Engadget
They can reveal less information than a physical card, but privacy protections don’t necessarily follow your data after you share it.
Putting your driver's license in a digital wallet doesn't mean storing a picture of the plastic card on your phone. A standards-based mobile driver's license, or mDL, contains digitally signed information that lets a compatible reader verify it came from the issuing authority.
Handing over a physical driver's license exposes everything printed on it to the person checking it. If someone only needs to confirm that you're over 21, for example, they may also see your exact birth date, home address and license number. The standard supports broad age statements such as whether someone is over 21, allowing a compatible verifier to request that answer than seeing the person's complete date of birth.
Driver's license and ID data is encrypted, and you don't need to hand your phone to the verifier or unlock it.
Google says its US driver's licenses and state IDs are encrypted and stored locally on the phone rather than in your Google Account. Google Wallet also shows the asked for information before it's shared and needs you to authenticate.
The 2021 ISO/IEC 18013-5 standard supports two ways to provide a digital license.
The Center for Democracy & Technology calls this the "phone home" problem and argues that a digital ID shouldn't be able to report every use back to the agency that issued it.
Its current Mobile Driver License Implementation Guidelines, published in July 2026, continue that prohibition.
Apple users can erase a lost device through Find My including a driver's license or ID.