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How to Use Your Rivian as a Phone Key with GrapheneOS

by Dan
grapheneos rivian privacy android

When Rivian rolled out software update 2025.46, they introduced Digital Key — the ability to add your vehicle key to Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, or Samsung Wallet using Ultra-Wideband (UWB). It’s a slick feature. Unless you run GrapheneOS.

The Problem

Before 2025.46, my R1T Gen 2 worked perfectly as a phone key using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) alone. The Rivian app on GrapheneOS didn’t need anything from Google Play Services or Google Wallet — it just paired over Bluetooth and worked.

Digital Key changed that. The new pairing flow routes through Google Wallet, which requires Google Play Services — something GrapheneOS intentionally doesn’t include. When you try to set up a phone key on GrapheneOS, the process fails partway through. Worse, it can leave your vehicle in a broken state where you can’t add any keys until Rivian support manually resets things on their end.

So if you’re a GrapheneOS user who values privacy and drives a Rivian, you were stuck: carry the physical key fob everywhere, or give up on a de-Googled phone.

I found a third option.

The Workaround

The trick is to force the Rivian app to use the old BLE pairing path instead of Digital Key. You can do this by setting up the key on a device that doesn’t support UWB, and then sharing access to your GrapheneOS phone via a secondary account.

Here’s what you need:

  • A device without UWB support (I used an iPad Mini, which doesn’t have UWB — any older tablet or phone without UWB should work)
  • A secondary email address for a second Rivian account
  • Your GrapheneOS phone with the Rivian app installed

Step by Step

1. Make Sure Your Vehicle Is in a Clean State

If you’ve already tried and failed to set up Digital Key, your vehicle might be stuck in a half-configured state. Contact Rivian support and ask them to clear any pending key configurations. You need a clean slate before this will work.

2. Get Good Connectivity

This one bit me. My truck was connected to my home Wi-Fi showing 1-2 bars, and the pairing kept failing silently. Turn off Wi-Fi on the vehicle and let it use its cellular connection instead. Reliable connectivity between the app and the vehicle is critical during pairing.

3. Sign Into the Rivian App on Your BLE-Only Device

On your iPad Mini (or whatever non-UWB device you’re using), sign into the Rivian app with your primary Rivian account — the one that owns the vehicle.

4. Pair the BLE Device as a Driver Key

From the Rivian app on the iPad, go through the key pairing process. Because the device doesn’t have UWB, the app falls back to BLE pairing — no Google Wallet involved. Pair it as a driver key.

5. Enable Passive Entry via Bluetooth

On the iPad, go to the Rivian app → Security and Access → turn on “Passive entry via Bluetooth”. This is important — it ensures the truck will respond to BLE-based keys for passive unlock/lock.

6. Share Access to Your Secondary Email

Still on the iPad, share vehicle access to your secondary email address. This sends an invite to join as an additional driver.

7. Accept the Invite on GrapheneOS

On your GrapheneOS phone, open the Rivian app and create an account (or log in) with that secondary email address. Accept the access invite.

8. Pair Your GrapheneOS Phone

Now, in the Rivian app on GrapheneOS, go to pair the phone as a key. Because you’ve set the vehicle up for BLE access via the iPad and you’re logging in as a shared user (not the primary owner going through Digital Key setup), the pairing uses Bluetooth instead of Google Wallet.

That’s it. Your GrapheneOS phone is now a working phone key for your Rivian.

Why This Works

The Digital Key flow through Google Wallet is only triggered for the primary account on UWB-capable devices. By using a non-UWB device to do the initial setup and then sharing access to a secondary account, you sidestep the entire Google Wallet dependency. The secondary account pairs over BLE because it’s joining as a shared driver, not setting up a Digital Key.

Caveats

  • You need two Rivian accounts. Your primary account owns the vehicle and manages access from the BLE-only device. Your secondary account is what your GrapheneOS phone uses daily.
  • You lose UWB precision. UWB provides more precise proximity detection. BLE works fine for passive entry but the range and accuracy are slightly less refined.
  • This could break in a future update. Rivian might eventually require Digital Key for all phone key setups, including shared access. Enjoy it while it lasts.
  • The iPad (or whatever BLE device you use) stays paired. You can leave it at home — it doesn’t need to be near the truck for your GrapheneOS phone to work. But don’t unpair it, since it’s what established the BLE-based access.

The Bigger Picture

This is a recurring frustration with the modern smartphone ecosystem. Companies increasingly tie core functionality to Google Play Services or Apple’s ecosystem, leaving privacy-focused users scrambling for workarounds. Rivian’s Digital Key is a great feature — but locking it behind Google Wallet means anyone running GrapheneOS, LineageOS, or any other de-Googled Android ROM loses phone key functionality that previously worked fine over plain Bluetooth.

I’d love to see Rivian offer a “BLE-only” option in the app for users who don’t want or can’t use wallet-based digital keys. The underlying technology clearly still works — it just needs to be an accessible choice rather than something you have to trick the system into using.

Until then, this workaround gets the job done.