Unlocking the Future: Your ID, Now in Your APPLE Wallet

Thanks to Apple, the distinction between the physical and the digital is getting a little bit less clear. Apple leads again, with a recent announcement that promises to completely change how we interact with our identity documents. From greater convenience in everyday life to an increased degree of security and privacy surrounding our information, this is how Apple is reimagining identification for the digital age.

APPLE Wallet: The New Home for Your ID

You won’t have to dig through your wallet at every entrance to a crowded concert venue or at every traffic stop, either. Apple on Wednesday announced plans to add state IDs and driver’s licences to its Apple Wallet app. From proving your age and identity to rent a car when you’re under 25, or to buy alcohol online, been there, done that Showing an ID to prove your age and identity has become an unwelcome exercise at everything from buying alcohol to boarding a flight. The Town of Greenville, South Carolina and the state of Arizona will soon be the first to issue these IDs in an Apple Wallet, which will then enable the ID to be read by dark corner-of-your-purse wallets and certain reader systems installed behind checkout desks or at airports.

A Leap Towards Enhanced Privacy and Security

Apple is always keen that Apple IDs and data are used only with your permission, and the company has tried to make the digital ID system as secure as possible. For example, only state-sanctioned officials will be able to access the information they need to validate your digital ID; and everything is encrypted and stored locally on the device itself, so it should be impossible for anyone external to your phone to access the data at any time. It works like a traditional card, but also adds an extra layer of security, by anchoring your ID to your smartphone.

How to Incorporate Your ID into APPLE Wallet

Except, thanks to Apple, it’s never been easier to finally get rid of that old ID card. ‘How to add your state driver’s licence or state ID to Apple Wallet,’ reads the welcome page on Apple’s own website. After you follow the steps to add your driver’s licence to that digital storage space known as the Apple Wallet, you’ll be among the legions of iPhone and Apple Watch owners who can prove it to the man with just a tap of their device.

The Fine Print: Setting Up and Maintaining Your Digital ID

Apple has also developed support documentation to help users through the transition. If you have a new device, for example, you must unlink your digital licence or state ID from your old iPhone if you want to keep it secure, and at some point during the set-up process, users are required to go through a short facial and head movement ID verification process to ensure that an ID really belongs to a living, breathing person.

The Present and Future of ID in APPLE Wallet

People in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Maryland, and Texas can now receive their ID in Apple Wallet. California is next in a rollout that could massively expand the program. It first stirred as part of California’s mobile driver licence initiative, but it exemplifies how Apple looks to enhance the user experience and security broadly.

A Step Forward for Digital Identification

By developing Apple Wallet to accept IDs, Apple is part of a global trend to create digital identity systems. Emphasising human-centred design with optimum security and privacy foremost, and enhancing user convenience, Apple is setting the technical and consumer-expectations bar high for the next generation of digital IDs. Such developments would be welcome.

Understanding APPLE's Vision

In fact, the drive to innovation at Apple has nothing to do with the digital shorthand of a single ID; it is about envisioning what security and privacy might look like in the 21st century. With each iteration – a new operating system, a new app, a new hardware feature – Apple has built toward the goal of extending more power to people to take control of their own personal information, while making their everyday lives more functional.

The Essence of APPLE

At the heart of it is Apple’s drive to enhance the user experience with technology. Adding state IDs and driver’s licences to Apple Wallet is the latest step in a long line of innovations to this vision. Apple’s desire to fuse the digital and physical with software is about making life easier both on the practical, workaday level and on an ingrained, holistic level.

In a way, Apple’s scheme for digital ID reflects its wider purpose in life: creating products that are easy to use and convenient to own, as well as safe and private. Apple’s digital-identity system is custom-built for its devices. But as we enter a more digital era, the role it might play in shaping how we use technology – and each other – is harder to miss.