Apple Plans to Expand iPhone Driver's Licenses to These 7 U.S. States

[Alameda]

They would have a hard time defending that suspicion in a court of law; the weaknesses are to processes in issuance (eg hacks or bad agents within the DMV), and they can be revoked remotely without device access if that happens.

Would you risk your liberty on that assumption? I think it best to provide an ID card, not an unlocked phone, lest they inspect the phone for recent text messages which could imply you read or sent texts while driving, or something else. I’m not a criminal but it is safest not to hand your unlocked phone to a police officer in a traffic stop.

 

[gank41]

Isn't it also true that using a Digital ID in your Apple Wallet, when used as intended, would be by using NFC to bring up more data linked to the ID? I think it's the same data that would be included on the Magnetic Strip on the back of the ID along with your Full Name and Photo? That's actually REALLY helpful in places like an airport when going through customs or something, but NOT handing a Police Officer your ID on a traffic stop, unless they somehow manage to all acquire some kind of Card Reader they carry around with them.

For its intended use, it should save time, but isn't a substitute for an actual ID. Would be cool if Bars & Restaurants started using them- Use your Phone for ID at the Door or Bar and even pay your tab with Apple Pay. Having a fun night out carrying nothing but your iPhone.

 

[deeddawg]

I think it best to provide an ID card, not an unlocked phone, lest they inspect the phone for recent text messages which could imply you read or sent texts while driving, or something else. I’m not a criminal but it is safest not to hand your unlocked phone to a police officer in a traffic stop.

Why would you be handing your phone to anyone? What would that accomplish?

Isn't it also true that using a Digital ID in your Apple Wallet, when used as intended, would be by using NFC to bring up more data linked to the ID?

It only works by NFC.

Just your first name and last initial are displayed on screen, nothing else.

 

[NativeMac]

I wish every state implemented digital ID cards so I can consider going walletless. One less thing to worry about forgetting at home. I mean its rare, rare, when it happens but would be cool.

 

[CarlJ]

Lighten up.
I have no fear of this. I don’t have anything on my phone I’d need to hide from police anyway. And if I’m pulled over, I can just hand over my drivers license, just as I can use physical credit cards when I want.

So the comment of yours I responded to was just you spreading misinformation for fun, then?

 

[CarlJ]

I think it best to provide an ID card, not an unlocked phone, lest they inspect the phone for recent text messages which could imply you read or sent texts while driving, or something else. I’m not a criminal but it is safest not to hand your unlocked phone to a police officer in a traffic stop.

It's also safest to not hand the officer a bag of heroin and punch them in the face. None of these things (including "handing your unlocked phone to a police officer") have anything to do with having or using a digital drivers license, so why do you keep bringing that last one up as if it does? As I mentioned previously, it seems like you haven't taken the time to look into how this works:

• The mobile Drivers License (mDL) is in Apple Wallet.
• You double-click the side button of your iPhone to open Apple Wallet, and it uses FaceID to verify your identity.
• Apple Wallet opens and shows your default credit/debit card.
• You scroll to your mDL, which only displays your first (and possibly middle) name and your last initial (along with the name of your state and whatever artwork your state has chosen - for California, it's a painting of a bridge beside the ocean), and Apple Wallet says "Hold Near Reader".
• The police officer (or bar bouncer, etc.) holds their NFC scanner up next to your iPhone, it connects, and your iPhone lists what information will be transmitted and asks you to double-click again to send that information (at a bar, it'd just be your photo, and verification that you're over 21; for the police, it'd be all the details on your physical drivers license).
• You double-click to confirm (with another FaceID verification), and your iPhone sends the specified information.

All without the officer ever touching your iPhone. My understanding is that, in many (most? all?) places, the laws are written such that they cannot touch your phone, much less take it away.

By the way, you can verify all of the above, about how Apple Wallet works, yourself: double-click and let FaceID authenticate you, then put your thumb over the camera (so FaceID can't authenticate again - this replicates the circumstances an officer would be in if they grabbed your phone), and try to see what other information you can access without letting the phone re-authenticate via FaceID. Good luck.

Nowhere in this process are you "handing your unlocked phone" to anyone. If the officer breaks the law and grabs your iPhone out of your hands, they can... scroll through your list of credit cards and loyalty cards. They can't make any use of your credit cards - that'd require FaceID again - but maybe they can find your loyalty card number for Starbucks. That's it. No access to any of your other phone data.

So either stop repeating "you shouldn't hand your unlocked phone to a police officer" as if it has any relevance to the topic of digital drivers licenses, or start including all the other unrelated warnings along with that one, starting with "you shouldn't punch police officers at traffic stops, or hand them large bags of drugs, or ram their police cars". Because those are also things that you definitely shouldn't do, that also have nothing to do with digital drivers licenses.

