Georgia is latest state to integrate digital IDs with Apple

Georgia residents with Apple mobile devices can now add digital copies of their driver’s licenses to their phones and watches, the state’s Department of Driver Services announced last week.

With the announcement, Georgia is the fourth state to allow its residents to store their identifications on iOS devices, alongside airline boarding passes, credit cards and movie and sports tickets.

The digital IDs will be accepted at certain security checkpoints at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, state and federal officials said.

In a press release, Robert Spinden, the Transportation Security Administration’s security director for Georgia, said the digital IDs should speed travelers’ trips through security lanes “as their iPhones and Apple Watches can now act as both their IDs and boarding pass.”

Georgia officials have not said what other locations will accept the digital IDs, but have noted that they are not meant as full replacements for physical licenses.

While many states have been developing digital driver’s licenses on their own, Apple has been pushing into the space since 2021, when it announced a group of states that would make their identifications available to store in the Wallet app installed on iPhones and Apple Watches. Arizona was first to go live in April 2022, followed by Colorado and Maryland. (Georgia was among the initial batch of eight states working with Apple.)

After adding their licenses to Apple’s Wallet app, Georgia residents passing through a TSA lane can hold their phones or watches up to digital scanners. Relevant information is only displayed after the individual authorizes it through either Apple’s Face ID or Touch ID standards. Scanners have been installed at TSA checkpoints at airports in other states that’ve offered their licenses in Apple Wallet, including Phoenix Sky Harbor in Arizona and Baltimore-Washington International in Maryland. (Washington Reagan National in Northern Virginia also accepts the Maryland digital ID.)

Atlanta is the world’s busiest airport in terms of overall passenger traffic, with nearly 94 million travelers passing through in 2022. To start, the TSA is limiting digital ID scans to residents who are also enrolled in its PreCheck program.