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iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later
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Nobody is asking you to hand your phone to the police - try reading up on how this actually works.
What people keep defiantly declaring (why does this happen every single time there's an mDL article?): "I am NEVER going to hand my phone to the police!!1!".
What they sound like: "I am NEVER going to saw off my right foot and hand it to the police!!1!", or maybe "I am NEVER going to ride around town on a Tyrannosaurus Rex!!1!" or maybe "I am NEVER going to pay my overdue taxes with Apple gift cards!!1!".
Uh, good? Because all of those are highly unlikely scenarios. But people who have no idea how this tech works love to jump to conclusions, so they can get outraged. Because being outraged is fun, apparently?
What they sound like: "I am NEVER going to saw off my right foot and hand it to the police!!1!", or maybe "I am NEVER going to ride around town on a Tyrannosaurus Rex!!1!" or maybe "I am NEVER going to pay my overdue taxes with Apple gift cards!!1!".
Uh, good? Because all of those are highly unlikely scenarios. But people who have no idea how this tech works love to jump to conclusions, so they can get outraged. Because being outraged is fun, apparently?
Don't do it!
I started to sign up here in GA a while back and they have you take a selfie-mugshot of yourself. Turn to the left. Turn to the right. You get the idea. Reports are coming out that the police are using these as a digital lineup when they're looking for someone who matches a description. This is not just a digital copy conveniently stored on your phone. This is your biometric data going into a database that is privately owned and publicly subcontracted.
DO NOT DO IT.
I started to sign up here in GA a while back and they have you take a selfie-mugshot of yourself. Turn to the left. Turn to the right. You get the idea. Reports are coming out that the police are using these as a digital lineup when they're looking for someone who matches a description. This is not just a digital copy conveniently stored on your phone. This is your biometric data going into a database that is privately owned and publicly subcontracted.
DO NOT DO IT.
So what exactly is the point of Apple Wallet’s digital ID if you can’t use it for anything that actually requires an ID? Can’t buy alcohol. Can’t sign legal documents. Can’t buy a firearm. Can’t even use it during a traffic stop.
It’s basically a high-tech sticker that says trust me, I exist. Until it’s legally accepted like a physical ID, it’s just digital clutter.
It’s basically a high-tech sticker that says trust me, I exist. Until it’s legally accepted like a physical ID, it’s just digital clutter.
LOL....the photo they use for your physical drivers license is also digital.
lol, states are only now phasing in Real ID from 2005 because the deadline is this year. like almost 20 years later.
the digital DL - at least Apple's implementation - displays no information or picture. data is transferred over NFC. there's nothing for anyone to view on the screen and thus also no reason for your phone to leave your possession.
this is also moot as all states still require your physical DL to be presented to LEOs. while that may change in the future, there's a lot of infrastructure needed - e.g. equip every LEO with a reader.
chicken and egg - first the digital ID has to exist, then companies making readers market the benefits to stores/clubs/etc, and as adoption ticks up there'll be more reason for people to enroll. I imagine it will be a slow process.
geez, which state? My GA license issued eight years ago has Real ID.
Wouldd you prefer that all those services were rolled out but you were told that you need to wait for your state to implement the digital licenses, and it'll be 3-4 years that you'll be forlornly staring at the ID reader terminals in all those places with no linense to read?
The process has to start somewhere. Apple rolled out their part several years ago. States are rolling out the digital licenses part slowly - we're up to like a dozen or so out of 50 now. That part is comparatively cheap, because "all" they have to do is write software. Basically, if one person can sing up for a digital license, everyone in the state can - it scales easily.
The next step is getting tens of thousands of ID reader terminals into the hands of police, store owners, government agencies, bars, restaurants, etc. That requires designing and manufacturing tens of thousands of devices (hell, across the US, likely easily in the hundreds of thousands), paying for them, getting them distributed, and getting everyone that is going to use them the necessary training. That part doesn't scale well (especially the paying part), and isn't likely to proceed until you can demonstrate that they'll be heavily used. That requires the digital licenses to be in the hands of millions of people. So that's where we are now.
It's not a high-tech sticker that says trust me, it's half of a very secure solution for authenticating people's ID, waiting on the other half. It's necessary for this half to be here to get the other half to happen. It doesn't do anything for you yet. It'll get there. Encourage your state government to implement the readers and training.
I used to hope I would get this soon. Now I don’t want to hand over my phone to the government for any reason. Funny how times change.
You'll probably see a lot more people like you when AI takes off.
That's not how it works. The amount of times this has been said here is getting ridiculous. It works the same way Apple Pay does. Do you hand over your phone to the cashier when you pay? No...you put it up to a reader. Same way the ID is supposed to work.
MacRumors really should put a note in every article about this that makes it clear...you do NOT hand over your phone for this!
Good luck with that. Essentially shouting at the wind.
We are surveilled/tracked in so many ways that we can barely fathom. Cameras everywhere, license plate readers everywhere, phone app location data, phone location data via carriers (at minimum by just recording which antenna on which tower your phone is connected to the network through), banking / financial transaction data, shopping data, online store perusing data, etc.
Read this: How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did
That's from nearly fifteen years ago. Just imagine how much it's progressed.
You'll need to go completely off-grid in the wilderness with no technology to accomplish any meaningful result.
