Re: Ford's lack of support for Apple Car Key

[ryannix123]

A lot of brands support it, and I really wish Ford would reconsider. It's a first world problem to be sure, but opening my phone to open the Fordpass app, to open the controls to unlock the car when I don't have my key is silly when there is a faster and more elegant solution.

"Ford does not currently support Apple Car Key, which allows users to add a digital car key to the Apple Wallet app for locking, unlocking, and starting compatible vehicles via iPhone or Apple Watch. This feature requires specific hardware in the vehicle, including NFC readers and Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology for precise proximity detection, which Ford vehicles lack. Ford's focus remains on its own ecosystem."

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[AZBill]

Did you not set up PAAK (Phone As A Key)? I never have to open the phone app to unlock my car. Do not carry a fob either.

 

[hypersnake]

Did you not set up PAAK (Phone As A Key)? I never have to open the phone app to unlock my car. Do not carry a fob either.

PaaK is sketchy at best. iOS constantly closes the Ford app on me which means every time i go out to my car I need to pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the app for PaaK to work.

It's far from the solution it should be.

 

[MacherAWD]

PaaK is sketchy at best. iOS constantly closes the Ford app on me which means every time i go out to my car I need to pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the app for PaaK to work.

It's far from the solution it should be.

Does iPhone let you control battery usage? In Android we go to the app and indicate it has "unrestricted" battery usage, if we dont change that setting it would do the same.

 

[hypersnake]

Does iPhone let you control battery usage? In Android we go to the app and indicate it has "unrestricted" battery usage, if we dont change that setting it would do the same.

iphone and user control have never been in the same sentence.

 

[ReverendPete]

PaaK is sketchy at best. iOS constantly closes the Ford app on me which means every time i go out to my car I need to pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the app for PaaK to work.

There was an update sometime in the last year that made PAAK seem to be flawless with my iPhone 16 Pro Max. I think it was an OTA update to the car, maybe combined with a newer version of the Ford(Pass) app. It used to be hit or miss for me as to how many times I had to push the door button to get into the car, and a couple of times, I had to make sure the app was in the foreground on my phone before it would work. But that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Now the doors and starting the car seem to work on the first try with PAAK every time.

I keep the app open on the phone (but not necessarily in the foreground). And I don't think I've ever had iOS close an app on my phone (except when I swipe it away to quit it). Is it maybe crashing on your phone?

I'm curious what iPhone you're using and what version of the Ford app you have. At least on version 6 of the Ford app, you can go to your profile in the top right corner and then scroll to the bottom of the page to see the version number (I think that was how you did it in the older versions too). I'm currently running v6.1.0, which I think is still a beta, but version 6.0 was working fine for me as well.

 

[hypersnake]

Im running an iphone 12 on the latest stable version of iOS 26 and using V6.0 of the Ford app.

seems like after an hour of so, whenever I open the ford app it's opening from a closed state (IE the ford logo shows up as it loads into the app) instead of just pulling up the app from an already opened state. I'm fairly certain it's iOS closing the app for whatever reason for resource management, but its very consistent. if I don't pull out my phone and open the app prior to walking up to my phone, it's won't recognize it.

 

[Maquis]

PaaK is sketchy at best. iOS constantly closes the Ford app on me which means every time i go out to my car I need to pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the app for PaaK to work.

It's far from the solution it should be.

I’ve never has iOS close any app, ever.

 

[ReverendPete]

I'm fairly certain it's iOS closing the app for whatever reason for resource management, but its very consistent.

Hmm. The only thing I can think of is to check in your iPhone Settings under Apps->Ford and see if "Background App Refresh" is enabled...?

 

[hypersnake]

background refresh is absolutely enabled.

 

[E90alex]

You shouldn’t have to open the app with PAAK enabled. You should be able to just keep the phone in your pocket/purse. Try to delete the PAAK and set it up again.

Apple Car Key utilizes different technologies that the Mach-E doesn’t have.

I haven’t had any issues with PAAK so far with iPhone.

 

[Jeff-NoVA]

PaaK is sketchy at best. iOS constantly closes the Ford app on me which means every time i go out to my car I need to pull my phone out of my pocket and open up the app for PaaK to work.

It's far from the solution it should be.

I agree with this. iPhone 16 Pro Max and my MME is mostly up to date, as I use FDRS a couple times a year. Sometimes it works flawlessly. Sometimes I stand at my door and wait in vain for the halo around the button to light up. If I have my hands full and am hoping to use kick-to-open on my hatch... fuhgeddaboudit

I *think* it's been better recently (since the FordPass--> Ford update) but that's just anecdotal. I would much prefer to see Apple CarKey support, but it requires the vehicle to communicate with the phone via UWB, which the MME (and all Ford vehicles) lack.

 

[hypersnake]

You shouldn’t have to open the app with PAAK enabled. You should be able to just keep the phone in your pocket/purse. Try to delete the PAAK and set it up again.

Apple Car Key utilizes different technologies that the Mach-E doesn’t have.

I haven’t had any issues with PAAK so far with iPhone.

Not true in the least bit. Go ahead and go into your Ford app and swipe up on it twice to close it and you'll get a notification that says Paak works best with the app open.

 

[E90alex]

Not true in the least bit. Go ahead and go into your Ford app and swipe up on it twice to close it and you'll get a notification that says Paak works best with the app open.

Then don’t close the app?? I don’t close it and have no issues with PAAK.

 

[Maquis]

Not true in the least bit. Go ahead and go into your Ford app and swipe up on it twice to close it and you'll get a notification that says Paak works best with the app open.

He’s talking about having the app running in the background (swipe up once), which works for me. Swiping up twice force-stops the app (it’s no longer running at all) and will indeed impact PAAK function.

From your description of the problem in post 1, it sounds like you are saying that iOS is doing the equivalent of force-stopping the app. I’ve never seen that, but I’m not on the beta version.

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