US Passports Will Come to Apple Wallet in 2025
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Apple did a surprisingly good job this year of ensuring that nearly everything it announced for iOS 26 during its June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) keynote actually showed up in this month’s iOS 26.0 release. That’s probably because it avoided talking about anything longer-term, but there was still one feature that didn’t quite make the cut.
In June, Apple promised that iOS 26 would expand Apple’s Digital ID feature to add support for US passports, as one of several enhancements to the iPhone Wallet app. The others, including more powerful boarding passes and order tracking, arrived on time, but when iOS 26.0 was released, passport capabilities remained missing in action.
Apple quietly updated its iOS 26 features page to add a footnote saying that “Digital ID will be available in a software update with U.S. passports only,” but provided no other clarification at that time as to when it would be available.
To be fair, the challenges Apple ran into with this one were likely more than purely technical. As we explained last week, there are multiple bureaucratic layers involved in creating an electronic version of something as sensitive as a passport.
Even though Apple has laid the groundwork with digital driver’s licenses in various states, and Google already rolled out US passport support in its wallet app last year, there are new hurdles for Apple to jump through, including multiple stages of validation and testing with both the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the State Department.
Still, if Apple was planning to debut this in iOS 26.0, we have to assume it was close to the end of that road, and it just confirmed this by adding a firmer statement to its iOS 26 feature page to confirm that it will be coming later this year.
Digital ID will be coming later this year with US passports only.
Despite the awkward phrasing, this clearly means that Digital ID support for US passports will be introduced later this year. Apple already supports Digital ID for state-issued driver’s licenses in several states.
Although the new footnote omits any mention of a software update, it’s implied that we’ll probably see this in an iOS 26.1 or iOS 26.2 update. The footnote is clunky as it is, so it’s hard to read too much into what it says beyond the basic timeframe. So far, iOS 26.1 doesn’t show any indication of passport support in the first beta, but that could easily change by the final release.
Like digital driver’s licenses, digital passports won’t eliminate the need to carry your US passport with you when travelling. The digital version will be accepted at select TSA checkpoints for domestic flights; however, you’ll still need to carry your physical passport for international air travel, border crossings, or any other instance where it may be required. Airlines also typically want to see physical identification before they let you board one of their flights.
Since TSA checkpoints already accept digital driver’s licenses and other state-issued digital IDs, there isn’t a significant advantage to adding your US passport if you live in one of those states. However, support for US passports has the potential to expand Digital ID access nationwide, even in states that haven’t partnered with Apple for driver’s license support. Only 11 states offer Apple Wallet-compatible Digital IDs, so that leaves out a lot of people. The new passports feature will bring Digital ID to the other 39 states, where it will hopefully become usable for other identification purposes, such as age verification, both in person and in apps, once more retailers get on board.
