Aloha! Apple’s Digital Driver’s Licenses Come to Seventh US State
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Apple’s Digital ID initiative had a slow start when it debuted three years ago, but it appears to have been picking up steam lately. Following announcements in Ohio and California over the summer, Hawaii has jumped on board to become the seventh US state to support digital driver’s licenses and state IDs in Apple Wallet.
Technically speaking, Hawaii is actually number six on the list of states where digital driver’s licenses are available today; two weeks ago, California officially announced it would be starting its rollout soon, but the Aloha State beat it to the punch by simply flipping the switch this week without much fanfare.
There’s little to no information about the initiative on Hawaiian government websites. The entry for Hawaii was stumbled upon in the iPhone Wallet app by the folks at 9to5Mac, but we haven’t been able to find any official references to digital IDs, and Apple has yet to add Hawaii to the list of supported states on its ID in Wallet page as of this writing.
Nevertheless, it seems unlikely it would be showing up in the Apple Wallet app if it wasn’t ready, and some residents report already being able to sign up. However, as 9to5Mac notes, others are being put on a waitlist “due to high volume.”
With no official information from the state, it’s uncertain how widely the new digital driver’s licenses will be accepted. They’re usually valid only at TSA checkpoints at select airports. However, last year, Apple rolled out a new feature in iOS 17 that lets developers create apps that can read Apple Digital IDs for things like age verification.
At least one state has been quick to capitalize on this. When Ohio announced Digital IDs in late July, it also said it could be used at “select businesses […] throughout the state.” This is being accomplished by Ohio Mobile ID Check, a free age verification app developed by the state for local businesses “to securely and privately accept customers’ mobile IDs in person using an iPhone.”
Similar technology could be used in Hawaii and other states that support Apple Digital IDs, including Arizona, Maryland, Georgia, Colorado, and California. However, it’s unclear if those states will need to emulate Ohio in creating a specific verification app for their digital IDs. Technically, this shouldn’t be necessary based on how the mobile driver’s license (mDL) standard works. However, a state-sanctioned app could have additional hooks to ensure the ID is still registered and valid with the appropriate government agency. Local businesses could also be nervous about using a third-party app that hasn’t been approved by the state government.
Georgia may be an outlier, as its digital IDs seemingly can’t be used at businesses. It’s unclear why that’s the case, but there could be some legal technicalities around this.
Beyond the seven states that have already embraced Apple Digital IDs, Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah have committed to adding support for Apple Wallet. Four of these — Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, and Oklahoma — have been on the list since Apple announced the new technology three years ago, while Mississippi and Utah were added in 2022.
We’ve heard little news from any of them lately, so it’s hard to say when or if Digital IDs are coming to those states, but it’s also worth keeping in mind that Ohio came out of the blue last month, with no previous indication that it was doing anything in this area at all. Hawaii was studying digital IDs last year, but today’s rollout still came as a surprise, which means other states could show up just as quickly.
