iPhone users will be able to scan German ID cards, passports, and more when iOS 13 rolls out this fall, according to local authorities.
The functionality will allow digital versions of those documents to be carried on an iOS device so that they are always accessible. Recent reports have confirmed users in Japan will be able to do the same with national ID cards.
Secure messaging app Telegram now lets you save copies of your most important documents so that you always have them with you.
Telegram Passport can hold your driving license, passport, other forms of ID, and more — and promises to protect them with end-to-end encryption. You can then use those documents to prove who you are when logging into other services.
Apple’s rivals are already producing smartphones with NFC capabilities, and although NFC is yet to really take off, it’s still capable of some pretty incredible things that we all want from our smartphones. However, there has been some debate about whether or not Apple will adopt the feature, or create an alternative of its own — possibly utilizing Bluetooth.
Since the company unveiled Passbook in iOS 6, that debate has hit an all-time high. Passbook would work wonderfully with NFC, and would allow us to ditch physical cards and tickets in favor of a “contactless” system in which we just hold our devices up to a sensor. And according to a newly granted Apple patent for “iTravel,” it appears the Cupertino company is just as excited about that prospect as we are.
Following our report about Martin Reisch earlier today — the Canadian who was reportedly allowed into the United States with a photograph of his passport on his iPad — U.S. customs have contacted us to clarify the situation.
Jenny L. Burke, a Field Branch Chief with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, says that the claim Reisch was admitted into the U.S. using solely an image of his passport on his iPad is “categorically false,” and that Reisch had to provide more than just a photo to get into the country.
Meet Martin Reisch, a slightly forgetful Canadian who recently took a trip to the United States only to find shortly before landing that he had forgotten his passport. Fortunately for him, that was the day U.S. customs were allowing people into the country armed only with a photograph of their passport on their iPad. Or so he claims.
