Use Your iPhone As An Electronic “iKey”
The Daily Telegraph reports that a new Apple patent has surfaced which could potentially allow the iPhone, or another Apple portable, to act as a sort of electronic key. The potential applications are as limitless as the number of things locked by old-school metal keys. It could be used for cars, offices, homes, or lockers. Basically, anything that could have an electronic receiver mounted to it in place of a metal tumbler-style lock could then use an iPhone as a key.
While Ars Technica notes that “the patent application itself merely describes a unique way of using motion detection to generate an input, such as turning a virtual combination lock-style dial,” the patent itself, as reported by the Telegraph, says that the device could be “any suitable electronic device such as a portable media player, personal data assistant or electronic lock” that could open up any number of physical lock types just by communicating wirelessly.
Electronic key fobs already exist for certain models of cars, most notably the Toyota Prius, which not only allow keyless entry but also allow you to start the car without a traditional metal key. If Apple actually implements this patent and allows iPhones and iPods to act as an “iKey,” carrying a ring of metal keys and fobs around in your pocket could eventually seem as passé as a pocketwatch or pager seems today.
While the patent notes that the device would have to be paired with the locks in order to work, and that all communications would be encrypted, people are naturally going to be skeptical about the security of an iKey compared to a traditional metal key. I can see some other potential pitfalls: losing your iPhone, or having it stolen suddenly, means not having access to your car, your house, or anything else accessed with your iKey. Plus, if you’re dumb enough to store your access code on your iPhone in a place where a thief can find it easily, it also means that, immediately after finding your home address in Contacts, the thief could gain entry to your house with next to no effort. Or how about this: you come home after a night of carousing at the bar, power up your iPhone to gain access to your front door, but then find a blank screen staring back at you from your iPhone because your battery died.
While the idea sounds great on paper and certainly stokes my science-fiction geek fires, the practical application of the iKey sounds like a giant headache.
Tags: Apple, iphone, metal, metal keys, patent, telegraph reports, toyota prius
March 8th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Its funny..i got excited about this bc i have to replace my keyless entry bc the battery died, and was thinking damn why isn’t this here now…and then i read cons against this and i can see many people locked out of house or home bc of dead battery or worse robbed bc of stolen phone.
Try this trick sometime tho…if you have keyless entry to your car…if you ever say lock your keys in your car or need to get in in and you forgot it upstairs or in your office….have someone call you or you call someone that has your spare keyless entry system…put your phone up to the car on speaker and have your friend do the same thing…..now have your friend use the unlock button right up to the phone and most of the times your car will unlock when it just hears the signal…. wala your in.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:54 am
Wow really that whole cell phone near your car crap was debunked a while ago, just like the tennis ball with a hole in it to unlock your car door, lol transmit rf via cell phone’s speaker…..wow nice try u seemed convinced anyway.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Como puedo actualizar mi iphone? por que no encuantro como hacerlo, eso si sinpagar
March 9th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Toda via no sale este app.. No mas es informacion que estan tratando de hacerlo. Brikz i never heard of that whole phone thing, I wonder if it really works.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
NOpe, ive done it Sean, works with my 4runner anyway. So don’t say it doesn’t work completely: never heard of the tennis ball thing tho.
March 9th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Hmm im gonna try it out brikz you better not be bullshittin