California mDL not working on Apple Watch after replacing iPhone with 17PM and upgrading to OS26

[WolfSnap]

I recently upgraded to the iPhone 17 Pro Max and encountered an issue with the California Mobile Driver's License (mDL) on my Apple Watch.
I've had my CA mDL on both my iPhone and Apple Watch without issues since California first supported it. However, after upgrading to the new phone, I had to re-add the mDL to my iPhone. Because the Apple Watch syncs the mDL from the paired iPhone, I had to delete and re-add the license on my watch as well.

The problem I'm facing now is:

• The mDL functions perfectly on my iPhone.
• On my Apple Watch, the mDL constantly prompts me to unlock my iPhone using Face ID to validate my identity. Despite repeatedly unlocking the iPhone, rebooting both devices, and even completely unpairing and restoring the watch, the watch still does not recognize the license as unlocked.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a known bug, or is there another troubleshooting step I should attempt?

I did the same on my wife's watch after upgading her to the 17PM too, and she seems to have the same issue as I do. The watch keeps wanting her to unlock the phone with FaceID, but no matter how often we do, we can't get to the next step of being able to actually use the mDL on the watch.. So, I'm thinking it's a bug, but would love a few more data points here.

 

[F308gt4]

Your thread prompted me to look at my watch. My card said invalid card and that I had to remove it. I did, but now don’t see an option to add it. I noticed when I set up my phone on Friday that there was no Apple Card in the wallet, so I added it then. So I have it on my phone, but not on my watch. I wonder if I need to remove it from the phone and add it again to get it to work. You may need to do the same thing.

That said, I’ve only use the card via the phone once and never bothered to do it again. I didn’t even realize you could use it via the watch. Sounds like a neat feature, but hopefully any issues will be fixed.

 

[WolfSnap]

Your thread prompted me to look at my watch. My card said invalid card and that I had to remove it. I did, but now don’t see an option to add it. I noticed when I set up my phone on Friday that there was no Apple Card in the wallet, so I added it then. So I have it on my phone, but not on my watch. I wonder if I need to remove it from the phone and add it again to get it to work. You may need to do the same thing.

That said, I’ve only use the card via the phone once and never bothered to do it again. I didn’t even realize you could use it via the watch. Sounds like a neat feature, but hopefully any issues will be fixed.

There's also an odd bug (which is less of an issue IMHO) where if you add the license to both iphone and watch, it seemingly never adds to the watch. I just did it as two separate transactions -- add to the phone (which works quickly), then add to the watch, which for me, always had me do the secondary "verification" step on the dmv website. Then, it would issue on the watch.

My issue is that even though it's on the watch, it's in an unusable state.

Honestly, it's on my watch and iPhone just because I can do it. It's really not something that's particularly useful for 99% of my life, but just on the odd chance I found myself at the airport, needing to board a flight, and I forgot my wallet, passport, and basically everything but my watch, I'd still be ok to board. Yeah, not exactly a common thing, but it's not exactly hurting me to have it on my watch too, so, whatever.. LOL