Samsung's digital car key keeps expanding, and a big-name car maker is next in line

The digital car key feature for Galaxy phones is now expanding with support for select Toyota vehicles. 

Samsung Wallet Digital Key adds support to select Toyota cars 

Starting this January, the South Korea-based tech giant is expanding its Digital Key feature in Samsung Wallet to select models of Toyota cars. The first car to support Digital Key would be the 2026 Toyota RAV4. According to Samsung, more Toyota models will be added to the feature later this year. 

Initially, the Digital Key feature for Toyota cars is going to be available only in select markets. Those include the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Europe is said to follow later, which would align with the launch of more 2026 Toyota models. 


The Digital Key feature supports both UWB and NFC. If you're using a Galaxy phone with UWB unlock, though, you get to take advantage of more advanced features such as hands-free entry. 

On top of that, Digital Keys in Samsung Wallet can be shared with family members and other trusted people. You can, of course, revoke access at any time. What's even cooler is that if a device that has a Digital Key is lost or stolen, you can remotely lock or delete the key through Samsung Find. 

Digital car keys functionality now expanding more and more 

Samsung is not the only company that's working on getting digital car key support for its users. Apple also has a similar feature that's been expanding in recent months to support more car models. 

Samsung's list of supported brands is growing and now includes the following brands (select vehicle models):

• Toyota
• Porsche
• BMW
• Mini
• Audi
• Hyundai/Kia/Genesis
• Volvo
• Polestar
• BYD in some regions

Meanwhile, Apple’s Car Key works inside the Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch using NFC and UWB, and is also expanding. 

Apple's solution already works with many brands like:

• Audi
• BMW
• Hyundai/Kia/Genesis
• Mercedes-Benz
• Volvo
• Mini

Apple has announced that at least 13 more automakers (including Porsche, Rivian, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Smart, Lucid, and others) will soon support Car Key too. 

Both systems aim to replace your physical car key with your phone, support sharing and secure access, and are rapidly expanding to more car makers – Samsung’s strength is tight integration on Galaxy phones with strong hardware security, while Apple's advantage, besides the integration with the iPhone ecosystem, is the wide list of brands already committed or soon adding support.

Digital car keys, digital IDs – that's the future 

If you've been following the tech world closely, you can see that more and more "real-world" things are getting smartphone integration. We now have boarding passes, digital IDs, credit cards, and even driver's licenses gaining integration with your phone. Of course, we are still in the early days, but the trend is that we're going to have our phones capable of storing quite a lot of real-world information. 

I quite like this idea. Carrying a lot of things in my bag has never been my thing, and the idea that I can fit almost everything in my smartwatch or phone gets me hyped. No more bags, wallets, and keys that I lost somewhere around the house. Of course, security on said phone must be top-notch if all my stuff is going to be in there. 

All in all, I see this being the future, and I'm excited to have support for digital keys and IDs expand more and more.