In September of last year, California introduced a new initiative featuring digital driver’s licenses. Despite the program’s promising start, its adoption has been relatively limited, with only about half a million users out of the state’s large population utilizing the digital licenses. This figure, while significant compared to other states with similar digital license offerings, represents a mere 2% of California’s licensed drivers. The slow uptake is largely attributed to the inconvenience of accessing these digital licenses, as they currently require a specific app provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

However, Governor Gavin Newsom made a recent announcement of an upgrade coming to this digital driver’s license program that aims to improve accessibility and user experience.

The widely anticipated update will enable digital licenses to be stored in widely used digital wallets such as Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. This change is expected to significantly boost the use of online licenses, as it will allow users to keep their digital driver’s licenses in the same app they use for other financial and identification purposes.

Currently in order to use the digital ID card, users need to download and utilize the DMV’s dedicated wallet app, which serves solely to store the digital driver’s license. This limited use has led to a lack of interest from potential users who find it annoying and upsetting to have to engage in a single use app in this way. The anticipated integration with Apple and Google Wallets is expected to make the digital driver’s license more appealing and accessible, potentially increasing the number of users significantly.

However, the full implementation of this feature hinges on software updates from Apple and Google.

Both companies must align their wallet apps with the DMV’s standards before the digital driver’s licenses can be seamlessly accessible on the digital wallets. While these updates are in progress, no definitive timeline has been provided for their completion. Once these updates are in place, the digital driver’s license will be more readily available to users, provided that they also have compatible devices.

One remaining issue that could still restrict the use of the digital card from reaching its full potential is the limited acceptance of digital driver’s licenses. Currently, only three airports: Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, and San José Mineta Airport—accept this form of identification through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). However, TSA has announced plans to expand acceptance to all California airports by the end of the year. Additionally, some businesses, primarily in Los Angeles and Sacramento, are beginning to accept digital driver’s licenses, though the use is still quite limited.