Apple’s Car Keys feature appears to be available on supported vehicles made by Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi Auto, based on code changes discovered by Woozad in the backend of Apple’s Wallet app.
Code spotted in the third developer beta of iOS 27 in July revealed that Apple was preparing car key support for Xiaomi, so this latest change suggests support is imminent.
The Chinese electronics maker has expanded into electric vehicles with models like the SU7 sedan and YU7 SUV. Car key support would be one of the company’s first ties to Apple’s ecosystem, although Xiaomi is a major rival to Apple in the smartphone market.
Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch with NFC capabilities to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet and unlocking can be done simply by holding an Apple Watch or iPhone near the NFC reader of a compatible vehicle.
What can be done with car keys may vary by car manufacturer, but at a minimum, car keys can be used to unlock your car, lock your car, and start your car, which are the features available with a physical key.
Apple introduced car keys in 2022, and automakers like BMW, Rivian, Kia, and Hyundai have all implemented support for car keys. Apple maintains a complete list of vehicles that support Car Keys on its CarPlay model availability web page.
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