winpakbob

Check out reply #301 here. I had the exact same problem(s) and you can see what is necessary. You are going to suffer through a phone call with dumb questions before it gets elevated and fixed. Mine has been working fine ever since... good luck

daryll40

For what it's worth, I got the 2nd FOB two weeks ago and have stopped using the Digital Key. I know that I was the most enthusiastic about it on here, and it did work FAIRLY well as the primary key, with the actual FOB as the backup. But now that I'm full FOB all the time, I admit it's better. Yeah, I have to carry another device, but it's truly flawless. The Digital Key required opening the app, making sure the phone was awake etc etc. Not to mention "download" updates required etc etc. Lexus should refund all of our cost for it, since they never really got it up for prime time. But I have bigger things to worry about, so I'm moving on without using the Digital Key.

jahnjva

I'm glad you finally saw this horrible product (digital key) for what it really is. Its a shame they wont offer the digital wallet card to everyone but I know that's not an option with our cars. That product sounded like it actually worked but then they couldn't milk us for the subscription fees like on the digital key after the 3 years are up.

toyotaman7

I am not sure if anyone in the right mind would pay for digital key subscription after seeing how useless it is based on current implementation.

However, if they introduce a credit card key that works on all RX5s 2023+ then they could sell more of those; more money for Lexus and more for dealers to program them. Plus they actually work, unlike this thing they call digital key..

daryll40

Sadly I've come to agree with this. But everyone wants to sell subscriptions today. The wallet key probably wouldn't be a huge seller. Most won't shell out for it. Whereas the Digital Key business plan is to get you used to it so you keep paying after the initial "free" three years. Unfortunately, as you have pointed out, they won't have many takers for that unless and until they truly debug it. I'm not sure that it even can be debugged, and if so, how having an "'asleep" phone would work versus the always awake FOB.

byzatic

A credit card shaped key would face the same chip shortage as the fob shaped key.
It's unfortunate that they haven't gotten the digital key working.
The ideal solution would be for Lexus/Toyota to support Apple Car Key, like BMW, where the digital key is part of phone's OS, instead of part of a flaky app.

jahnjva

Daryll, I disagree. The Digital wallet card is only a $100.00 option (much less than a new key fob or the digital key) and there is no subscription price. It was an option on the ES350 and ES300h. Its convenient to store in your wallet and it actually works so it think it would sell. They could also just allocate in on the cars like they did the digital key.

lexusnyca

The digital key works, you just have to download it repeatedly to get the passive functions to operate - and I still believe that is a theft issue. But if you start the app on demand and press the function buttons, they will work. I agree about the value of the future subscription however.

Scientifix

Hello all just got a 2024 Lexus RX 350. So far everything has worked extremely well. I was very skeptical about the app as the ratings were so low
in the App Store but surprisingly that has works very well too! This is my wife’s car, I have setup the digital key on her phone and it works very reliably. The dealer said I have to launch the app and click buttons to use not like a Tesla etc but it works well as a key as long you have the phone on you. Only once it said key missing and I had to take the phone out of my jacket pocket and it immediately worked. I haven’t yet set up the second digital key on my phone basically sharing the digital key with me. I wonder how well it will work I will try and post here.

WellsB

We've had the digital key refuse to work and it would have left us stranded if we hadn't had the fob with us. I would be leary of relying on it. It does come in handy as my partner doesn't carry her fob, but always has her phone with her. If she wants to go to the car before me, she doesn't have to grab the fob from me.

Astrid

Not sure if this has been asked but I had some safety concerns about digital key. Does anyone know if someone is able to use keyless access if your car is parked on your driveway? My bedroom is close to my driveway where I park sometimes and according to the app, bluetooth is connected between the RX and my phone when I'm just in the bedroom. Could someone use keyless access to open the vehicle and get inside or does the phone need to be right in front of the door to use the keyless access?

WellsB

You can unlock the vehicle from the master app on your phone via remote connect. I don't believe there is a distance limitation as long as the vehicle and phone have a signal. One could be in another state if I understand it correctly.

Any shared keys require the phone to be within Bluetooth range to unlock the vehicle.

Scientifix

I think the safety concern question is about when the phone is near the car inside the house can someone walk up to the car and open the door and drive away.
I would think when one opens the door and presses the start button in that scenario the car wouldn’t start because the phone is not inside the car but I need to try it. Also there is a “customize key range” option in the app I wonder if that can be set to minimal distance to alleviate concerns but that also I need to try to see how it works.

WellsB

I just checked and the phone had to be within about 5' of the vehicle for the door handle unlock to work.

The vehicle wont start unless the phone is inside the vehicle.

Astrid

I did change the range to the minimal distance. I chose the Low option which was recommended if you have the phone on hand or in your front pocket. I also was able to get ahold of a tech specialist at my dealership who said they should not be able to open the car unless the device is right in front of the vehicle. Like WellsB mentioned it would not work unless the phone was within 5ft of the vehicle. I would imagine this is less of the range was changed in the app. I also found that closing the app prevents the Bluetooth connection between the phone and car which should prevent sometimes potentially opening the doors with the car on the driveway. I think I’ll be doing this as extra precaution since I’ve seen a lot of neighborhood posts saying people have been checking for unlocked cars lately.

thank you for checking on this!