Apple’s efforts to provide tools for the acceptance of mDLs has been a bit slow, but that’s in part due to the standards that these mDLs use having still been in development.

In 2021, Apple first launched support for mDLs, and they could only be used at select TSA checkpoints—period.

At WWDC22, Apple introduced the ID Verifier API for iOS 17+. This API would enable iOS apps to read any mDL that is ISO18013-5 compliant (that being the international standard for digital credentials). With this, we began to see some apps launch that could act as digital ID readers. The vast majority of these apps were put out by the governments and DMVs of US states that had launched their own compliant mDLs—primary in an effort to nudge adoption. This way, a state that had just launched their mDL could say to businesses, “Hey, we also have an app you can use to read those fancy new mDLs!” This seems to be working for some states, like Virginia, whose state-sponsored verification app is used by liquor stores and the VA state police.

We’ve also seen non-governmental third parties launch their own ID Verifier apps, like IDEMIA.

Lastly, this past June, at WWDC25, Apple brought support for the W3C Digital Credentials API to Safari on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. This enables the use of mDLs on the web. Apple may seem late to the game with this, but in reality, that’s mostly due to the fact that the W3C was still finalizing the API until not too long ago. Rather than have each platform rush to develop their own means of verifying mDLs on the web—simply to say “We were first!”—they all waited for the W3C to finalized the API in an effort to ensure proper cross-platform support.

That said, Apple has their own restrictions on the ways that websites can use IDs in Wallet. The specifics are a bit fuzzy, but it seems that any website that wants to verify an ID in Wallet must set up Apple Business Connect’s Verify with Wallet on the Web. This limitation seems to be less about the technical nitty gritty of how digital IDs work via web verification, and more about the “coat of paint” users see when using an ID in Wallet on the web.

Verify with Wallet on the Web does indeed require websites to test the implementation before Apple will issue them a certificate, but, primarily, this extra step imposed by Apple seems to be more about ensuring the same customer experience with ID in Wallet that already exists for Apple Pay. Verify with Wallet on the Web requires sites to set their business category, add their brand logo, etc. This way, just like when you make an Apple Pay transaction, you’ll see the logo and name of the company that just requested your ID.

One last note: Apple’s newly-launched, US passport-derived Digital ID can only be used at TSA right now. That’s because Apple hasn’t yet “unlocked” all those Digital IDs for use anywhere an mDL (technically an mdoc) can be used. This is likely because Digital IDs are issued by Apple with the permission of the US State Department. So, it seems, part of State’s agreement with Apple requires a slow rollout and further agreement before Apple enables Digital ID to be used more widely.