Bluetooth ignition switch
Leave the key at home.
Keyvo is a Bluetooth Low Energy switch that wires in where your ignition key used to be. Pair your phone once. After that the circuit closes when you walk up to the machine — or on a tap, if you would rather decide yourself.
Pre-production Firmware 0.0.3 Android app in field testing iOS in development
How it works
Three wires and one pairing.
Keyvo sits in the ignition circuit and does exactly what the key barrel did — it makes and breaks a connection. Everything else is decided in the app.
01
Wire it in
Keyvo takes power from the machine and switches the circuit the key used to switch. It is a relay output, so it does not care what is on the other side — ignition, starter, accessory or kill circuit.
02
Pair once
Put the device into pairing mode from the app and bond your phone. Turn pairing mode back off and the accept list takes over: phones that are not already bonded cannot even open a connection.
03
Walk up and go
With proximity mode on, the circuit closes once you have been inside the zone for the entry delay and opens once you have been outside it for the exit delay. Leave proximity off and it is a switch in your pocket.
Features
Built for a machine that lives outside.
Every setting below is read from and written to the device over BLE, so the behaviour lives in the hardware — not in a cloud account that has to be reachable when you are three hours down a trail.
Proximity mode
Set the zone by signal strength, then set how long you have to be inside it before the switch closes and outside it before it opens. Walking past the garage does not start anything.
Latch or momentary
Latch holds the circuit until you change it — the behaviour of a key barrel. Momentary closes for a timeout you choose, which is what a starter button or a gate trigger wants.
Bonded devices only
Pairing uses LE Secure Connections and the link is encrypted. With pairing mode disabled, the device advertises but filters on its accept list, so an unbonded phone gets nowhere.
Tune it with real numbers
The app reports RSSI as the device measures it, live. You set the threshold by watching the signal from where you actually stand, instead of guessing at a distance in metres.
Updates over the air
Firmware goes on over BLE from the app. Nothing to unbolt, no cable, no programmer — which matters when the device is buried under a fender.
Yours to take back
Name each device, see every phone bonded to it, drop one, or factory reset the whole thing — from the app, or from the button on the board if you have lost the phone entirely.
The app
One screen for the switch. One for everything else.
The app talks to the device directly over Bluetooth. There is no account to create, no server in the path and nothing to sign in to — if your phone and the machine are in the same place, it works.
- ScanDiscover nearby Keyvo devices and add the ones that are yours.
- SwitchToggle the circuit, and see the state the device reports back rather than the state you asked for.
- ProximityThreshold, entry delay and exit delay, with live RSSI while you set them.
- ModeLatch or momentary, and the momentary timeout.
- BondsList bonded phones, remove one, or turn pairing mode on to add another.
- FirmwareRead the running version and push a new one over the air.
Specifications
What is actually in the box.
Keyvo is pre-production, so this is the running hardware and firmware rather than a datasheet. Enclosure, connector and ratings are being finalised — if you need a number that is not here, ask and we will tell you where it stands.
- Controller
- Nordic nRF52840Zephyr, on the nRF Connect SDK
- Radio
- Bluetooth Low EnergyLE Secure Connections pairing and bonding, encrypted link
- Output
- Relay, GPIO drivenLatch, or momentary with a configurable timeout
- Proximity
- RSSI thresholdSeparate entry and exit dwell times, set per device
- Access control
- Accept listWith pairing mode off, only bonded devices may connect
- Firmware update
- Over BLE, from the appNo cable and no disassembly
- App
- AndroidField tested on Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro · iOS in development
- Firmware version
- 0.0.3Release notes go out to early-access riders
Where it goes
Under the plastics, next to the fuse box.
Keyvo is small enough to cable-tie to the frame wherever the loom already runs. It needs the machine's 12 V, a ground, and the two wires the key switch was making and breaking.
We are still working through fitment on specific machines. Tell us what you ride and we will tell you honestly whether we have looked at it yet.
Read this part
A switch, not a security system.
Keyvo replaces a mechanical key switch. It is not an alarm, not a certified immobiliser and not a substitute for a lock or a chain. Treat it as the convenience it is.
These are pre-production units, for development and evaluation. Keep a way to cut power to the machine that does not depend on a phone, a battery or a radio; set your proximity thresholds somewhere safe before you rely on them; and think about what you want the circuit to do when the phone walks away, because on a moving machine that answer matters.
Fitting Keyvo means changing your machine's wiring. That can affect your warranty, your insurance and, depending on where you ride, whether it is road legal. That call is yours to make.
Questions
The ones we get asked.
Can I buy one?
Not yet. Keyvo is pre-production and we are placing units with riders who want to run them properly and tell us what breaks. If that is you, get in touch and say what you ride.
What happens if my phone dies?
With proximity mode on, a phone that stops being there is a phone that has left the zone — after the exit delay, the circuit opens. With proximity off, the switch simply holds its last state until something changes it. Either way, fit a manual override you can reach without a phone.
Can someone else turn it on?
Only a phone that is already bonded to the device. Pairing uses LE Secure Connections, and once you turn pairing mode off the device filters on its accept list — an unbonded phone cannot open a connection at all. Adding a second rider means deliberately putting the device back into pairing mode.
Does it work with my machine?
In principle, anything with a low-voltage key switch: ATVs, side-by-sides, scooters, motorcycles, and a fair number of things that are none of those. In practice, fitment is per machine and we have only worked through a handful. Ask.
Android or iOS?
The app runs on Android today and has been in field testing on Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro hardware. An iOS build is in development. The firmware itself is platform-agnostic — it is standard BLE, and you can poke at it with nRF Connect if you want to.
Does it need internet, or an account?
No. Everything happens over Bluetooth between your phone and the device. There is no account to create, no cloud service in the path and nothing that stops working when you are out of coverage.
How is the proximity zone measured?
By signal strength — RSSI, as the device sees your phone — not by distance. Radio does not respect tape measures: a body, a tank or a steel shed all move the boundary. That is why the threshold is a dBm value you set while watching the live reading, and why there are entry and exit delays to keep a flickering signal from flickering your ignition.
Early access
Tell us what you ride.
We are looking for riders who will fit a pre-production unit, use it through a real season and tell us plainly what is wrong with it.
info@alpha21.io · we answer every one