 

[Alameda]

It's also safest to not hand the officer a bag of heroin and punch them in the face. None of these things (including "handing your unlocked phone to a police officer") have anything to do with having or using a digital drivers license, so why do you keep bringing that last one up as if it does? As I mentioned previously, it seems like you haven't taken the time to look into how this works:

• The mobile Drivers License (mDL) is in Apple Wallet.
• You double-click the side button of your iPhone to open Apple Wallet, and it uses FaceID to verify your identity.
• Apple Wallet opens and shows your default credit/debit card.
• You scroll to your mDL, which only displays your first (and possibly middle) name and your last initial (along with the name of your state and whatever artwork your state has chosen - for California, it's a painting of a bridge beside the ocean), and Apple Wallet says "Hold Near Reader".
• The police officer (or bar bouncer, etc.) holds their NFC scanner up next to your iPhone, it connects, and your iPhone lists what information will be transmitted and asks you to double-click again to send that information (at a bar, it'd just be your photo, and verification that you're over 21; for the police, it'd be all the details on your physical drivers license).
• You double-click to confirm (with another FaceID verification), and your iPhone sends the specified information.

All without the officer ever touching your iPhone. My understanding is that, in many (most? all?) places, the laws are written such that they cannot touch your phone, much less take it away.

By the way, you can verify all of the above, about how Apple Wallet works, yourself: double-click and let FaceID authenticate you, then put your thumb over the camera (so FaceID can't authenticate again - this replicates the circumstances an officer would be in if they grabbed your phone), and try to see what other information you can access without letting the phone re-authenticate via FaceID. Good luck.

Nowhere in this process are you "handing your unlocked phone" to anyone. If the officer breaks the law and grabs your iPhone out of your hands, they can... scroll through your list of credit cards and loyalty cards. They can't make any use of your credit cards - that'd require FaceID again - but maybe they can find your loyalty card number for Starbucks. That's it. No access to any of your other phone data.

So either stop repeating "you shouldn't hand your unlocked phone to a police officer" as if it has any relevance to the topic of digital drivers licenses, or start including all the other unrelated warnings along with that one, starting with "you shouldn't punch police officers at traffic stops, or hand them large bags of drugs, or ram their police cars". Because those are also things that you definitely shouldn't do, that also have nothing to do with digital drivers licenses.

Or, you open your wallet and hand the officer your ID.

But, sure, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup on your phone just in case.

 

[CarlJ]

Or, you open your wallet and hand the officer your ID.

Yes. And the point is, neither method involves handing the officer your unlocked iPhone, or your iPhone in any other condition.

 

[ZarathustraX]

Woo hoo, going from 18% coverage to 32% coverage. Critical Mass approaching !

 

[ZarathustraX]

I suppose California will get this when (if??) they figure out how to convert its DMV systems from COBOL to something from a recent decade.

California has had it since September 2024. Don't get all excited though, it's currently pretty useless.

 

[deeddawg]

I wish every state implemented digital ID cards so I can consider going walletless. One less thing to worry about forgetting at home. I mean its rare, rare, when it happens but would be cool.

That not in the near term. At this time this is supplemental and not a replacement. GA law still requires carrying the physical DL, and I expect the same is true elsewhere.

As implemented, the digital DL is not usable without an appropriate reader or phone/app. Screen shows nothing but the issuing state, plus your firstname and last initial.

Or, you open your wallet and hand the officer your ID.

But, sure, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup on your phone just in case.

As stated previously, the digital ID requires a reader to present any information. As such this isn't particularly useful outside of a small number of use cases. In the future it may well become more useful, but adoption will take a while.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Nowhere in this process are you "handing your unlocked phone" to anyone. If the officer breaks the law and grabs your iPhone out of your hands, they can... scroll through your list of credit cards and loyalty cards. They can't make any use of your credit cards - that'd require FaceID again - but maybe they can find your loyalty card number for Starbucks. That's it. No access to any of your other phone data.

Well since that was the reason the officer stopped you, he has now won and can steal all your stars!

So either stop repeating "you shouldn't hand your unlocked phone to a police officer" as if it has any relevance to the topic of digital drivers licenses, or start including all the other unrelated warnings along with that one, starting with "you shouldn't punch police officers at traffic stops, or hand them large bags of drugs, or ram their police cars". Because those are also things that you definitely shouldn't do, that also have nothing to do with digital drivers licenses.

Yes, it would be nice if people would stop saying that.

 

[onenorth]

Yes. And the point is, neither method involves handing the officer your unlocked iPhone, or your iPhone in any other condition.

