my customer support personnel made me do. So, give them a call. I am sure they will resolve this issue.

Also, find official lexus page with iOS 15 or later warning: https://support.lexus.com/s/article/...le-to-do-10891

 

This is exactly what I’m running…iOS 16.2 on the latest iPhone 14 ProMax. Your reply here is incredibly useful. Thank you so much. That being said, I already did the chat (30 mins), the phone call (1 hour) and the two hour dealer visit with three people. As all these new Lexi are now being delivered and lots will be dealing with digital key setup, I think it makes sense to just let this percolate. Either there will be a software update, or everyone involved will totally know how to work around the problem soon enough. Right now no one really understands this and my patience is less than my desire to go keyless!

 

If you want to give one more try yourself:
- Delete digital key from Lexus app. You can click digital key and then hit "remove my key" at the bottom.
- Remove digital key from your iphone Bluetooth devices by selecting and clicking "Forget device".
- Make sure any digital key is not already linked on infotainment system under Settings>Info & Security. If there is one, remove it as well.
- Power off your phone and power back on.
- Turn off car, exit, lock and reenter.
- Make sure you have a strong phone carrier signal. Keep your phone either on strong wifi or strong cellular for the next step.
- Now start pairing sequence again from the Lexus app. It will first download the digital key for which you will need strong signal. And when you execute all pairing sequences, hopefully it goes through this time.

If you have questions on any of the steps above, let me know. I can elaborate.

After successfully pairing, I was understanding the feature with the customer support and I asked, "so I can stop using fob now". And they replied, we still recommend you carry your fob with you. That response was very strange to me as if Lexus do not trust their own software completely and probably encourage to use digital key in emergency only. Hopefully, they improve their software and make it more reliable if that is the case.

 

This is a great post. Concisely explaining exactly what to do, how to do it and in what order. Thank you. I will do this and report back. As an aside, if you have to carry the key, what's the point. Truthfully I think Lexus should be given a shortish window to get this together. If it's still so unstable that you have to carry the key, the class-action lawyers should kick in to get us refunds. It's not that big a deal...not like when GM sold bad Oldsmobile diesel and Cadillac V8-6-4 engines. But it's $275 per car. Either fix it right or refund and move on.

 

@daryll40 I totally agree. They need to resolve this quickly. The worst part is that they display default message to carry fob all the times even when I go in the chat option. That is so stupid. I have exactly the same opinion as yours. If we have to carry key fob “just to be safe”, what’s the point of digital key option.

 

That’s obviously just Lexus covering their tailpipe. This either is gonna get fixed and work, or they’ll be massive reports of stranded Lexus drivers and Lexus will have to fess up and refund or otherwise make this good.

 

Nope! Same hang up as every other try.

 

Ouch! I am sorry that solution did not work for your setup.
I tried to use digital key this morning for the first time. No success. The car did not detect the digital key at all even after I hold the phone in hand near the door handle. Had to go back inside home to grab key fob.

 

Sorry to hear this but misery loves company. The more of us with trouble, the more focus Lexus will do to fix it. As I said, this isn’t like a drivetrain thing. Just an annoyance. I’m ok to let this percolate. For a little while.

 

After reading this thread, I am declaring this option is essentially useless and don't plan to use it at all. Many of the Lexus customer base - senior citizens - won't be able to install, configure, and use this feature. They better get moving on getting those 2nd fobs manufactured.

 

It can't be an IOS 15+ issue - no one is running 14 anymore, that's been gone for 1+ years now, people are on IOS 16 now.

And its not just a $275 issue. If someone can't get into their car because of this, and is attacked or injured while stranded someplace, Lexus is going to face big lawsuits. I would also report this to NHTSA as a safety issue, that will wake Lexus up to fix it.

 

I got the digital key to work on my wife’s phone. She is the primary but when I share it to my phone doesn’t work

 

This is an interesting finding. Perhaps you can tease out any differences between the phones, phone software, etc to help figure out what's going on here.