Google Just Gave Us a Hint on Where Apple’s Digital IDs Could Appear Next

Apple’s Digital ID initiative may have had a slow start when it debuted in late 2021, but it’s rapidly picked up steam over the past year, more than doubling the number of states where you can add your driver’s license to Apple Wallet.

As we noted in our updated FAQ today, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, New Mexico, Ohio, and Puerto Rico let their residents store digital driver’s licenses or state IDs in Apple Wallet.

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Apple unveiled Digital IDs at its June 2021 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) as a new iOS 15 feature. While it didn’t arrive until iOS 15.1 later that year, Wallet and Apple Pay VP Jennifer Bailey emphasized that Apple was already working with several US states to allow your Driver’s License and other forms of official ID to be added to the Wallet app. Bailey didn’t say which states would be involved, but by September 2021, eight states had committed to embracing digital IDs.

That list included Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah. Arizona came on board in March 2022, then Maryland showed up in May, followed by Georgia and another unexpected entry — Colorado — by the end of 2022. After that, things got very quiet.

Initially, Florida and California went in their own directions, while Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Utah remained missing in action. The year 2023 came and went with no new entries, but things began heating up in 2024. California shifted gears to embrace Apple Wallet alongside Ohio and Hawaii. Finally, the fourth of the original eight from Apple’s 2021 announcement, Iowa, showed up in October. New Mexico and Puerto Rico rounded out the list in December.

Much of the credit for the increased uptake of digital driver’s licenses goes to Google’s involvement. Apple’s Digital IDs were never proprietary technology; Apple was merely the first to adopt the open mobile driver’s license (mDL) standard in 2021. However, as popular as the iPhone is, some states were hesitant to jump into what felt like a single-platform solution.

Google announced support for native Android digital IDs in late 2023. It’s hard to believe it’s a coincidence that things began to move much faster once Google was on board. In fact, Android has leaped ahead of Apple by allowing users to securely digitize their US passports, allowing citizens to present digital IDs at TSA checkpoints even if they’re from a state that doesn’t offer mobile driver’s licenses yet.

Not every state that supports Apple’s digital IDs has embraced the Android side yet. This is likely a matter of testing and certification rather than compatibility; even though we’re talking about an open standard, states still have complete control over where and how these digital IDs are issued.

Nevertheless, Google is following the trail blazed by Apple. The six states supported by Google Wallet are Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and New Mexico. Four of those have been on board with Apple Wallet since 2022, and the other two came on last year, simultaneously adding support for both Apple Wallet and Google Wallet at launch.

Thanks to Google’s penchant for pre-announcing things, we have a pretty good idea of the next three states that are likely to join Apple’s digital driver’s license club. Today, Google announced that Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia will soon be able to add their driver’s licenses to Google Wallet. Puerto Rico IDs already came to the iPhone in December, but the other three are entirely new entries.

Much like California and New Mexico did last year, it’s highly likely that Arkansas, Montana, and West Virginia will add support for both Apple and Google Wallet when they launch their mobile driver’s licenses. After all, much of the slow uptake in the early days of Apple’s Digital ID support was a hesitancy to embrace a single platform.

Along the same lines, existing states may expand where digital IDs can be used. Google adds that users in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and New Mexico “will also be able to use their mobile IDs at the DMV for improved and streamlined customer experiences.” Again, it’s unlikely that iPhone users who have these digital driver’s licenses in Apple Wallet would be left out here.

There’s no word yet on when this will happen beyond “soon,” but it’s a safe bet that Arkansas, Montana, and West Virginia are the next three in line.