Ohio Becomes Fifth State to Embrace Digital Driver’s Licenses in Apple Wallet
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It’s been nearly three years since Apple unveiled support for Digital IDs in iOS 15.1, and to say the adoption has been slow may feel like an understatement. If anything, it’s been downright glacial. However, there’s some good news for Apple fans in Ohio, as it’s just become the fifth state to get on board with the initiative.
Apple’s Digital ID technology promised to bring highly secure digital driver’s licenses and state IDs directly into the Apple Wallet app. With support for payment cards, transit passes, loyalty cards, and even concert tickets, digital IDs fill the last remaining gap preventing most folks from leaving their physical wallets at home.
Unfortunately, while at least eight US states signed on in late 2021, it took some time for even the first four to come around. Arizona was the first to get on board in early March 2022, followed by Maryland in May. Even though Georgia was initially expected to follow Arizona, it didn’t show up until later that year, along with Colorado. Those four states combined covered about 10% of the US population.
Meanwhile, other states, like Florida and California, rolled their own solutions rather than embracing Apple Wallet (and it seems Florida’s efforts haven’t gone well).
Four of the eight states originally on Apple’s list — Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, and Oklahoma — don’t seem to have made any meaningful progress, but now Ohio has seemingly come right out of left field to join the party.
That’s surprising because even out of the 25-plus US states that were at least studying mobile driver’s licenses last year, Ohio was in the other half, with no indications that it was doing anything at all.
Today, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted jointly announced that Ohioans can add their driver’s licenses and ID cards to Apple Wallet — and use it not only at TSA checkpoints but also at select businesses in the state.
Ohio has always been a leader in innovation, and now we are the fifth state in the country that gives residents the option to securely add their driver’s license to Apple Wallet. This is another example of how Ohio is using technology to better serve its customers and residents.Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) has a landing page that should provide more information, but as of this writing, it’s inaccessible — likely swamped by the enthusiasm of Ohio residents.
While there’s no word yet on how extensively this will be supported at businesses, the expansion of Apple’s digital IDs anywhere beyond airports is good news. When the initiative rolled out in 2022, it was limited to TSA checkpoints since the digital IDs work over NFC and can only be read by special hardware scanners.
However, last year, Apple provided developers with tools in iOS 17 to allow businesses to scan Apple Wallet digital IDs for things like age verification, and it appears that Ohio has embraced this with its own app for businesses in the state.
The free age verification app for businesses announced by Governor DeWine and Lt. Governor Husted is called Ohio Mobile ID Check. The new app, which is available now, enables businesses to securely and privately accept customers’ mobile IDs in person using an iPhone.Governor DeWine Communications Bulletin
This should make digital driver’s licenses and state IDs considerably more useful for Ohio residents. They’ll not only be able to use them at local businesses but also protect their privacy by offering only the information that the business strictly requires.
For example, providing age verification for purchasing alcohol or entering a bar or club traditionally requires the person to show their physical driver’s license, which contains lots of other personal information that the clerk or bouncer doesn’t need to know. Apple’s digital IDs only present the information explicitly required by the business, such as the person’s driver’s license photo and age, without giving up other details like their address or phone number.
This works by presenting your iPhone to the terminal of the business requesting the ID, at which point you’ll be shown the specific information that’s being requested from your ID. If you’re okay with providing that information, you can confirm by double-pressing the side button and authenticating with Face ID or Touch ID. If not, walk away. Either way, your iPhone never leaves your hands, and you remain in complete control of where and how your ID is presented.
Technically speaking, it shouldn’t even strictly be necessary to include a photo since a digital ID can only be unlocked by a biometric scan (Face ID or Touch ID) that matches the person who added the identification card to the iPhone — a process that also requires a facial scan to confirm the person matches what the state government has on file.
Unlike other iPhone security features, alternate fingerprints or appearances can’t be used to access a digital ID. This means that only you can present your digital identification. However, it’s likely businesses won’t understand this technology or be confident with it, so we shouldn’t be surprised if a photo is part of the ID request in most cases where identity or age is being verified.
Ohio residents can add their driver’s license or state ID to their iPhone and Apple Watch by opening the Wallet app, tapping the plus button in the top-right corner, and selecting Driver’s License or State ID. Ohio should appear alphabetically as the fifth option on the list. Select that and follow the instructions to scan your state identification and enroll. An iPhone 8 or later and iOS 16.5 or later are required on the iPhone, or an Apple Watch Series 4 or later with watchOS 9.5 or later.
