Last week Apple launched a new feature for iOS 26.1 users: Digital ID in Apple Wallet. Here’s why the new feature could become a gift that keeps giving.
Digital ID could help Apple’s Wallet dream finally come true
All the way back in 2021, Apple announced plans for its Wallet app to house digital driver’s licenses and state IDs. Eight states were the first to pledge support for the feature.
Until recently though, the state rollout of digital driver’s licenses in Apple Wallet has been extremely slow.
But the new Digital ID feature in iOS 26.1 has started shifting the tides.
Rather than waiting on every state to roll out Wallet support for driver’s licenses, Apple now offers its own Digital ID that’s created using a US passport.
Like states’ mobile driver’s licenses, Digital ID is an important step toward modernizing the wallet.
After years of waiting for my state to support Wallet, I was excited to finally have another solution via Digital ID.
But what’s more exciting than having Digital ID on my iPhone right now is the bigger impact I expect the feature will make long-term. Digital ID is likely to accelerate:
Nationwide acceptance of digital forms of identification State rollouts of digital driver’s licenses in Wallet
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