iPhone Driver's License Support Coming to Illinois

[yadmonkey]

Cue the uninformed “I won’t hand my unlocked phone to a cop” posts

I know it's fun to signal your superiority, but why not inform us too, while you're at it? Why shouldn't that be a concern to people who aren't familiar with how this works?

 

[DrJR]

It helps to learn about the this first...

You don't hand over anything with mDL and you don't have to unlock your device to use it. It works like Apple Pay. When this gets fully implemented, you'll have privacy protection when using mDL over a physical license when it comes to retailers and such because you don't have to provide them all of your data and can just send them "Over 21" if needed.

You can keep your physical ID as backup in case something happens to your mDL, but it's worth noting that with mDL, it can be on multiple devices and as you've pointed out, those devices are important... you're less likely to forget your phone, watch, etc... If they're lost or stolen, you can get your mDL downloaded on new devices, which can really help when traveling (as opposed to losing a physical ID when traveling).

Also, battery life isn't an issue because mDL can be available when your device has "shut down" (actually sleeps) when the battery is low.

I know I believe the only data transferred is encrypted drivers license stuff….

 

[BuffaloTF]

NY State 😴

…has New York Mobile ID. It’s own app.

 

[DrJR]

I can’t wait to never use this…..

 

[ipedro]

Here's how it works:

The system is composed of a reader, a database and the digital ID on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

1. The user taps their device on the terminal.

2. The terminal sends your device the information it's asking for.

3. The user sees what information they're granting:

4. The user authenticates themselves with Face ID and grants sending that information.

5. The terminal receives the authorization, which then contacts the state database with the authorization which sends it.

At no point are you giving your device to anybody. There's nothing on screen that identifies you, so showing it serves no purpose either.

 

[ipedro]

I know I'm getting old ... but I really *do* get the "not handing my phone to a cop" thing, regardless of the details about unlocking it first and what they're allowed to do/not do with one in their hands.

Getting old does not excuse lacking common sense. If anything, getting old should grant you more common sense.

You've already figured out the risk of handing your phone to a cop. Now, go one step further and use that common sense that life experience grants you to ask yourself why on earth Apple or anyone would design a system that requires handing your phone to a cop, or anyone at all?

Use that common sense to make a connection between Apple Pay and this Digital ID. One deals with one valuable: money, the other deals with another valuable: your identification. Do you hand your phone to a cashier to pay for your groceries? Then why would you hand your phone to a cop to identify yourself?

Watch the video above on how it works: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...is.2447331/page-3?post=33675391#post-33675391

 

[ChrisA]

I will stick with handing over the plastic license and keep my phone in my pocket

I assume you do the same with credit cards. You hand the plastic card to the waiter and he takes it into the back room uses it on Amazon and then hands it back to you. This actually did happen to me.

The Driver's license feature uses the same technology as the credit card, you NEVER hand anyone your phone. You only hold it very close to or tap the reader.

So let's say you still look young even if you are 40 and want to buy beer in the supermarket. The cashier will ask you to tap the reader with your phone. then the phone reads your face or fingerprint.

 

[spartan1967]

Here's how it works:
View attachment 2472148

The system is composed of a reader, a database and the digital ID on your iPhone or Apple Watch.

1. The user taps their device on the terminal.

2. The terminal sends your device the information it's asking for.

3. The user sees what information they're granting:

View attachment 2472150

4. The user authenticates themselves with Face ID and grants sending that information.

5. The terminal receives the authorization, which then contacts the state database with the authorization which sends it.

At no point are you giving your device to anybody. There's nothing on screen that identifies you, so showing it serves no purpose either.

There is a very real point being missed with your thorough explanation & everyone else who says the phone is never touched. Once you involve your phone in any type of transaction with law enforcement, you are opening a path for them to confiscate it.

I mean what are you going to tell a cop who demands your phone for some BS reason when you whip it out to show them how efficient you are with producing your ID, No? You have to do what they say or they can detain you.

 

[Mainsail]

I have had my digital CA driver license for a while and not a single place has ever accepted it. Not TSA at the airport, not at the market while buying beer, not renting a car, not checking into a hotel, not the Apple store to pickup my iPhone, not the bank to make withdrawal.

