Apple added the potential so as to add digital state IDs or driver’s licenses to Apple Pockets years in the past, with the very first supporting states introduced again in 2021.
There are presently ten states/territories within the U.S. that help this functionality, with one other 8 having introduced help sooner or later. There’s additionally information that the characteristic might quickly come to the U.Ok.
Right here’s the way you add your Driver’s License and state ID to the Apple Pockets app in your iPhone and Apple Watch, and why you may wish to.
It’s a standards-based method (ISO 18013-5) that’s meant to be safer and personal than bodily identification, in addition to lastly closing one of many final loopholes that make individuals unable to depart the home with out their pockets.
In case your state doesn’t help driver’s licenses in Pockets (otherwise you don’t have a driver’s license), however you’ve got an lively passport, now you can add a Digital ID to your Apple Pockets.
Replace November 18, 2025: Illinois residents will have the ability to add their driver’s license beginning on November 19.
Tips on how to add your driver’s license of ID to Apple Pockets
Including your driver’s license or ID to Apple Pockets is straightforward, simply observe these steps:
- Open Pockets
- Faucet the “Add” (+) button within the upper-right nook.
- Faucet Driver’s License or State ID and choose your state.
- Now observe the on-screen directions: First you’ll be requested if you wish to add your ID to only your iPhone or your Apple Watch as properly when you have a paired Apple Watch.
- Subsequent you can be requested to take images of your present ID, possible the back and front.
- You’ll then have to take some matching photos of your self. The telephone will direct you to be in a well-lit space with a plain darkish background and put your head within the body. Then you definately’ll flip your head or make facial expressions (closing your eyes, opening your mouth) as directed by your telephone. This data shall be used to assist match your look together with your photograph on file with the state. Consider it like a human ensuring you appear like the photograph in your ID.
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Which states help Apple Pockets driver’s license and ID
The states that presently help digital IDs in Apple Pockets are:
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Montana
- New Mexico
- Ohio
- Puerto Rico
- West Virginia
The states and territories which have promised future help are:
- Connecticut
- Kentucky
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- Utah
When will the U.Ok. help Apple Pockets driving licences?
The U.Ok. authorities has introduced plans to launch a GOV.UK Pockets and App during which licenced drivers will have the ability to retailer a digital copy of their driver’s licence.
The brand new app is coming this summer season and the power to retailer digital drivers licences, later in 2025. The digital driver’s licence shall be piloted later in 2025, with plans to supply a digital various, alongside paper or card credentials, by the tip of 2027. Extra right here: U.Ok. iPhone customers will quickly have the ability to retailer digital licenses and IDs.
Why add ID and driver’s license to Apple Pockets?
Your ID in Apple Pockets is safer than carrying round a bodily card that might be misplaced or might reveal private data to somebody you could not want to have it.
Digital IDs in Apple Pockets don’t show any private data aside from your title. If you happen to faucet the (i) button to get extra information, after which faucet Driver’s License Information, your iPhone requires a Face ID or Contact ID login to see issues like your deal with, date of beginning, peak, eye colour, ID quantity, and so forth.
Data is ONLY ever transferred by way of NFC (which begins a safe Bluetooth LE information connection), not by way of barcode or anything that may be simply copied. So, you by no means have at hand your telephone over to a police officer, TSA agent, or anybody else, and even in case you do, they’ll’t get your private information with out your authentication.
Utilizing your digital ID works lots like Apple Pay. You maintain your iPhone close to the reader (which can be one other iPhone), and a display screen will pop up saying precisely which data you’re going to share. Double-tap the aspect button to approve it, identical to approving a fee.
Presently, police businesses don’t settle for digital IDs as driver’s licenses, so that you’ll have to hold your bodily card with you if you drive. However the TSA has carried out readers at checkpoints in some airports (see a map right here), and a few age-restricted venues have carried out readers, too. What’s extra, apps that require age identification (like renting a automobile or ordering alcohol) can use the information saved in Pockets to offer proof of age.
What’s good about digital IDs is that they’ll switch solely the knowledge wanted, and nothing extra. A bouncer who needs to examine ID on the entrance to a venue would have a reader that reveals your ID photograph and easily confirms in case you’re over 21, for instance—they wouldn’t get your precise date of beginning, ID quantity, deal with, or another information they don’t want. The identical goes for apps that want age verification. With the Apple Pockets implementation, nothing is transferred with out your authentication, so not solely do you not have at hand your telephone over to anybody else, it wouldn’t even assist to take action.
Why gained’t Apple Pockets let me add my driving license?
In case you are within the U.S. it could be that your state doesn’t but help the characteristic.
In case your State is within the checklist above and you may’t add your license it could be due to an Apple Server outage (examine that right here). If that’s not the difficulty then Apple recommends contacting your “issuing authority”.
In case you are exterior the U.S. it’s dangerous information. The flexibility so as to add ID and driving licenses is probably going unavailable the place you’re. It’s not for Apple to implement the characteristic, however relatively a choice on a rustic stage. The U.Ok. authorities has introduced plans for a digital model of the Driving Licence and different international locations are prone to do the identical.