In the heat of the moment, during a traffic stop, sometimes people are anxious and not thinking straight. I would expect some people to reflexively unlock their phones as they hunt for the digital ID and even voluntarily hand over the unlocked phone like an ID card. Yes the ID is easy to access, but muscle memory and anxiety are powerful things. If one is calm and collected then maybe this works out okay.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Do you have a source?, since Apple isn't saying this. Some states have their own systems now.

Here is one. There are many more. Given that a large number of law enforcement agencies have moved to hand held citation devices, it is just a matter of time before they are universal and then laws will change to allow them to be primary ID.

 

[Alan Wynn]

In the heat of the moment, during a traffic stop, sometimes people are anxious and not thinking straight. I would expect some people to reflexively unlock their phones as they hunt for the digital ID and even voluntarily hand over the unlocked phone like an ID card. Yes the ID is easy to access, but muscle memory and anxiety are powerful things. If one is calm and collected then maybe this works out okay.

The officer holds out his scanner and requests an mDL (which might just be a phone with an app), and you think people with panic and do something that is completely unrelated to what the officer requested? (“Please bring up your mDL so I can scan it?”)

 

[Johnny Jackhammer]

there’s a super easy answer to this question but this post isn’t PRSI so i’m gonna just-

🐽 just an emoji yall nothing behind it

your communication skills are lacking... can't understand your meaning.

 

[CarlJ]

I suppose California will get this when (if??) they figure out how to convert its DMV systems from COBOL to something from a recent decade.

I'm in California, and I've had an official California mDL in my iPhone, and Apple Watch, for months now.

Last time I had to go to the DMV, a year and a half ago, to renew my drivers license in person, I made an appointment online, showed up at the designated time, walked up to the reception area, gave them my appointment info, was handed some paperwork and sent to various windows to get my eye test, my picture taken, and temporary permit issued. Practically no wait time. In and back out in under 20 minutes. It was a quite pleasant (and slightly astonishing) experience. The DMV has a previously accurate reputation for being antiquated, but that's no longer the case.

 

[CarlJ]

Funny, the first instruction in the video is "unlock your phone". This makes it less paranoia and more fact-based concern. Personally I'm more concerned with digitizing more PID information than anything.

Did you watch the video? Did you listen to the actual words, or did you just "hear" what you wanted to hear? Because "unlock your phone" isn't anywhere in the video.

The information is already all digitized. The only difference here is the technology for carrying out the transfer. And the iPhone way is more secure - it requires authentication and authorization from you, and tells exactly what types of information will be transferred.

Try scanning the 2d barcodes on the back of most drivers licenses today - you'll find they contain all the information on the front of the license (plus some additional indexing information) in a very easily captured format. If the TSA, or a police officer, or a bouncer at a club gets hold of your drivers license, they have access to all of that information (birthdate, home address, everything). If you present your digital ID instead, they only get the information they actually need for their job (e.g. the bouncer only gets proof that you are 21 or older, not exactly how old you are or your birthdate, or where you live, not even your full name). It's a much safer system.

 

[CarlJ]

I will never hand my phone to a cop. I’ll stick to carrying paper copies of my info, thank you.

Please explain the exact way the transaction of using a digital ID plays out, and point out the spot where you hand your phone to a cop.

If you knew how this worked, you'd know there's no such step.

"Paper" (plastic, actually) licenses will be around for a long time. So will people who react with fear and ingorance to change, because they don't understand new things.

 

[onenorth]

Please explain the exact way the transaction of using a digital ID plays out, and point out the spot where you hand your phone to a cop.

If you knew how this worked, you'd know there's no such step.

"Paper" (plastic, actually) licenses will be around for a long time. So will people who react with fear and ingorance to change, because they don't understand new things.

Under certain circumstances the police can confiscate a license. They can observe anything in plain view including your phone. They are not concerned about protecting your rights. There are risks here that you are dismissing. Traffic stops are the greatest number touch points most people have with the police. And each of those stops occur because the police are conducting an investigation. Yes digital ID is cool tech but it’s not ready for prime time. Most states won’t accept it for law enforcement purposes yet.

 

[LlamaLarry]

Doesn't matter how many times these articles come out regarding digital ID on the phone, the same ignorant FUD clutters the thread.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Under certain circumstances the police can confiscate a license.

Completely irrelevant to this discussion, as your phone is not your license. If they wanted to disable your license, they do it electronically, not by confiscating your device.

They can observe anything in plain view including your phone.

Observe does not mean confiscate. Observe does not mean unlock with a code (or force you to do so). Anyone concerned should simply disable FaceID before using mDL.

They are not concerned about protecting your rights.

Do you not mean that “they may not be concerned with protecting your rights” rather than they are not?

There are risks here that you are dismissing.

