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iPhone Driver's License Feature Set to Expand to a 15th U.S. State

Still don’t get the point of this.

Why would I want someone to collect biometric data, when all they are asking for is my ID?

Why would I want to give someone my phone, when all they are asking fornis my ID?

This just seems like such a bad idea on sooooooooo many levels…..and all for what? So you don’t have to carry a wallet? Only a fool would go out without a wallet. Phones die, break, run out of battery, get dropped, etc. Why would you ever put yourself in that position?
 
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AZ was the first state to support digital IDs. Might sound good but not terribly useful. In state TSA and local law enforcement is OK here but if you travel, hotels, car rental companies, traffic stops in other states, etc., who knows. I drive to Nevada often enough I just carry my drivers license.
 
Accepted in airports has little value- frequent travelers often already have other forms of ID-less like Clear, Touchless TSA. etc. And travelers knows they still have to bring ID as backup.

This feature is only useful is law enforcement accepts it without giving a fine so I don't have to carry it everywhere.
 
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MacRumors said:


Apple's digital driver's license feature in the Wallet app is set to expand to Virginia, according to a person familiar with the matter.

apple-wallet-drivers-license-feature-iPhone-15-pro-purple-1.jpg

In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. The feature has rolled out to 14 states so far, including Arkansas earlier this week, and it is also available in Puerto Rico.

The other states are Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Hawaii, California, Iowa, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Illinois.

Now, Apple is preparing for the feature to go live in Virginia, the person said. However, we do not have an exact timeframe for availability. Towards the end of 2025, Virginia's Department of Motor Vehicles said it planned to support the Apple Wallet's digital ID feature in the coming months, so hopefully it goes live soon by this point.

When the feature goes live, Virginia residents will be able to set it up by opening the Wallet app on the iPhone and tapping on the plus sign in the top-right corner. Next, they will tap on Driver's License and ID Cards, select Virginia from the list once it is added, and follow the on-screen steps to complete the process.

Apple Wallet IDs are accepted at TSA checkpoints at hundreds of U.S. airports for domestic travel. Given that Apple Wallet IDs are not accepted by law enforcement, and lack many other use cases, carrying a physical ID is still necessary.

If you live in a state that does not yet offer Apple Wallet IDs, you can create a Digital ID based on your U.S. passport, and present it at the same participating TSA checkpoints, for age and identity verification purposes during domestic travel. It is not a replacement for a physical passport, and it cannot be used for international travel.

The passport feature requires iOS 26.1 or watchOS 26.1 and later.

Article Link: iPhone Driver's License Feature Set to Expand to a 15th U.S. State
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Calling it now.. South Carolina will be number 50. 🤦‍♂️
 
jole said:
Has anyone used the feature?

Frequently enough to say it is useful?

(Feature itself is great, but it can be used in _very_ few places in practice. It is one thing to list online that a certain airport supports TSA checking with it, in my experience it is a VERY different thing to actually go to that airport to try to use it.)
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Frequently enough to be useful? No.
longofest said:
I just don’t see a clear use case for this. While I get wanting to remove things you carry, I would never want to hand my phone over to any law enforcement officer for the purposes of conveying my id. The physical analogy to that is like them asking for your ID and you give them your entire wallet and glove compartment.

I’ll stick with physical id.
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Not how it works at all.
ArtOfWarfare said:
I have attempted to use it at 4 airports. All of them say that it's supported. Every single TSA agent was excited and said they'd been trained on it but had never had a single person try to do it. And it failed everytime.

The first 2 flights I tried with my iPhone which seems to be utterly impossible - TSA wants you to be staring into their camera for it to scan you at the same time as the iPhone wants you to stare at its camera for FaceID. However your iPhone must be in a very precise position about 2 feet below the TSA camera and pointing basically at the ceiling. This set of constraints is utterly physically impossible. Not barely possible or close to possible, it's just totally and obviously impossible to both be looking down at your phone and across at the TSA camera at the same time. Both want you to hold this quantum superposition for a few seconds for both to perform their concurrent scans.

The next two flights I tried the Apple Watch instead. It may be possible with the Apple Watch. You need to wear your watch and hold it face down on the TSA tap sensor thing at the same time as you stare into the TSA camera. With practice or coaching or something it's maybe possible, but there's really no feedback to let you know if your watch is doing the right thing or not. This same issue kind of happens with Apple Pay... but then normally the payment terminal screen can at least kind of tell you whether it's working or not. And you can get practice on terminals with screens and then move onto terminals without screens. There's no easy setup for TSA though - none of them have screens of any sort to let you know if you're doing the right thing (and even if they did, you're getting your face scanned while this happens so it's not like you could look away to read something.)

I'm flying again in a month and I'll get another two chances to try.

I look forward to being the first person on earth to successfully do this.
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You’re using it lieu of the photo. You’re not supposed to do both.
 