It is a good idea but in practice it is currently useless.

Yep, basically, my digital CA driver’s license is useless. I asked local police if they would accept it if pulled over and they said nope….need a physical card. So, kind of pointless.

 

[ipedro]

I mean what are you going to tell a cop who demands your phone for some BS reason when you whip it out to show them how efficient you are with producing your ID, No? You have to do what they say or they can detain you.

Seriously, you people will come up with the wildest hypotheticals. Here’s one for you then.

You pull out your wallet to get your plastic drivers license.
cop: “Hand me that $100 I see in your wallet”

What are you gonna say? No? 🫠

No cop is going to make me hand over my phone without him first understanding that he’s about to make me a millionaire and him an unemployed broke former cop.

You tap your phone or Watch on their terminal and authenticate. They have your ID. Transaction over.

 

[philstubbington]

Whenever I read articles like this I have to remind myself of the importance of carrying your license with you in the US! I suspect you’re supposed to in the UK, but I’ve never been asked for it in 40+ years. When travelling in Europe I carry it though.

 

[bn-7bc]

I know I'm getting old ... but I really *do* get the "not handing my phone to a cop" thing, regardless of the details about unlocking it first and what they're allowed to do/not do with one in their hands.

The REAL point here is; your phone is a multi-purpose electronic device that might stop working properly at any time, due to it getting accidentally dropped or the battery running out or just component failure. A physical drivers' license or credit/debit card won't suffer from any of these potential problems.

Would I add my drivers' license to my iPhone when IL finally gets this implemented? Sure, probably will, just because I can and it's offered... But I'll keep carrying the physical license and imagine that's the one I'd keep pulling out to show people, 9 times out of 10. Why hand a near $1000 device to a person when a piece of printed plastic will do?

You bring up a valid point, but to a certain demographic, only carrying your phone (and possibly keys if no phone based solution is available) seams to be some kind of life goal, personally I don't get it. In all fairness I don't carry cash, as I find receiving change and using said is a drag, buch easier to just tuch my card to the reader ans usng my pin if requested

 

[bn-7bc]

Whenever I read articles like this I have to remind myself of the importance of carrying your license with you in the US! I suspect you’re supposed to in the UK, but I’ve never been asked for it in 40+ years. When travelling in Europe I carry it though.

I suspevt the big difference is that the US doesn't seam to have any universal id (apart from passport or drivers license), and a lot of people in the us do not have passports due to never going abroad. Is a national id car even a thing in the US? (Note to readers in the US: within Schengen (that is EU+Norway Switzerland and one or to other non EU members I can't remember atm )s aid national id cards ar valid for travel and afaik all other id purposes, so for those without a drivers license the national id card is way more convenient to carry than a passport (it's the size of a cc))

 

[JapanApple]

Illinois is the last state I thought would do this. They are at times so disorganized. Hell broke did break loose. 🙄

 

[sydneysider88]

This is so underwhelming but a lot of potential...Reminds me of Apple Pay circa 2014.

Underwhelming? Nobody I know has carried a bank card or driver's licence for a decade. Everyone uses Apple Pay and most people have their Digital licence.

 

[yadmonkey]

Getting old does not excuse lacking common sense. If anything, getting old should grant you more common sense.

You've already figured out the risk of handing your phone to a cop. Now, go one step further and use that common sense that life experience grants you to ask yourself why on earth Apple or anyone would design a system that requires handing your phone to a cop, or anyone at all?

Use that common sense to make a connection between Apple Pay and this Digital ID. One deals with one valuable: money, the other deals with another valuable: your identification. Do you hand your phone to a cashier to pay for your groceries? Then why would you hand your phone to a cop to identify yourself?

Watch the video above on how it works: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...is.2447331/page-3?post=33675391#post-33675391

I know this guy made the unpardonable mistake of a misapprehension on the Internet, but maybe you've had a lapse about something relatively unimportant at some point too and it didn't mean you lack common sense?

 

[CarlJ]

Yep, basically, my digital CA driver’s license is useless. I asked local police if they would accept it if pulled over and they said nope….need a physical card. So, kind of pointless.

