I put my driver’s license in my phone. Here’s what the bartender, the TSA agent and the cop see, and the one catch nobody mentions.
Fourteen states plus Puerto Rico let you load your license into Apple Wallet, and your passport works in all 50. Before anything leaves your phone, you see exactly what the bouncer is asking for and tap yes or no. The TSA line moves faster. The traffic cop? Still wants the plastic, friend.
🤯 WOW! Hand a bartender your plastic license, and he gets everything on it, home address, birthday, height, donor status, and 10 seconds to photograph it. Tap your phone instead, and a list pops up first: Here’s what this business wants (usually your name, photo and date of birth).
📖 Read time: 2.5 minutes
ChatGPT/Kim Komando
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I don’t carry a physical wallet anymore. I have my credit cards in my Apple Wallet, along with my passport and driver’s license. Bad photo and all.
Why? Think about this. Every time you show your driver’s license, you hand over your home address. To a bouncer. To a hotel clerk. To the guy at the liquor store.
The phone version changes the deal. Before anything is shared, your screen lists exactly what the business is requesting. At most bars, that’s your name, photo and date of birth, so yes, they still see your birthday. What they don’t get is your address, your height, your donor status or a photo of the whole card. And you can decline to show screen data. Some places will ask only whether you’re over 21, and that’s all they get. The plastic card can’t do any of this.
🪪 Where this works
Apple Wallet: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, West Virginia and Puerto Rico. Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and North Carolina are next.
Not on the list? Here’s the part most people miss. Apple’s Digital ID uses your U.S. passport instead, and it works in every state. Same TSA lanes, same age checks.
Google Wallet has its own shorter list on Android. Check yours in the app.
To add it on iPhone: Open Apple Wallet, tap the plus sign, tap Driver’s License or ID Cards (or Digital ID for the passport version). Scan the front and back, shoot a short selfie video so your state can match your face, then wait for approval. Some states take minutes, some a day.
On Android: Google Wallet > Add to Wallet > ID card.
✈️ What it’s good for and what it isn’t
- TSA: More than 250 checkpoints take it. Tap the reader, your phone shows what TSA is asking for, you approve with Face ID, done. Your photo gets deleted after the check.
- Apps and stores: Age-restricted apps and a growing list of retailers accept it. Outside airports, plenty of places still shrug.
- The catch: During a traffic stop, police in most places still want the plastic card, and TSA also says carry it. So the phone version is a companion, not a replacement.
One more thing. Wallet blocks the “phone home” trick, where a state watches every place you flash your ID. The business that scans you, though, can keep what you shared. Only approve what the screen shows, and if a store asks for more than it needs, hand over the plastic and let them type it wrong like the old days.
My driver’s license says I’m an organ donor, but the joke’s on them. I own a piano.
🗣️ Text/post this stat: Show a plastic license, and the bouncer gets your home address and everything else on the card. Show the one in Apple Wallet, and your phone lists what he’s asking for first, then you decide. 14 states do it, and your passport works in all 50. GetKim.com
📩 Send this to someone who still hands their license to strangers at the hotel desk.