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IIGS User said:
Any delay in the implementation of technology in law enforcement is directly related to one thing. Money. Tech costs money, connectivity costs money, the "back end" of it costs money.
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Apple Wallet digital drivers license is ISO 18013-5 mDL

Any modern mobile phone can be used to verify these. They just need an app for it — there are multiple freely available ones.

Police is already issued work phones.

ISO 18013-5 mDL verification works offline, so no internet connection is even needed.
 
longofest said:
I just don’t see a clear use case for this. While I get wanting to remove things you carry, I would never want to hand my phone over to any law enforcement officer for the purposes of conveying my id. The physical analogy to that is like them asking for your ID and you give them your entire wallet and glove compartment.

I’ll stick with physical id.
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There are several case uses for this. You can verify your age online without giving a lot of private information or Any private information if up to Apple 🍎 Kinda like Apple Pay does not disclose your real card numbers would be similar to Digital ID 🪪 online and not giving too much personal information.
 
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SpotOnT said:
Still don’t get the point of this.

Why would I want someone to collect biometric data, when all they are asking for is my ID?

Why would I want to give someone my phone, when all they are asking fornis my ID?
Click to expand...

Everything you say after the first sentence is misinformation. If those would be true, this would not have a point.
 
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bg1419 said:
You’re a real glass-half-full sorta guy, aren’t you?

The 34% only counts state IDs and drivers licenses. If you account for the portion of people outside those states who have passports, you get to about 65% of people eligible to use this feature. It can already be used all over the country by anyone who flies to get through TSA, and states like Illinois and Ohio have apps that allow businesses to use it to easily verify age using another iPhone. Apple Pay wasn’t an immediate hit, it took a decade to ramp up but now it’s absolutely ubiquitous. Some people really just can’t envision the long game, but clearly it can work.
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I'm saying this whole thing doesn't work for isht.
The population part is member measurement noise.
 
You can only use it at some airports and with TSA rapidly expanding using facial recognition its usefulness drops to zero.
 
SpotOnT said:
Still don’t get the point of this.

Why would I want someone to collect biometric data, when all they are asking for is my ID?

Why would I want to give someone my phone, when all they are asking fornis my ID?

This just seems like such a bad idea on sooooooooo many levels…..and all for what? So you don’t have to carry a wallet? Only a fool would go out without a wallet. Phones die, break, run out of battery, get dropped, etc. Why would you ever put yourself in that position?
Click to expand...
Do you purport to know how this feature works?
 
longofest said:
I just don’t see a clear use case for this. While I get wanting to remove things you carry, I would never want to hand my phone over to any law enforcement officer for the purposes of conveying my id. The physical analogy to that is like them asking for your ID and you give them your entire wallet and glove compartment.

I’ll stick with physical id.
Click to expand...
SpotOnT said:
Still don’t get the point of this.

Why would I want someone to collect biometric data, when all they are asking for is my ID?

Why would I want to give someone my phone, when all they are asking fornis my ID?

This just seems like such a bad idea on sooooooooo many levels…..and all for what? So you don’t have to carry a wallet? Only a fool would go out without a wallet. Phones die, break, run out of battery, get dropped, etc. Why would you ever put yourself in that position?
Click to expand...
Do you guys hand over your phone to the cashier when making a payment via Apple Pay? If so, you’re doing it all wrong! You tap your phone to the payment terminal, don’t hand them your phone!

Exact same concept with digital IDs. Law enforcement will have a special NFC reader. You tap their device and the system will pull your info from the state’s servers. The states that have implemented this so far have made it very clear that you don’t hand over your phone, nor are they allowed to ask for it.
 
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One of the New Jersey politician’s nephew is starting a digital ID company as we speak. So once that launches and then fails after which NJ will implement iPhone DL
 
BigBlur said:
Do you guys hand over your phone to the cashier when making a payment via Apple Pay? If so, you’re doing it all wrong! You tap your phone to the payment terminal, don’t hand them your phone!

Exact same concept with digital IDs. Law enforcement will have a special NFC reader. You tap their device and the system will pull your info from the state’s servers. The states that have implemented this so far have made it very clear that you don’t hand over your phone, nor are they allowed to ask for it.
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So the goal is for hotel clerks, liquor stores, the subway cigarette stand, your local voting booth, the public library, etc all to have an NFC reader with a secure enclave to receive your digital ID? How long will they be able to to keep your ID? That is, how do you withdraw your ID, to prevent them from storing it for their own use?

Do you really feel safe with this?
 
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jole said:
Everything you say after the first sentence is misinformation. If those would be true, this would not have a point.
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Ok. Maybe I am way off base here.

Post 15 talks about taking photos from all angles to get verified.

Post 18 talks about having your face scanned by TSA.

Are those not collecting biometric data? A collection that would not be done if you just handed them your physical ID?
 
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