I think a lot of this kind of thing comes down to stuff like "what computer system do they have", or "do they have the stuff to do the coding without hiring a consultant." I'm a bit surprised to see Illinois still only on the future list and not on the "already here" list; as DMV experiences go this state is definitely in the "Superior" category. Lines move very fast, DMV visits usually take less than half an hour and if you're not due something like an eyesight test, you can renew your decals or your driving license at vending machines in supermarkets in addition to the usual means of renewing by mail or at a DMV office.
The CA DMV app was a mess. In 2024 CA went with the DL in the Apple Wallet, which is astoundingly better.
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have you been able to use it (successfully) any place other then the mentioned TSA checkpoints?The CA DMV app was a mess. In 2024 CA went with the DL in the Apple Wallet, which is astounding better.
When required by police, such as at a traffic stop, you must hand over your driver's license to police. This is so the info can be read, and the license examined to confirm it's a genuine document. This is the way it's been for a very long time and there's no driver here who would be unfamiliar with that. requirement.
As mentioned a few times now a digital driver's license should obviate the need for handing anything, including your phone, over to police. Here in CA and other states too, a reader is used to get the encrypted info off the DL and confirm it's a valid document. This is all outlined at the CA DMV site.
As of 02/2025, it's still a pilot program limited to 1.5M participants. 13020 CVC cover what is and isn't required when using your digital driver's license as ID.
The downside as I see it: Mayberry RFD may not have DL readers so the physical DL should be kept with you. This is no different than when contactless payment started rolling out in the US. Not everyplace had a suitable reader so the card had to be swiped or later, put in the chip slot. Early on, not every place that accepted contactless cards accepted Apple Pay, so a physical card had to be kept in the physical wallet.
With a quick glance at our CVC, I didn't see a requirement to keep the physical license with you if the digital version was in your wallet. But if I had a dDL, I'd keep it handy. In CA if you're required to present a driver's license and your phone is dead or the police don't have a functional reader, that's on you, not the police, at least for now. Partly because this is a pilot program and partly because I didn't see anything in the CVC that said a digital DL replaces a physical DL.
As mentioned a few times now a digital driver's license should obviate the need for handing anything, including your phone, over to police. Here in CA and other states too, a reader is used to get the encrypted info off the DL and confirm it's a valid document. This is all outlined at the CA DMV site.
As of 02/2025, it's still a pilot program limited to 1.5M participants. 13020 CVC cover what is and isn't required when using your digital driver's license as ID.
The downside as I see it: Mayberry RFD may not have DL readers so the physical DL should be kept with you. This is no different than when contactless payment started rolling out in the US. Not everyplace had a suitable reader so the card had to be swiped or later, put in the chip slot. Early on, not every place that accepted contactless cards accepted Apple Pay, so a physical card had to be kept in the physical wallet.
With a quick glance at our CVC, I didn't see a requirement to keep the physical license with you if the digital version was in your wallet. But if I had a dDL, I'd keep it handy. In CA if you're required to present a driver's license and your phone is dead or the police don't have a functional reader, that's on you, not the police, at least for now. Partly because this is a pilot program and partly because I didn't see anything in the CVC that said a digital DL replaces a physical DL.
Ok, I just downloaded the app and now have my DL in the DMV (not Apple) wallet. The site's 1.5M limit is apparently out of date as I was accepted and verified with something like 2.5M people already validated.
The process was quick enough:
download the app, open
scan front and back of DL or SID with phone's camera
scan your face for comparison of person making application and ID used
wait for approvai — activated!
You are now Prisoner #6.
FYI - the selfie you take to compare you, the applicant, to the DL submitted is pretty horrifying.
It's sort of disappointing. CA's version bares no resemblance to the physical license other than both having the same info and pic. When having to present it to law enforcement, a one-time QR code is generated. The cop's reader checks your bone fides, his electronic ticketbook spits out a ticket and you're on your way, maybe without even having to sign it. Ain't tech grand.
The process was quick enough:
download the app, open
scan front and back of DL or SID with phone's camera
scan your face for comparison of person making application and ID used
wait for approvai — activated!
You are now Prisoner #6.
FYI - the selfie you take to compare you, the applicant, to the DL submitted is pretty horrifying.
It's sort of disappointing. CA's version bares no resemblance to the physical license other than both having the same info and pic. When having to present it to law enforcement, a one-time QR code is generated. The cop's reader checks your bone fides, his electronic ticketbook spits out a ticket and you're on your way, maybe without even having to sign it. Ain't tech grand.
How well the system operates, and whether the various agencies have purchased the required scanners and trained everyone on them are two separate issues. And they need to get the digital licenses into a lot of people's hands (well, onto their phones), before they're going to feel much pressure to get the scanners out into the field.
I've heard anecdotal evidence that the UberEats/DoorDash type services are using it in some areas when they do alcohol deliveries to people's doors, and I think I recall hearing that there are some bars/nightclubs that have gotten scanners. But other than that, it's mostly just some TSA checkpoints for now.
Yea, definitely in its (early) infancy. There is zero benefit for me at this point, so I’ll watch.
The 80’s (and 70’s) tech tend to be more reliable than new tech. It’s also durable and, in some cases, easier to replace parts. There are still companies that provide replacement parts. But, even if that is not the case, they often have (or have access to) a shop that can service parts. This leads to shorter downtime (hours or days instead of weeks or months for the new stuff).
I can believe it.North Carolina believes it has the human resources to build its technology, given the state's abundance of talent and expertise. But in reality, it's not as easy as they believe. DMV NC staff lack a lot to be desired, frankly. 😔
It’ll most likely be outsourced by way of a lucrative contract to some tech company that will produce half the quality for twice the cost.