Mobile Driver License
Published July 28, 2024State of Florida Wants New Vendor for Mobile Driver License; Tells Floridians to Delete Current App
To date, Florida has been among the U.S. states leading the way toward phasing-out tangible driver license cards in favor of a mobile app.
The Sunshine State’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) has been offering the “Florida Smart ID” app as a “secure version of your driver license, which can be downloaded on your smart device when launched.”
Far from just a static photo of a tangible Florida driver license, the feature-rich Smart ID app displayed each user’s up-to-the-minute Florida driver license information in real-time, enabled the holder to specify only the particular license data that needed to be verified at any given time, and worked with a companion verifier app to make showing one’s Florida drivers license information contactless and more personally secure.
According to Florida’s DHSMV, “Florida Smart ID [provides] ease of mind that your personal information is secure and only those with your permission see it.”
But the Sunshine State’s mobile driver license (“mDL”) program has hit a speed bump. Around the second week of July 2024, industry and media sources began reporting that Florida did not renew its contract with the vendor that helped develop the Florida Smart ID, and that all current users should delete the app from their device(s). The DHSMV believes it could take until early 2025 for an updated Florida Smart ID app to be available.
What Florida notaries public need to know: The State of Florida no longer supports the Florida Smart ID. Now, and until an updated Florida Smart ID is officially launched by the DHSMV, persons presenting you with a Florida driver license as satisfactory evidence of identification may only present the official, tangible card issued by the DHSMV.
Watch your local news and ASN’s Member News postings for updated information.
Published June 25, 2024
New York Mobile ID (MiD)
New York State has announced the launch of its New York Mobile ID by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles.
The New York Mobile ID (MiD) is a digital version of New York’s traditional (tangible) state-issued driver license. It leverages the public’s prolific use of mobile devices through a downloadable application available via Google Play, or Apple’s App Store.
According to an announcement by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, anyone possessing a valid, New York State-issued driver license, learner permit or non-driver ID can download and begin using New York’s MiD. But because this technology is so new, the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) urges MiD users to always carry BOTH their MiD and their physical driver license, permit, or non-driver ID card in case they need identification where the MiD is not yet accepted.
Unlike examining a (traditional) tangible driver license, notaries and others examining a mobile driver license must rely on a “verifier” app and their own mobile devices—primarily smartphones—to assess a mobile driver license’s validity. That is, a technological process, not a mere visual examination, is necessary to verify the information presented in a mobile driver license.
New York State’s DMV provides helpful information about its MiD at https://dmv.ny.gov/id-card/mobile-id-license-permit-and-non-driver-id-holders.
Use of mobile driver licenses will continue to grow. More than half the states in the U.S., including District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are currently engaged in various stages of mobile driver license activity… from exploration of concept all the way to implementation.
With multiple states in pilot programs, notaries across the United States can expect to see a mobile driver license as their customer’s satisfactory evidence of identification, in the near future.
Key points for notaries: Because your potential customers can be from ANY state, be mindful that persons requesting a notarial act might be from a state that is issuing mobile driver licenses. Remember, to verify the genuineness of a mobile driver license and its data, you must use a verifier app that is compatible with the particular mobile driver license being presented. (The objective is for verifier apps to be interoperable across multiple mobile driver license technologies.) Lacking that, you must ask your customer(s) to present their tangible driver license, and hope that their state’s issuing agency, like New York’s DMV, is recommending that the tangible driver license should be carried in addition to the mobile driver license.
ASN will update this topic as we learn more about state pilots and adoptions of mobile driver licenses (mDLs).
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