Digital ID's are now supported in California
California residents will soon be able to add their ID's to Apple wallet.
Here’s what happened: Apple announced in a press release that the Wallet app will soon allow Californians to add their Driver license or/ state ID to the app, offering residents of the state a new way to present their identification. Google’s Wallet app will also be supporting the same feature.
This announcement puts California in a list of five other states who also support digital ID’s as of date — Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, and Ohio.
There was no rollout timeline provided by Apple, so it could be a while before this becomes available.
There are a few crucial pieces of information that you need to be aware of if you’re a CA resident and plan to use this feature, more details in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Office press release
Important information
You are still required to carry a physical ID.
Digital ID’s are only accepted at “select businesses and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security checkpoints and in select apps.“
You are not required to use Apple Wallet or Google Wallet, California has had it own mDL app since 2023 which allows to do the same thing, although it is a pilot program as of now and only limited to 1.5 million users—the app has 500,000 users as of today.