Want to get in touch? Contact us at [email protected]
Rivian Mentioned at WWDC as Apple Expands CarKey Support
Apple is still in the middle of WWDC 2025, but one early mention raised eyebrows for Rivian owners.
Apple CarKey is expanding to more vehicles, including Rivian. That sounds great on the surface, and for many of us in the Rivian community, it was pretty exciting to see the brand specifically listed out during the keynote.
Rivian originally promised Apple CarKey support for Gen 2 R1T and R1S models when they launched back in June 2024. The idea was simple: use your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock and start your vehicle, no need to fumble with the app or key card. But here we are in June 2025, and it still hasn’t rolled out.
The tech itself is slick. Apple CarKey utilizes NFC or Ultra Wideband technology, allowing you to unlock your vehicle simply by walking up to it with your phone or watch. Some cars even support sharing access with others through iMessage. BMW, Hyundai, Kia, and a few others already have it.
Compared to the Rivian mobile app, CarKey offers a few advantages. It works instantly without needing to wait for Bluetooth to connect or the app to load. And with Express Mode, you can unlock or start the vehicle even if your phone battery is critically low. For everyday use, it’s just faster and more seamless.
Rivian hasn’t given any kind of updated timeline. It was part of the original Gen 2 announcement, but there’s been silence since. So hearing it called out at WWDC was a nice surprise, even if it’s not live yet.
It’s kind of insulting that they’re rolling this out to only Gen2 when it supports NFC which the Gen1s all have as it’s used in the stock keycard
Rivian hasn’t necessarily said it is only for Gen 2 so lets wait and see.
But CarKey support for NFC is tap to unlock. Meaning you’d have to take your phone out of your pocket and physically touch the car every time you wanted to use it. Wouldn’t that be backwards progress for G1 ? I guess if you want to tap your watch to unlock potentially but anything else the current Bluetooth implementation is already better