Which BMW Key Do You Have? Key Types and the Right Cover for Each
Vietiki Key Specialists
BMW Doesn't Make Just One Key
Ask ten BMW owners what their key looks like and you'll get several different answers. An X5 alone has used three: the F-series key with silver rails down both sides, the G-series key with a wide open slot at its base and, after the facelift, a key with its buttons on the edge. Add the touchscreen Display Key and the credit-card Key Card and you have nine shapes we make covers for. A cover cut for one will not fit another, so the first job is knowing which key is in your pocket.
Every photo below shows the original key without a cover. Older E-series keys, including the fob that slots into the dashboard, aren't covered.
Three Questions to Find Your Key
- Is there a screen, or no buttons at all? A glossy touchscreen between two silver rails is the Display Key. A flat black card marked “BMW Digital Key” is the Key Card. Both are at the bottom of the list below.
- Look at the base of the fob. A wide open slot in a blade-shaped body with an angled top corner means the wide-slot family. A rounded rectangle with a small slot at the bottom is an F-series key. No slot, with just the roundel on the face and the other buttons on one edge, is the side-button wedge.
- Count the buttons and check the finish. Black or silver? Three buttons or four? A diamond-shaped fourth button, or a red speaker icon in its place? Those details separate the four wide-slot versions and the two F-series keys.
Find Your BMW Key
Wide-slot blade keys: four versions
Typically found on G-series 3, 5 and 7 Series, X3, X5, X7 and Z4. The four versions look alike in a group photo, so each gets its own card below. Covers come in Alcantara, goatskin, leather and carbon, and you choose your version in the Key type dropdown, where each key has its own photo. The letters below are the ones on the Alcantara and carbon listings. Goatskin and leather list the same keys in a different order, so check the letter chart under “Then Choose the Material” before you pick.
Type A: Black with Chrome Trim
An all-black key with one slim chrome strip down its right edge and a black base. Four buttons run down the face: open padlock, BMW roundel, boot and a diamond-shaped button at the bottom.
The only all-black key of the four, so it's the easiest to tell apart. There is no hand-crafted leather cover for it.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Carbon
Type B: Silver
A silver face with a thin black outline around the button panel and a black base with the open slot. It has the same four-button column as Type A: open padlock, roundel, boot and diamond.
Silver with a diamond at the bottom means B. If a red speaker icon sits there instead, you have C.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Leather · Carbon
Type C: Silver with Alarm Button
Looks like Type B at first glance, but the bottom button carries a red speaker icon instead of a diamond.
That red icon is the alarm button, and it's the quickest giveaway of the four.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Leather · Carbon
Type D: Silver with Three Buttons
A silver face with only three buttons: open padlock, roundel and boot. Below them, a dark block runs down to the open slot at the base.
Three buttons and a dark base set it apart from the other silver keys.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Leather · CarbonF-series keys: silver frame or all black
The key of the F-series generation, typically on F-series 1–5 Series, X3 and X5 (F30, F10, F15). Both versions have a rounded rectangular body and a small slot at the bottom. What changes is the trim.
Symmetric Smart Fob
A black rounded-rectangle body with a silver frame running around the button panel and a chrome end cap at the base. Four buttons: open padlock, roundel, boot and a diamond.
If your F-series key has all-black sides and only three buttons, you want the Standard Smart Fob below instead.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Leather · Carbon
Standard Smart Fob
A plain black rounded-rectangle key with no silver frame. Silver buttons for open padlock and boot sit above and below the roundel, which has a tiny padlock mark beside it, and a small slot opens at the bottom edge.
Next to the Symmetric Smart Fob it has no silver frame and one button fewer, so hold your key up to both photos before you order.
AlcantaraNewer keys: side buttons, a screen or a card
Side-Button Wedge
A glossy black face with the roundel in the upper half and a small padlock mark beside it. A silver wedge cuts across the lower-left corner and wraps the left edge. There's no button column and no slot at the base: the other buttons sit on the right-hand edge.
Typically on the iX, XM, 7 Series (G70), 5 Series (G60), X1 (U11) and the facelifted X5 and X7. If you press your key from the edge, this is the one.
Alcantara · Goatskin · Leather · Carbon
Display Key
A tall black glass screen between two silver rails, with the roundel button at the bottom and a small button in each lower corner.
Typically on the 7 Series (G11/G12) and i8, and optional on G-series 5 Series, X3, X5, X7 and 8 Series. It's rechargeable, so see the charging notes below.