What specific risks are you contemplating? If a law enforcement officer wants your phone, it is trivial for him to take it from you (“Get out of the car. I am now going to do a protective pat down. I am removing your this item from your pocket to ensure it is not a risk to me.”), and that is assuming you do not have it out in the cabin being used with CarPlay. In fact, removing your phone from your pocket would make it easiest to disable FaceID, something one would not be able to do if one kept it in one’s pocket until frisked.

Traffic stops are the greatest number touch points most people have with the police.

True, but completely irrelevant.

And each of those stops occur because the police are conducting an investigation.

Only in the broadest sense of the word “investigation”. Most stops occur because the officer has witnessed a violation and is planning to issue a citation. While it is true that most felony arrests occur as a result of a pretextual stop, the reverse statement is not true (most stops are not pretextual).

Yes digital ID is cool tech but it’s not ready for prime time.

Please explain the ways in which it “is not ready for prime time”. It is not just “cool tech”, it is a technology that yields clear safety and privacy benefits to its users (e.g. not providing someone access to more personal information than is actually necessary for their lawful purpose, or not requiring one to go to the DMV when one loses ones wallet as one’s driver’s license would be safely at home), and no meaningful new risks.

Most states won’t accept it for law enforcement purposes yet.

That does not mean that mDL is not ready, but that law enforcement is slow to adopt new technologies. Mobile reader apps are already available for most handheld eCitation platforms as well as for iOS and Android devices. Rapid deployment of this technology will meaningfully improve the lives of many of its users. That you are uninterested in participating, does not mean that its roll out should be slowed.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Doesn't matter how many times these articles come out regarding digital ID on the phone, the same ignorant FUD clutters the thread.

True for so many new technologies (e.g. “Why would I want a mobile version of my credit card, what if I lose my phone, any one can get my card?”, “Why would I want a digital house key, I might lose my phone, then anyone would have access to me house?”, etc.).

 

[wdfly]

Did you watch the video? Did you listen to the actual words, or did you just "hear" what you wanted to hear? Because "unlock your phone" isn't anywhere in the video.

The information is already all digitized. The only difference here is the technology for carrying out the transfer. And the iPhone way is more secure - it requires authentication and authorization from you, and tells exactly what types of information will be transferred.

Try scanning the 2d barcodes on the back of most drivers licenses today - you'll find they contain all the information on the front of the license (plus some additional indexing information) in a very easily captured format. If the TSA, or a police officer, or a bouncer at a club gets hold of your drivers license, they have access to all of that information (birthdate, home address, everything). If you present your digital ID instead, they only get the information they actually need for their job (e.g. the bouncer only gets proof that you are 21 or older, not exactly how old you are or your birthdate, or where you live, not even your full name). It's a much safer system.

I had a post that showed the screen shot from just a couple of seconds into the video where it says "unlock your phone". Yes I watched it and it is indeed in there. now for the rest of your post, you know what is not contained in that barcode on the license, all of the content on your phone......

I do not care if you disagree with me, but there are security risks involved in this, you simply do not understand them.

 

[CarlJ]

I had a post that showed the screen shot from just a couple of seconds into the video where it says "unlock your phone". Yes I watched it and it is indeed in there. now for the rest of your post, you know what is not contained in that barcode on the license, all of the content on your phone......

I do not care if you disagree with me, but there are security risks involved in this, you simply do not understand them.

You are right, they do put the word "Unlock" up for about a second in the video - they did not say this in the audio - and they should not have done that, because it's a misleading oversimplification. You are not unlocking the phone (I mean, you can if you want but it's unnecessary and unrelated), you are authenticating yourself to Apple Wallet (double-tapping the side button and letting FaceID authenticate your face).

Do this from a locked phone - you know, like you'd pull out of your pocket - and the phone is not unlocked. You can get to the contents of Apple Wallet, and that's it. You can scroll through the loyalty cards (grocery stores and such), and see the credit/debit cards, but you cannot use any of the credit/debit cards without an additional authentication step. In order to use it with an ID scanner, you hold it up to the scanner in this state (Apple Wallet unlocked, the rest of the phone still locked), and it will establish contact, and present a list of requested information (just the same way you're presented with a "double click (and stare at your phone)" prompt when using Apple Pay to buy something online, or from the App Store or such). At any point along the way, if the phone is taken away from you, it is still not unlocked, beyond being able to see what cards are in Apple Wallet. There's no access to your messages, notes, calendar, etc.

Yes, they could grab the phone away from you, and force you to completely unlock it. They could also shoot you and file a report saying that you became argumentative and then resisted arrest (this does happen from time to time). If you'e gong to assume criminal behavior on their part, why stop only at the first little step?

I see the risks just fine. I don't think you're really understanding the process involved.