Californians can add their driver’s license to Apple Wallet

Californians can add their driver’s license to Apple Wallet

Some California residents will soon be able to add their driver’s licenses and identification cards to Apple Wallet, Apple announced Thursday.

Apple’s announcement doesn’t say when the mobile driver’s licenses will roll out, only that it will happen “this fall” as part of California’s mobile driver’s license (mDL) pilot. The pilot, which will be limited to 1.5 million participants, will allow users traveling through certain terminals at Los Angeles International and San Francisco International airports to go through TSA screening without surrendering their driver’s license – or their phone.

To sign up, users must scan their driver’s license or ID card and then a photo of their face. Participants in the pilot program can use mobile IDs to purchase certain age-restricted products at certain retail locations in Sacramento and to pass through some airport security checkpoints.

Apple Wallet IDs are also available in Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia and Ohio. New York launched its own Mobile ID app in June, which can also be used to verify identity at airports. Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Missouri also have their own Mobile ID programs.

State mobile ID apps have raised security concerns. In January of this year, the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Surveillance Resistance Lab called on the New York DMV to pause its upcoming mobile ID pilot program. In a letter to DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder, the organizations said mobile driver’s licenses could be used by police as a pretext to confiscate phones during routine checks or to prevent people from filming police operations. The letter also mentioned the possibility that users’ information could be recorded and tracked by third parties.

Apple claims that IDs stored in Apple Wallet are not accessible to third parties — including Apple. According to Apple’s press release, driver’s license information stored in Apple Wallet is stored only on a user’s device and cannot be accessed “unless the user presents it.” Apple and the state issuing agency — such as the Department of Motor Vehicles — do not know “when or where or to whom a user presents their driver’s license or identification card,” the announcement states.

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