Lucid Motors confirmed that its long-promised Mobile Key feature will arrive in the third quarter of 2026, with the company’s VP of Communications Nick Twork detailing the timeline in a Lucid owners Facebook group on Friday.
Mobile Key allows owners to authenticate and start the vehicle using their phone — through Bluetooth Low Energy — bypassing the key fob entirely.
Twork also said the next Gravity over-the-air software update is currently undergoing “final validation” with Lucid employees and will further improve key fob stability and reliability — addressing the longest-running customer complaint in the Gravity SUV’s short history.
“Hi Jeff, sorry for the trouble here. Mobile Key is expected in Q3,” Twork wrote in response to an owner’s feedback.
“In the meantime, our next Gravity software update is currently going through final validation with Lucid employees and will further improve key fob stability and reliability,” the executive added. “Appreciate everyone’s continued patience.”
The disclosure is the first quarter-level commitment Lucid has made for Mobile Key, a feature that would allow owners to use a smartphone as a primary vehicle key.
Roadmap Anchor
Lucid included a digital key in the 2026 Gravity software roadmap presented at its March 12 Investor Day, alongside hands-free highway driving, city drive assist, vehicle-to-home energy backup, smart home charging, video streaming, adaptive driving beam headlights, and enhanced auto park.
The Investor Day disclosure did not specify a quarter for the digital key delivery.
The Mobile Key was also flagged this week as part of the upcoming May Gravity update, when SVP of Global Revenue Raphael previewed the Phone-as-Key feature at a Nashville owners gathering — though without committing to a specific delivery quarter, as EV reported on Monday.
Twork’s Friday confirmation pegs Mobile Key arrival to between July and September.
Recurring Key Fob Issues
Gravity owners began reporting “key not detected” alerts within weeks of the first deliveries last year.
Lucid has released at least six software updates since September 2025 that included key fob improvements alongside a wireless fob firmware update tool added to the Lucid mobile app in October 2025.
In December, interim CEO Marc Winterhoff sent an email to Gravity customers acknowledging the company had failed to meet its standards on software quality.
“Lingering software problems have unfortunately affected our customers’ experience and satisfaction,” Winterhoff wrote at the time. “To be candid, I share that frustration.”
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, Winterhoff told reporters that the key fob failures were “sometimes embarrassing” and predicted the Gravity would be “over the hump” on its software issues by the end of March.
In early February, senior vice president of engineering and digital Emad Dlala told Out of Spec‘s Kyle Conner that the 3.4 software update had resolved “90% — or even close to 95% — of those issues.”
Despite those public commitments, owner complaints have continued through April, with the Lucid Owners forum thread “New Bugs Since 3.5.1” accumulating more than 300 replies as of late April.
Final Validation
The next Gravity over-the-air software update — currently in final validation with Lucid employees per Twork’s Friday confirmation — is scheduled for May, as EV reported on Monday.
The update follows version 3.5.1, released on March 19, which itself followed the major 3.5 release from March 13 that introduced Apple CarPlay and Android Auto support.
The May release is expected to introduce hands-free Dream Drive, Phone-as-Key, deeper Google Maps integration in place of the current HERE-based navigation system, expanded Halo-branded security functionality, additional key fob improvements, and adaptive headlight functionality.
Twork’s framing that the next update will “further improve” key fob stability suggests the issue has not been fully resolved by the prior software cycle, despite Dlala’s “90-95% solved” claim.
Mobile Key as De Facto Workaround
The Q3 Mobile Key arrival could function as an effective workaround for owners experiencing residual key fob issues, even if the underlying fob software stack continues to require ongoing fixes.
Mobile Key would allow owners to authenticate and start the vehicle using their phone — typically through Bluetooth Low Energy or Ultra-Wideband — bypassing the key fob entirely.
The feature is now standard on most premium electric vehicles, including Tesla, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Hyundai–Kia models.
Lucid currently offers remote start via the mobile app, added in the 3.5 OTA in March.
Q1 Earnings May 5
Lucid will report first quarter 2026 financial results on Tuesday, May 5 at 5:30 PM ET — the next opportunity for management to address the Gravity software cadence and Mobile Key rollout publicly.
The earnings call will be the first under permanent CEO Silvio Napoli, who is about to take over from Winterhoff..
