Apple delays launch of driver's licenses on iPhones: Talking Tech podcast

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Hey there, listeners. It's Brett Molina. Welcome back to Talking Tech. So remember we talked about the Apple feature that was coming to the Wallet app, where it would allow iPhone owners to keep their driver's license or their ID card on their smartphone. Turns out that feature's going to get delayed. According to the website for iOS 15, Apple notes that the ability to add ID cards to its Wallet app for iPhones will launch in early 2022. You'll recall when the feature was introduced earlier this year during the company's worldwide developers conference, Apple revealed the feature would launch later this year. In September, Apple revealed the first eight states that would support the Wallet ID feature. They said they would first debut in Arizona and Georgia, and then it would follow by Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah.

Basically the way it works is you add your driver's license or your identification card to the Wallet app, as you would anything else, like a Starbucks card or a card for Apple Pay. It would live in your Wallet. The goal of it was to use it for travel. So say you were at the airport and you were at a security checkpoint. You were able to quickly pull up your Wallet, pull up your ID. It has a QR code, and you could go through security checkpoints and lanes more quickly in that form. It's one of several features that Apple has planned for the Wallet app on iPhones. Among them, you can hold digital house keys. You can have the keys to your car there. You can even have workplace badges to enter buildings. These are all features that are expected and that Apple had planned to release within the next year or so.

I still kind of stand by where I was originally. If you'll recall, I recorded a podcast a while back about how I wasn't ready to use the Apple wallet for my ID. I feel like I already have a ton of information on my iPhone. It just feels like one more important piece of information that Apple now has. And I just wasn't ready for it. I'm not ready for it. And I understand that there are security measures you can take. Say you lose your phone, you can do a remote wipe, or you can do things to erase your phone, if say you lose it and you have all that information there. I think it's just more of a comfort level for me. I am not ready to give that much personal info to Apple. I just feel like that's a lot. And frankly, this goes for any tech company. It's not just Apple. Just being more guarded with the data that you share there. And it's something I'm not really ready for yet.

The other issue I wonder about too, is how this works legally and things like that. When you have a driver's license on your phone, how does that all play out in legal purposes? Apple's presented a case where it's great for travel and things like that. How does use of this ID or driver's license on your phone expand beyond that? That's what's going to be interesting to hear about as these licenses roll out. Again, Apple said that they're planning to launch this feature early next year, and it sounds like those handful of states they talked about in September will be among the first to get that.

Listeners, let's hear from you. Do you have any comments, questions, or show ideas? Any tech problems you want us to try to address? You can find me on Twitter at BrettMolina23. Please don't forget to subscribe and rate us or leave a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, anywhere you get your podcast. And don't forget to subscribe to the Talking Tech newsletter. It comes out every Thursday. Visit newsletters.USAtoday.com to subscribe.

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