Many Illinois residents will be able to store their driver’s licenses and IDs on their cellphones starting Wednesday, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced.
Digital IDs will first be available for iPhones and Apple Watches via the Apple Wallet app, and the new mobile IDs “will soon expand” to Google and Samsung wallets for Android devices, Giannoulias said during a West Loop news conference Tuesday morning.
Many businesses and other entities — including Transportation Security Administration agents at the city’s airports and more than 250 others nationwide — will be equipped to accept and scan digital IDs. A mobile verifier app will also be available for those businesses on Wednesday.
“This is modernization that makes sense: innovation that protects your privacy, saves time and makes your life easier,” Giannoulias said during a flashy announcement that was kicked off with an Apple commercial for the new IDs.
Residents will still be required to carry physical IDs when driving. Law enforcement is not required to accept the digital form.
Residents with Apple devices can start adding Illinois state IDs starting at 7 a.m. by tapping the “plus” button in Apple Wallet. They’ll be prompted to take a picture of their physical ID, take a selfie and scan their head movements with the device’s camera. The state will verify submissions and then issue the digital IDs.
The free technology, expected to be available on Android devices in the next few months, allows businesses to scan IDs to verify without seeing all of a person’s information.
“If a bar or concert venue needs to confirm you’re over 21, that’s all they see. That’s a game changer for privacy in the digital age,” Giannoulias said.
Under the law, residents will continue to be required to have physical IDs. Mobile ones can serve as identification, but businesses aren’t required to accept them. And handing a phone to police to serve as a digital ID doesn’t give officers consent to search the device.
Twelve other states and Puerto Rico have introduced digital IDs.
