Login.gov Now Accepts Mobile Driver's Licences, but Only About 20 States Issue Them and Apple Wallet Isn't Supported Yet

In August 2026 Login.gov, the federal sign-in service run by GSA, began accepting mobile driver’s licences to prove identity. Users with a state ID in Google Wallet or Samsung Wallet can now verify themselves without photographing a plastic card and taking a selfie. Apple Wallet isn’t supported yet. The feature is optional, and the original target was March 2026.

On 30 September GSA’s identity proofing contractor, Xcelerate Solutions, with Socure as subcontractor, said its $163 million, five-year order now supports the mobile licence flow.

The state side

The federal plumbing depends on states issuing digital licences, and most don’t yet. As of March 2026, 20 states and one territory offered mobile driver’s licences, covering about 71.5 million drivers, according to figures cited by Government Executive. Kentucky launched in January.

The rollout is uneven. Apple Wallet supports state IDs in 14 states and Puerto Rico, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland and Ohio. California has its own DMV wallet as well as Apple, Google and Samsung, with about 1.7 million active mobile licences. North Carolina plans to launch in December. Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia are working on it.

The federal side

The Transportation Security Administration accepts mobile IDs at airport checkpoints under a waiver rule that took effect in November 2024. It let federal agencies keep accepting them after REAL ID enforcement began in May 2025, with waivers lasting three years. A second rule setting full requirements for REAL ID-compliant mobile licences is still to come.

The standards are international: ISO 18013-5 for mobile licences, plus guidelines from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and NIST’s digital identity guidelines. In March NIST published draft guidance on banks using mobile licences to verify customers, and it plans a demonstration with Login.gov.

The push comes from an OMB order requiring agencies to move onto Login.gov, covered in our post on digital ID. The US has no national ID card, so state licences, issued by 50 states and several territories, serve as the base credential. Mobile versions are the closest thing to a national digital ID the US is likely to get.

Privacy, state by state

With no federal law on digital IDs, states are writing the privacy rules. New Jersey’s 2025 law is the most detailed: no one can be required to hand over their phone to show a digital ID, including to police, and showing one doesn’t mean consent to search the phone. It also limits what data can be collected and sold. Civil liberties groups warn that digital IDs shouldn’t “phone home” to the issuer each time they’re used, which would let states track where people show ID.

What to watch

Apple Wallet support at Login.gov, TSA’s second rule, and how many states launch next year. For agencies, mobile licences could cut the cost and failure rate of identity checks, which have been a weak point in fraud prevention. For states, issuing them is now part of how residents reach federal services.