Smartphones are used for everything, including our car keys. This could mean you never need to have a physical key again, but is that a good thing?
Your smartphone has become important enough that its replaced nearly everything in your life. If you need to pay bills, use your apps and do it from your phone. Work contacts, friends, and family contact you on your smartphone, you shop from your smartphone, and you use it for entertainment. This device is essential to your life and isn’t a luxury, but should it be the replacement for your car keys?
What is a digital key?
One of the latest technology innovations is the use of a smartphone as your key. These keys can be used for your home, office, and now your car. This means you, as the owner and driver, can unlock, lock, and start your car using your phone. This is done via software, generally using the manufacturer’s app that acts as your main key. These apps offer various functions other than the basics, including rolling the windows up or down, opening and closing the trunk, activating the lights, honking the horn, and setting the climate system before you enter the car.
What are the benefits of using smartphones to replace car keys?
Your phone is always with you
Your phone has become so important to your life and survival that you probably have it with you at all times. This means adding a function to operate your vehicle can be an easy addition to what you already have on your phone. You won’t need to carry a second item, which is the key fob. This added convenience makes a lot of sense.
Vehicle monitoring
Whether it’s service needs, updates, or security monitoring of your vehicle, the app used to give you access to your vehicle can also be used to monitor your car’s needs. It might be time for a service appointment, or you could precondition the inside with the desired climate settings. Many automakers have developed apps that offer easy vehicle health monitoring and security features to ensure you can enjoy a worry-free ownership experience. Using this app as the replacement for your car keys is just one of many functions.
Share your vehicle
Do your parents need to borrow your car for the weekend? Are you going to loan your truck to a friend to move some stuff? You don’t have to hand over your car key; instead, all you’ve got to do is give them guest access to your vehicle and its remote operation using their phones as keys. This makes it easy to share your vehicle, and your friends and family won’t need to come to you to get the keys. You can send them a link for access, and off they go.
What are the disadvantages of using smartphones as keys?
What if you lose your phone?
When everything in your life is connected to one device, losing that device can be detrimental to your life. You’ve got to contact banks, companies, and your automaker to ensure your lost phone isn’t used to access your information, including your vehicle. If you have physical car keys instead of only a phone, you can still use your vehicle, but if you only use your phone as a key, this won’t be possible.
Pocket dialing your car
Have you ever accidentally opened an app with your phone in your pocket? Most of us have done this, and sometimes we accidentally text or call people. This is often referred to as “pocket dialing” or “butt dialing,” and most of us understand this as a simple mistake. Unfortunately, you could accidentally execute some of the vehicle functions while your phone is in your pocket or purse. This could be problematic when you get back to your car.
Hacking is still a problem
Automakers have gone to extensive lengths to ensure your car and your smartphone app can’t be hacked, but hackers are getting smarter and this could still be a problem. Also, if more functionality and personal information is loaded and used via smartphone, thieves might feel they only need to get your smartphone from you to take over your entire life. This could be a serious problem for many people, making it hard to trust whether or not your smartphone should be a replacement for your car keys.
Should you use your phone as a key?
If you feel the pros outweigh the cons, then using your smartphone as a replacement for your car keys is fine, but you should have a backup plan incase your phone runs out of battery, is lost, stops working, or becomes damaged.
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