It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Stores/bars/police departments won't buy readers if no one has digital IDs to use with them. So, you make it (relatively) easy for people to set up their digital ID on their phone. Once the stores/bars/police departments see that like half of all people have the IDs, they'll invest in the readers and training.

 

[CarlJ]

I mean what are you going to tell a cop who demands your phone for some BS reason when you whip it out to show them how efficient you are with producing your ID, No? You have to do what they say or they can detain you.

"when you whip it out to show them how efficient you are with producing your ID" - wow, you seem to be really excited about assigning all sorts of motivations to people that aren't there.

If I have taken my phone out to show them my ID, because they have presented an NFC-based ID reader, my phone only gets Apple Wallet unlocked (double click the side button and authenticate with FaceID), not the whole content of the phone. If they demand that I hand them my phone, I do so while holding down the side button and the volume buttons. My phone is now completely locked and will now refuse FaceID and require a passphrase to unlock. My passphrase is in excess of 15 characters long, with upper and lowercase letters, digits, and punctuation (and of course isn't in any dictionary). Good luck trying to unlock it this century.

Okay, now, where does your deranged what-if scenario go from there? I have complied and handed them my phone, what now?

Say he grabs it out of my hand while it's in Apple Wallet. He can't unlock it further, he can only access my library card number. So he double-clicks the side button and holds it up to my face. I look away and/or close my eyes. The phone doesn't unlock. By the way, this officer will now be spending the next several years of his life in and out of court - plenty of lawyers would love to take up such a case.

Keep in mind, as you keep escalating your what-if scenarios to try to get one to work for your viewpoint, that at any point, the officer could take out his gun and shoot you, and later claim that it was in self defense and you were acting belligerent and resisting arrest. The slice between "is corrupt enough to force you to unlock your phone" and "is corrupt enough to murder you" isn't all that big, but this line of reasoning always seem to assume one paranoid fantasy is a real concern but the other is "something that never happens" (when, in fact, there are numerous documented cases of police officers murdering people while on the job).

 

[CarlJ]

I know it's fun to signal your superiority, but why not inform us too, while you're at it? Why shouldn't that be a concern to people who aren't familiar with how this works?

Read the whole thread. You'll find numerous detailed explanations of how the mechanism works. I can totally understand why the person you're replying to feels exasperated, because every time this topic comes up, there are numerous people who clearly do not understand the mechanism, who rush forward to expose this dastardly scheme, saying "I for one won't be handing my unlocked phone to a police officer" - well, great, why not also add that you won't be handing them a shopping bag full of bees, or some Pteranodon fossils? Because those are just about as relevant as the straw man that they are fighting against.

 

[Student of Life]

This is a perfect example of in theory vs reality.

In theory this should be good, fast efficient and accepted everywhere.

In reality it's a mess, no centralized national system (TSA) etc. Some states dictate one needs physical ID which just completely negates the point of digital ID.

 

[Mainsail]

It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Stores/bars/police departments won't buy readers if no one has digital IDs to use with them. So, you make it (relatively) easy for people to set up their digital ID on their phone. Once the stores/bars/police departments see that like half of all people have the IDs, they'll invest in the readers and training.

I hope you are right. My goal is to not need to carry a wallet....no cards and no cash....just my phone. At this point, the digital ID on my phone does nothing for me.

 

[sofila]

Welcome to 2025, U.S. friends

 

[JohnnyGo]

Anyone has any news about FLORIDA ? They had a digital app (Thales) and killed it without notice. They also announced that they were planning to add Apple integration but no news since the initial announcement

What is going on ???

 

[CrapShack]

Here in Virginia we have a weird system of one term governors who are elected the year after the presidential election. So we will be electing a new governor this November. I will vote for the first candidate ANYWHERE on the political spectrum who will promise to fast track the in-device driver's license system in VA. ANYBODY. Antifa to MAGA. YOU WILL HAVE MY VOTE.

This will only be useful if it's ubiquitous in all 50 states. Two words. Tipping point.

It's kind of like Apple Pay. For eight years I saw no other human ever use Apple Pay. Then one day, almost literally, I saw EVERYBODY using Apple Pay.

Let's GET THERE, shan't we?

 

[satchmo]

I will stick with handing over the plastic license and keep my phone in my pocket

And so much easier to buy a fake one too! 🙂