Rivian’s Chief Software Officer Wassym Bensaid confirmed today that the .46 OTA update will bring Digital Key support to the second-generation R1S and R1T. Here’s what that means.
Unlock with the iPhone and Apple Watch, even with no battery
With today’s announcement, Bensaid confirmed that later this month, the .46 OTA update will let iPhone users store their key for a Gen 2 Rivian in their Apple Wallet, and use their iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock and lock their car.
Digital Key support is coming to @Rivian Gen 2 with the .46 OTA update later this month!
Your car key now lives natively in your Apple, Google, and Samsung Phone Wallets.
• UWB support for high precision • Native Watch support • Unlocks via NFC even if your phone battery… pic.twitter.com/e5ijW1xIW2
— Wassym Bensaid (@WassymBensaid) December 4, 2025
The update will bring full support to Digital Key, including UWB support for high precision, and NFC support, which, as he said, “unlocks (…) even if your phone battery dies” for up to 5 hours using Power Reserve on compatible devices.
With the update, it will also be possible to send a digital key via text, allowing a friend or contact to walk up to the car and lock, unlock, or start it.
And speaking of that, the update will also double the maximum number of digital keys per vehicle from 4 to 8, “making it easier than ever to manage access for family and friends,” according to Rivian.
In addition to the iPhone and Apple Watch, the .46 update will also bring full Digital Key support to Google and Samsung digital wallets.
But didn’t they offer this?
Not quite. Up until now, Rivian’s digital key on first-gen R1T and R1S models relied on their app over Bluetooth, rather than a native system-level key.
In other words, there was no Apple Wallet integration, no Google or Samsung Wallet support, no UWB for precise proximity, and no way to unlock the vehicle with your phone when the battery was dead.
With the Gen 2 hardware platform (specifically the new UWB modules), Rivian is moving to proper OS-level digital keys in the Wallet app, which work over UWB, can be shared over text, and continue to function even when the iPhone is out of battery.
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