More comfort, smarter assistance and enhanced entertainment for the Porsche Macan

[pm4s]

This is new:
NFC door handle (DHSP0426NFC)
13.553–13.567 MHz
≤ 42 dBμA/m @ 10 m
NFC service card
13.553–13.567 MHz

Which I suspect means that additional hardware is needed for Apple Key to work.

Congrats, somebody finally cracked it/killed any hope that we had

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[alxman]

Congrats, somebody finally cracked it/killed any hope that we had

Sorry. It probably means that we are out of luck or that it’s going to be an expensive upgrade…

 

[MatC21]

Very good find. I guess that really means it will be impossible to retrofit. Swapping the door handle and rewiring would be insanely expensive.

However, NFC won't be needed for the Apple Car Key itself but rather to support the Key card. So there is still a tiny chance it can be retrofitted. The necessary UWB hardware does exist for both. But I think that's very unlikely given NFC is used as a fallback in case the iPhone's charge is depleted.

 

[CHP]

Very good find. I guess that really means it will be impossible to retrofit. Swapping the door handle and rewiring would be insanely expensive.

However, NFC won't be needed for the Apple Car Key itself but rather to support the Key card. So there is still a tiny chance it can be retrofitted. The necessary UWB hardware does exist for both. But I think that's very unlikely given NFC is used as a fallback in case the iPhone's charge is depleted.

Manual didn’t specify new hardware unlike 3D view. Maybe EU vs USA spec differences. Keep your hopes up.

 

[CHP]

I was hoping for transparent bonnet. That’s certainly not going to happen.

 

[pm4s]

Manual didn’t specify new hardware unlike 3D view. Maybe EU vs USA spec differences. Keep your hopes up.

I confirm that my 2025 EU manual does not contain:
1) NFC door handle (DHSP0426NFC)
2) NFC service card

Now the NFC card I know what it is, I obviously do not have it.
The NFC door handle I have attached 2 pdfs.
This to me looks like the Macan door handle with the NFC sensor inside it.
I have replaced my Audi Advance Key=Comfort Access sensors inside the door handles when they failed due to poor design (basically the plastic housing the board cracked allowing water/moisture corroding/shorting the sensor).
Replacing the sensors was straight forward.

Now I assume the 2025 Macan has a sensor inside the door handle for Comfort Access but it's an older version missing the NFC chip? If so could it be possible to replace just 1 sensor (or all 4 no idea how it works) and reprogram the comfort access ECU with no change to the wiring?

Clutching at straws here.

 

[seabird]

What do you mean it is not free?

I mean exactly that. Digital key is a paid option, not standard equipment, in most markets. In the US, it is a separate $280 option from comfort access by itself, which is standard. In the UK, comfort access is optional and comes with digital key for £963, which is up about £200 for the bundle addition. As you note, the package price increased by about 250€ wherever you are.

We don’t need a damn store,

You do. Right now, it can only be configured in the factory. To enable the service post-sale, you would need a storefront either in the car's App Center or in a dealership computer to configure the cloud and app support and to push the software update to the car that includes the digital key software, because it's not present in a 2024-2025 model.

just sell it like an accessory similar to the Porsche dashcam

Sell what? Sell it where? How would buying an empty envelope change the functionality of your car? Even if you wanted to buy the NFC-reader door handle and not just have Digital Key turned on for UWB only, just swapping the handle would not be enough to give you the ability to pair the key to the car without two other things: (1) the software to support the digital key itself and (2) cloud pairing and activation of the key to connect to Apple, Google, and Porsche servers.

This is why you would need to build a digital purchase and activation infrastructure.

 

[Flying4Fun]

I had the software update completed last week and was touring the menus for anything new. I have not found any access to the digital key, but I did find the following showing that digital key services are running - But I have no idea how to enable the feature. This service I don't recall running in the past, maybe someone else can add to the conversation and confirm if this is new since VR28.13 updates or was always there and I had not seen it prior.

 

[alxman]

It was there before. It shows on my 2025 Macan 4S and I have not had my car updated to VR28.13. I believe it has something to do with either comfort entry or with recognizing the physical key when you enter the vehicle. It is not related to Apple Car Key (the new option made available for the 2026 model).

 

[Flying4Fun]

@alxman Thanks for confirming... I guess the faint glimmer of hope has dimmed out....

 

[JonoNZ]

I think you’ll find those services are related to the Porsche Digital Key (Apple CarKey). It’s clear it was unfinished work when the Macan launched and the software has been there all along, albeit in an incomplete form. Whether this transforms into a usable Apple CarKey implementation or not we simply do not know.

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