Apple Wallet’s slow rollout of digital driver’s licenses in the US keeps progressing. But across the pond, the UK government just announced its own solution for digital IDs.
Pilot for UK driving IDs will arrive later in 2025
Today a new announcement on gov.uk outlines an upcoming app designed to hold government documents, including a driving licence.
From the announcement:
Brits will be given the option to use a digital version of their driver’s licence from their phone to easily prove their age when buying age restricted items online and in person – as well as proving their right to drive.
A mobile driver’s licence will be one of the first digital documents in a GOV.UK Wallet launched later this year and will ultimately allow people to prove their age from their phone in shops or online, the Science Secretary Peter Kyle announced today.
It sounds like the rollout of driving IDs will start as a pilot some time later in 2025.
Support for the full array of soon-to-be digitized government documents will have a deadline of end of year 2027. By then, “all government services will have to offer a digital alternative alongside paper or card credentials.”
Unfortunately, while the announcement mentions the new app being available on iOS and Android, there’s no word at all of Apple Wallet integration.
Hopefully, the digital IDs provided by the UK’s new app will be able to easily be added to Wallet too. But there’s currently no indication that will be the case.
Are you excited by the UK’s news? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.
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