It’s Official: California Digital Driver’s Licenses Are Coming to Apple Wallet
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As expected, California has officially announced that it will soon start rolling out support for digital driver’s licenses and IDs in the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch. The state will be the sixth to implement the feature since Apple announced plans to add support for digital IDs back in September 2021.
California launched its own mobile driver’s license app a year ago and more than 500,000 California residents have added their driver’s license or ID to the state’s DMV Wallet app.
“We’re excited to be working with the state of California to bring IDs in Apple Wallet to Apple’s home state soon, and provide residents with an easy, secure, and private way to present their California driver’s license and state ID in person and in-app using Apple Wallet,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. “Whether using IDs in Apple Wallet to breeze through travel or to securely verify age or identity at businesses, California driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet make ID presentment seamless — all with the security built into iPhone and Apple Watch.”
Users who have stored their licenses and IDs in the Wallet app can use it for TSA screenings at select airports and age verification at select stores. California’s mobile wallet support is still in its early stages, and only 1.5 million residents can sign up at this time.
Californians are currently required to continue to carry their physical driver’s license or ID card, as most businesses, law enforcement, or government agencies do not yet accept the digital version.
As we reported earlier this month, a hidden landing page was recently found on the California state government’s DMV website, which explained the feature to Californians. At that time, the landing page lacked a proper website security certificate and contained placeholder images and several broken links. Now, California and Apple have officially announced that the feature is on its way.
Apple announced digital ID support for Apple Wallet in September 2021 and rolled out the enhanced Wallet app in 2022. However, the Digital ID feature requires states to get on board, meaning the rollout has taken longer than Apple (and I’m sure many drivers) would like. When Apple first announced the feature in 2021, the company listed eight states on board and said it was in “discussions with many more states.” It was optimistic that the Wallet digital ID feature would soon be available nationwide. Several states are reported to be in the process of adding support for driver’s licenses or digital IDs, including Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah.
While the California DMV had received permission to start testing digital driver’s licenses and IDs in the Wallet app on a limited basis, soon after Apple announced the feature, the state took its digital ID program in a different direction. The state announced a new mobile driver’s license pilot program allowing residents to store a digital version of their state ID card or driver’s license on their iPhone or Android smartphone. However, the ID would not be stored in the Wallet app. Instead, users would be required to download and use the California DMV Wallet app, which requires users to open that app anytime they want to display their ID, not display it with a quick double tap of the power button as the Wallet app allows.
Last month, Ohio became the fifth state to add Wallet support for licenses and IDs, joining the other states that have enabled the Wallet digital ID program inside their borders, including Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, and Georgia.
