Simply in time for the busy vacation journey season, Apple has rolled out a brand new iOS 26 characteristic that lets customers retailer their U.S. passport on their iPhone. The digitization of the passport is one thing tech-savvy vacationers have longed for, particularly as different as soon as physical-only gadgets which have crowded our pockets, like bank cards, driver’s licenses, and even automobile keys, have made their approach onto the iPhone.
However up to now there are limitations to what you are able to do together with your digitized passport, which Apple dubs your “Digital ID.” Right here’s what you should find out about importing your passport to your iPhone and what you’ll be able to—and might’t—use it for as soon as it’s there.
The best way to add your passport to your iPhone
Including your U.S. passport to your iPhone is comparatively simple—offered your iPhone and your passport meet some necessities.
So far as your iPhone goes, it should be an iPhone 11 or later; it should be operating iOS 26.1 or later; and its area should be set to the USA. You’ll additionally want Face ID or Contact ID turned on, in addition to Bluetooth. Lastly, your Apple Account will need to have two-factor authentication enabled.
So far as your passport is anxious, it should be a United States passport, and it should not be expired.
In case your iPhone and passport meet these necessities, you’ll be able to add your passport to your iPhone. Right here’s how:
- Open the Pockets app.
- Faucet the + button.
- Faucet Driver’s License and ID Playing cards.
- Faucet Digital ID.
- Faucet “Add to iPhone and Apple Watch” or “Add to iPhone Solely.”
- Scan the picture web page of your U.S. passport when prompted.
- Use your iPhone to scan the chip on the within again cowl of your passport when prompted.
- Take a stay picture of your face when prompted and comply with the facial motion directions that seem on the display.
When you’ve gone by the steps above, Apple will confirm the small print out of your scanned passport and your facial actions, and your iPhone will then ship you a notification when your passport data, contained in what Apple calls your “Digital ID,” is accessible within the Pockets app.
Verification is normally finished inside a couple of minutes.
What data does your Digital ID maintain?
The brand new Digital ID in your iPhone incorporates a lot of the knowledge in your passport. This contains your:
- Authorized title
- Date of start
- Age
- Intercourse
- Passport quantity
- Passport situation date
- Passport expiration date
When you open the Pockets app, faucet your Digital ID, then faucet the “i” button, you’ll even be capable to see your passport picture on the “Bodily Passport Data” display.
You’ll be able to’t use your digital passport all over the place
The very first thing many individuals are more likely to suppose once they hear they will now add their U.S. passport to their iPhone is, Nice! I don’t want to hold my bodily passport with me anymore.
Sadly, this isn’t true.
Your passport’s data, saved in your new Digital ID card in iOS 26’s Pockets app, can be utilized as an identification doc to get by some airport checkpoints—however the key phrase is some.
Apple says its new Digital ID is at the moment “in beta,” and through that beta stage it may be used at Transportation Safety Administration checkpoints in “greater than 250 airports within the U.S. for in-person identification verification throughout home journey.”
However whereas your new Digital ID will get you previous TSA safety checkpoints at these 250-plus areas, it can’t be used for worldwide journey or at border crossings.
“Digital ID provides extra folks a option to create and current an ID in Apple pockets even when they don’t have a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID,” Apple says. “Digital ID is just not a substitute for a bodily passport, and can’t be used for worldwide journey and border crossing in lieu of a U.S. passport.”
Can I depend on my digitized passport for home journey?
Even for those who’re flying domestically, it’s nonetheless sensible to hold alternate acceptable types of ID that may get you thru a TSA checkpoint. This contains your REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or your precise bodily U.S. passport, which can also be REAL ID-compliant.
Apple says you should utilize your newly digitized passport in your iPhone “at TSA checkpoints at greater than 250 airports within the U.S.,” however the firm was unable to supply me with an inventory of those airports.
An Apple spokesperson instructed me that almost all main U.S. airports, together with John F. Kennedy Worldwide (JFK) and San Francisco Worldwide (SFO), settle for Digital ID. Nevertheless, for the reason that TSA is the authority relating to the place Digital ID is accepted, Apple directed me to the federal government company for an inventory of airports that acknowledge the brand new ID. (As of this writing, the TSA has not but responded to my inquiry.)
You can retailer your U.S. passport in your iPhone. However ought to you?
One concern people might have is whether or not placing their passport on their iPhone is a sensible transfer from a privateness and safety standpoint.
Apple says the Digital ID in your iPhone is encrypted, and since your passport’s data is locked behind Face ID or Contact ID, even when somebody had entry to your cellphone, they couldn’t entry your passport data.
Those that fear that utilizing a Digital ID will imply they’ll want handy their iPhone over to TSA workers on the airport can relaxation straightforward, too. If you wish to use your Digital ID at a TSA checkpoint, you received’t should unlock your iPhone or hand the system over to TSA workers.
As an alternative, you’ll current your Digital ID very similar to you do a bank card you employ with Apple Pay: You’ll place your cellphone close to a TSA reader, and your iPhone will provide you with a warning to the passport data it should share. Additional, it should share this data solely together with your authorization, which you give by double-clicking the iPhone’s aspect button and scanning your biometrics utilizing the iPhone’s Face or Contact ID.
By permitting customers so as to add their passport data to their iPhone, Apple has made the upcoming vacation journey season a little bit extra handy for a lot of with home flights to catch. Too unhealthy that’s likely to be the only convenient thing about U.S. air journey within the weeks forward.
