No question is dumb and I'll take all suggestions. It does have BT permission and is set to Always and Precise. It actually sees the car during the pairing process and I am even able to select "Pair: on the phone, but as soon as I hit "continue" on the car's pilot screen, the app immediately closes. The process finishes in the car and it says linking was successful, but in the phone app it still shows it as unlinked.
Re Negan's comment of a potential low battery in the fob, that's unlikely bc it's only 5 days old. I think the message above about it being blocked when in my pocket is right though. I really want this mobile key to work though.