The most consequential change to what you carry this year isn''t a new bag or a slimmer wallet. It''s that four more states are about to let you leave the plastic at home — sometimes.
What just changed
Apple Wallet''s driver''s licence and state ID support is expanding to North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia. That takes the total to 18 states plus Puerto Rico.
The existing roster: Arizona, Maryland, Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Hawaii, California, Iowa, Illinois, Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia and Arkansas. It started in March 2022 and has crawled along at roughly four states a year.
Where the ID lives depends on your state — Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, or a state-run app. North Carolina shows how uneven this gets: residents get a digital ID through a new NC Wallet app in December, with Apple, Google and Samsung Wallet support not arriving until early 2027.
Where it actually works
Airports are the mature case. A mobile driver''s licence or digital ID in a phone wallet or approved app works at more than 250 TSA checkpoints, which covers most trips most people take.
Past the security line, acceptance thins out fast. Some businesses, venues, apps and websites take digital IDs. Plenty don''t, and the bar you walked into last night almost certainly doesn''t.
What it means for what you carry
Not the wallet-free future the press releases suggest. Not yet.
The honest read: digital ID removes the need to take your wallet out, not the need to bring it. You can get through an airport on your phone alone. You can''t confidently rent a car, get pulled over or buy a drink in an unfamiliar town and expect a phone to do the job.
So the practical 2026 setup goes like this. Set the digital ID up if your state supports it — it''s genuinely quicker at security, and it keeps your licence from riding loose in a pocket. Keep the physical card in your bag instead of your hand. And accept that for a few more years you''re carrying both, phone as convenience, plastic as backup.
The part worth thinking about
There''s a real trade here, and it isn''t just battery anxiety.
Showing a digital ID means unlocking your phone in front of somebody who controls whether you get to keep walking. The systems are built to share only the attribute being asked for — your age, whether the licence is valid — rather than the whole document, which is a genuine privacy improvement over handing a stranger a card with your home address printed on it. But the exchange still puts your unlocked phone in someone else''s line of sight, and that''s a different kind of exposure than passing over plastic.
Better to decide how you feel about that now than while standing in the queue.
The short version
Eighteen states plus Puerto Rico, more than 250 TSA checkpoints, and a rollout that varies by state and by wallet. Set it up if you can. Keep the card anyway. Your phone hasn''t replaced your licence — it''s just made it easier to reach.
Image: Tranmautritam, via Pexels
