Apple desires your pockets to remain in your pocket. The corporate mentioned seven extra US states plan to let residents retailer a driver’s license on an iPhone or Apple Watch, increasing its gradual however regular push into digital identification.
Connecticut, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Utah, Arkansas, and Virginia have signed on, Apple mentioned, although no launch dates have been shared. Digital driver’s licenses in Apple Pockets are already reside in 13 states and Puerto Rico. They can be utilized at choose Transportation Safety Administration checkpoints, companies, and apps.
For now, Apple confused that bodily IDs are nonetheless required in most conditions, together with interactions with regulation enforcement.
Extra states signal on to Apple Pockets IDs
Apple confirmed the upcoming states after steadily increasing Apple Pockets’s driver’s licenses because the function debuted in Arizona in 2022. MacRumors reported that Illinois was the newest state to go reside in late 2025.
The corporate’s adoption depends upon coordination with state motorized vehicle companies and native regulatory approval. Every collaborating state determines when and the way the function turns into accessible to residents.
At present supported states embrace California, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Hawaii, and Maryland, amongst others. In line with Apple’s help documentation, residents can add a license or state ID by means of the Pockets app after finishing identification verification steps that embrace doc scanning and biometric checks.
How Apple Pockets IDs are used at the moment
Apple Pockets IDs are accepted at Transportation Safety Administration checkpoints at greater than 250 US airports for home journey. At collaborating airports, vacationers can current an iPhone or Apple Watch as an alternative of a bodily ID, although availability varies by location. Vacationers are suggested to confer with TSA signage to substantiate whether or not the function is on the market.
Apple’s help web page additionally famous that digital IDs in Pockets depend on device-level safety features akin to Face ID or Contact ID, encrypted storage, and person content material earlier than data is shared. Neither Apple nor the issuing authority can see when or the place a digital ID is used.
“To make use of your license or ID in your Apple Watch at a TSA checkpoint, you could unlock your iPhone utilizing the related Face ID or Contact ID every time that you just put in your Apple Watch,” Apple wrote.
Nonetheless, regardless of the broader airport use, Apple Pockets IDs usually are not accepted by regulation enforcement and don’t change bodily identification for many functions.
Digital passport choice expands entry
For residents in states that don’t but help Pockets IDs, Apple permits customers to create a Digital ID utilizing a US passport. The choice can be utilized on the similar collaborating TSA checkpoints for home journey however can’t be used for worldwide journey or as a passport substitute.
Apple mentioned the passport-based Digital ID requires iOS 26.1 or watchOS 26.1 or later.
The corporate additionally positioned the function as a strategy to lengthen entry to cellular identification instruments whereas state driver’s license applications proceed to roll out. As extra states consider digital credentials, Apple’s enlargement highlights each rising curiosity in cellular identification and the regulatory warning that continues to form adoption.
Study extra about Apple’s pressing iOS updates, together with iOS 12.5.8 for older iPhones.