Alcantara · Leather · Carbon
Key Card (NFC)
A flat black card the size of a bank card, printed “BMW Digital Key”, with an open padlock at the top right and an NFC mark at the bottom right. No buttons.
Supplied with cars that have the Comfort Access or Digital Key option. An Alcantara sleeve in one of ten colors is easier to spot than a plain black card in a wallet or bag.
AlcantaraThen Choose the Material
Once the shape is settled, it comes down to feel, protection and price. Not every material is cut for every key, so check the chart under the first table.
| Material | Price | Feel | Colors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Suede | €29 | Soft, velvety | 4 |
| Goatskin | €32 | Fine, smooth grain | 8 |
| Leather | €37–44 | Smooth, ages with a patina | 3 to 4, depending on the key |
| Alcantara | €39–42 | Matte, grippy, motorsport feel | 3 to 11, depending on the key |
| Carbon | €59–75 | Rigid two-piece shell | Black, red or silver |
Which materials come in your shape, and which letter to pick
On the four wide-slot listings the Key type letter is not the same everywhere: goatskin and leather list the keys in a different order. In the first four rows below, the letter is the one to choose in that listing's dropdown, and a dash means that material isn't made for that key. In the other rows a tick means the material is available, and there is no letter to choose.
| Key | Alcantara | Goatskin | Leather | Carbon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wide-slot Type A (black, chrome trim) | A | D | — | A |
| Wide-slot Type B (silver) | B | A | A | B |
| Wide-slot Type C (silver, alarm button) | C | C | C | C |
| Wide-slot Type D (silver, three buttons) | D | B | B | D |
| Symmetric Smart Fob | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Standard Smart Fob | ✓ | — | — | — |
| Side-Button Wedge | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Display Key | ✓ | — | ✓ | ✓ |
| Key Card | ✓ | — | — | — |
Suede is sold as an all-types case, and there is an all-types Alcantara cover too. On those pages you pick a letter from a chart, and the letters don't match the A to D used above, so read yours from the photo on the page.
Carbon is conductive, so a key fully sealed in thick carbon can lose range. Our carbon covers are a two-piece shell with open cutouts around the key, and in our testing keyless entry and remote locking work at normal range. You can order them with or without vent cutouts, and the Display Key's carbon cover leaves its USB port open.
If your BMW has an M Sport or Alcantara-trimmed cabin, the Alcantara cover is the natural match. For a more traditional interior, leather or goatskin fits better. Our Alcantara vs Leather comparison goes deeper on the trade-offs, our care guide covers keeping Alcantara looking new, and The Ultimate Guide to Car Key Fob Covers covers every material in detail.
Good to Know Before You Order
- Letters belong to the listing. The A to D letters in this guide are the ones on the Alcantara and carbon wide-slot listings. Goatskin and leather order the same keys differently (see the chart above), and the all-types covers and the suede case use their own charts, so a ‘B’ there can be a different key. Match your key to the photo in the dropdown on the page you are ordering from, and treat the letter as a label only.
- A cover won't get in the way of Comfort Access. Our soft covers are thin and non-metallic, with the buttons marked on top, so locking, unlocking and keyless entry work as normal.
- Know your battery. BMW USA's key fob how-to calls for a CR2032 coin cell. You press the button to release the valet key (the mechanical key), pull back the rear cover and pry the cell out with a small flat screwdriver, then fit the new one the same way up. Check the number on your old cell first.
- The Display Key charges, and it has no blade. Its battery is rechargeable. BMW's service bulletin for the G12 7 Series says it must be charged with a USB cable, and that a completely flat key can't be revived in the wireless charging tray. BMWBLOG adds that it has no built-in key, so carry the separate mechanical key that comes with it, and that the Micro USB port is on the left side.
- The Key Card is a full key. BMW USA says it lets you lock and unlock over NFC, that it must be activated once inside the car, and that it suits handing the car to a valet or a BMW Center. A BMW retailer bulletin adds that you hold it to the driver's door handle to lock or unlock, place it on the NFC tray to start, and that only one Key Card can be active at a time.
- Same model, different key. Trim, year and facelifts change which key a BMW ships with, so go by the key in your hand rather than the model name.
- If you lose a key. BMW USA says a lost key can be disabled and replaced by an authorized BMW Center.
More Key Guides
Driving something else? We have identification guides for Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche keys too.