Following the initial launch last year, Google Wallet now supports Driver’s Licenses and State IDs in three more states: Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia.
I understand the reason - it’s technically possible. But from practical side having your government id depend on your phone is risky. Phones are more likely to get stolen, phones can run out of battery…
Even more true for payment cards. If something happens to your phone - you’re fucked. No way to pay for anything and no way to contact anyone for help.
It’s obviously opt-in the state governments aren’t mandating that you use your phone. The people in these states would have to make the choice on their own. If my state allowed it I’d probably do it just to have a backup.
I haven’t run out of battery on my phone in years. On top of that, these are often stored in what’s called “power reserve”. That’s basically a small amount of battery allocated to the most important things. Even when your battery dies, you can still access things like ID, credit card, home key, and transit card, for around 5 hours.
So what happens if you drop your phone off a bridge? Same thing as if you drop your wallet off a bridge. Except that someone may find the wallet and sell your ID to be used for identity theft.
Phone thefts are way down. It’s really hard to get into a locked phone. And if accessing a credit card isn’t bait enough to steal a phone, an ID won’t be. Wallets DO get stolen though, and there’s no passkey protection on those. Getting new ID and credit cards take way longer than getting a new phone too.
Creepy.
Why is it creepy? Apple is trying to do this with iOS too. I’d love to not need to care my ID now that I barely even need a wallet anymore. Though now that I started using sling backpacks I am back to carrying a wallet more often lol
Right? As if the government doesn’t already have the info on my government-issued ID. As long as it’s stored encrypted and only on-device, then I don’t see what’s creepy.
I don’t see it as “creepy”, rather “unsafe”. Because a phone would be far more brittle and demanding than a simple card or booklet.
A phone is very replaceable. Just buy a new one and log in. No bureaucracy and 3 week wait period while they mail you a new one.
It also simply gives you another option for your ID. You can always use a card as a backup. If cards are the only option, losing your ID can be awful. Storing it in the phone can also store it in “power reserve” so you have access to it hours after your phone loses battery.
To add to the safety, if you lose your ID (especially your passport), it may get found, stolen, then sold. You’re now at risk of identity theft. If you lose your phone, the most someone could do is try to erase everything and sell it as new (that’s very difficult if it’s locked).
If your fear is handing your ID over to a cop vs handing your phone over to a cop, the way these digital IDs work is that the phone never leaves your hand. You tap your phone like you do now to pay. In fact, this can really just be equated to ApplePay or Android Pay. If that’s not creepy, then this isn’t.
If all of that somehow doesn’t sound safer than carrying a card, the card option will still be available and people can just use that.
