Lucid has pushed back the Phone as a Key feature for its Gravity SUV to the first quarter of 2027, a company employee told owners on Friday, two days after the end of the quarter in which Lucid had said it was expected.
“We know many Lucid Gravity owners have been waiting for Phone as a Key,” the employee wrote on the Lucid Owners forum.
The post was made by Marqie Carter, Lucid’s Manager of Customer Advocacy and Voice of the Customer, who has worked at the company since 2016, according to a LinkedIn profile.
“The feature is now targeted for release in Q1 2027, allowing us the time needed to ensure it delivers the reliability and experience our customers expect,” Carter said. “We apologize for the delay and appreciate our customers’ continued patience.”
Two Quarters Later
“Mobile Key is expected in Q3,” Nick Twork, Lucid’s then-VP of Communications and now Chief Communications Officer, wrote in a Lucid owners group on Facebook on May 1, in reply to an owner.
The third quarter ended on Wednesday. The new target is two quarters later, and runs to the end of March 2027.
“While disappointing, we certainly appreciate the transparency!” one verified owner replied on the forum minutes after the post.
Neither of Lucid’s two most recent software releases mentions the feature.
The latest version of the Lucid mobile app listed on Apple’s App Store, 2.18.1, is dated September 14, and its release notes cover the key fob: showing its software version, renaming it and deleting it from the app.
The latest Gravity software, version 3.6.5, arrived on September 25 and was described by Lucid as a fix for “the irregular window closing behavior of a small number of vehicles.”
What Owners Have
Gravity owners can already start the vehicle from a phone, though not in the way the name suggests. The app gained a Remote Start function for the Gravity in March.
“When activated from the mobile app, the vehicle unlocks and can be driven without a physical key,” its release notes say.
That requires the owner to open the app and act each time, where a phone key works by proximity, without the driver doing anything.
The Lucid Air sedan has had a Mobile Key of that kind, and the Gravity has been sold without one since deliveries began in the final days of 2024 with employees, their families, and friends.
The Timeline
Lucid previewed the feature in the release notes for the Gravity’s UX 3.5 software in March, which said the capability was being developed for deployment later in 2026.
Twork’s reply in May was the first time the company attached a quarter to it.
In July, Lucid and Xiaomi appeared in the code of Apple’s iOS 27 beta as coming to the car key function of Apple’s Wallet, according to MacRumors.
Apple had named Lucid as a car key partner in June 2025.
Lucid surfaced again on September 15, when MacRumors reported finding it, with Lincoln and Freelander, in Apple code for Wallet car keys.
The code “does not provide a timeframe for availability,” the outlet said back then.
Why It Matters to Owners
The phone key has been awaited as an alternative to a key fob that has given Gravity owners persistent trouble.
Owners have reported “Key Not Detected” alerts since deliveries began, and Lucid has issued at least eight software and firmware releases addressing the fob.
Twork’s May reply came in that context. “Hi Jeff, sorry for the trouble here,” he wrote, before giving the timing.
He added that the next Gravity update would “further improve key fob stability and reliability.”
