Georgia is now the fourth U.S. state to support digital driver’s licenses and IDs stored in the Wallet app on iPhone or Apple Watch. The major advantage is speeding up the process of moving through security checkpoints at airports.
It’s another step in Apple’s goal of replacing physical wallets with iPhone.
Put your digital driver’s license in Apple Wallet if you’re lucky
The day when an iPhone can completely replace an old-fashioned wallet is still years away, but it’s a goal Apple is working toward. iOS handsets can store credit cards, loyalty cards, tickets and travel passes. And a fortunate few can add their driver’s license to the list.
It’s limited because, although Apple launched its digital ID initiative back in 2021, adoption is moving slowly. Still, Arizona Maryland and Colorado came on board in 2022.
And the party grew on Thursday. “Now you can add your Georgia driver’s license or state ID to Apple Wallet on iPhone and Apple Watch,” promised the Georgia Department of Driver Services.
Despite Thursday’s announcement, it’s not yet actually possible to add a Georgia Georgia driver’s license to Wallet — Cult of Mac tests found that the state is not currently an option on Apple devices. But clearly that’s going to change soon.
It’s a backup
Despite this development, Georgia residents shouldn’t stick their current driver’s license in a drawer. The state DDS says on its website that the digital version “serves as a companion to your physical, plastic driver license/identification card — it is not yet a replacement of the physical card, and you must continue to carry your physical driver license/identification card with you.” Most importantly, the agency warns, “law enforcement does not accept Georgia Digital ID on iPhone and Apple Watch.”
The main advantage is for travelers. Digital IDs are accepted at TSA checkpoints at airports, including Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
And the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that, at this point, it’s only usable by those in the TSA PreCheck program who go through the South security checkpoint at Hartsfield-Jackson, as that’s the only place with the necessary device readers.
Ed Hardy has been writing full-time about tech for 25 years, and using it for much longer than that. His intro to Apple was a Macintosh Classic II (which he still has), but now he uses a 13-inch iPad Pro as his primary computer. He’s written for NotebookReview, TabletPCReview, and Brighthand, as well as other sites.
