Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announces that Illinois drivers will be able to access their IDs via their Apple wallet at a Nov. 18, 2025, event. (Screenshot from Illinois.gov)
Article Summary
- Illinois residents can now add their driver’s licenses and IDs to Apple Wallet, with Google and Samsung wallet support coming soon.
- This will allow people to use a digital license or ID to enter a bar, at an airport checkpoint and in other situations. They are optional and supplement, not replace, physical cards
- Law enforcement cannot search devices via digital ID, and the IDs will be accepted at over 250 airports nationwide, including Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway.
This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.
CHICAGO — Illinois driver’s licenses and identification cards will officially enter the digital realm this week.
Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced Tuesday that people will now have the option to add their Illinois-issued licenses and IDs to the digital wallets on their cellphones. The long-awaited technological advancement will allow digital IDs to be used to enter a bar or at an airport checkpoint, among other situations.
The option will be available in Apple Wallet starting Wednesday with plans to expand the program to Google and Samsung wallets soon, Giannoulias said, calling it “a gamechanger.”
“Your ID now lives securely in the same place that you already tap to pay for groceries, present a boarding pass for a flight or enter a concert — all protected by the same cutting-edge privacy and encryption technology that you trust every day on the devices that you already love,” Giannoulias said.
The rollout comes a year-and-a-half after state lawmakers passed and Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation authorizing Giannoulias’ office to move forward with the technology.
Read more: Pritzker signs law allowing digital driver’s licenses among hundreds of other bills
Giannoulias announced in January that his office had begun working with Apple in hopes of having the feature ready by the end of this year.
Illinois is now among a dozen states, including Maryland, Missouri and Iowa, that offer driver’s licenses and IDs in digital wallets.
The digital cards are “in addition to, and not instead of” a physical ID under the law, which means that public agencies and private entities can accept electronic IDs in place of physical ones but don’t have to. And people will still have to carry their physical license or ID with them even if they opt to use the digital version.
How to set up digital IDs
To add to their phones, people will have to scan their physical driver’s license or ID and take a selfie, which will be provided to the state for verification. They will also be prompted to complete a series of facial and head movements during the setup process. Authentication via facial or touch ID will be required before information is shared.
The Secretary of State’s office is also launching a free verifier app for businesses to allow them to check proof of age for restrictive purchases like alcohol. But instead of presenting the entire ID, it will allow for the display of only pertinent information, such as age, while shielding what is deemed immaterial.
“This technology gives us a smarter, faster way to verify age at concessions, helping us reduce lines and keep fans focused on what they came for: the show,” Lucca Serra, director of marketing at Soldier Field, said.
The presentation of a digital license to a law enforcement officer does not give them consent to search the device. Giannoulias said the mobile ID will be permitted for use at TSA checkpoints at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports, Lambert Airport in St. Louis and more than 250 airports nationwide.
Illinois residents can go to http://www.ilsos.gov/mobile for a step-by-step guide on how to add their ID to their digital wallet.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
