Year in Review: Mobile ID Gets a Catalyst

FindBiometrics’ annual Year in Review Survey always delivers insights into the biggest new trends in the biometrics industry. As responses to this year’s survey pour in, many will be looking for signs of excitement around a potentially important new application area for biometric tech: mobile ID.

Various vendors have been interested in the mobile ID concept for some time, especially in light of the selfie onboarding boom that has taken shape over the last few years; the idea of using face biometrics to remotely verify the identities of bank customers and the like has obvious application areas in more formal digital ID frameworks. But 2021 may have delivered a real catalyst for the development of mobile ID solutions in Apple’s announcement of its own mobile ID system that will allow iPhone users to generate virtual versions of official driver’s licenses and state IDs within their mobile devices.

Apple went on to confirm a few months later that its mobile ID system would use facial recognition in a selfie onboarding process designed to ensure that end users really are the ID card holders they claim to be. And given Apple’s confirmation that it was working with several states and the Transportation Security Administration to get its mobile solution accepted as official ID, the company’s use of biometric onboarding seemed especially important in delivering assurance of the ID’s reliability.

Apple isn’t the only pioneer on the mobile ID frontier, of course. IDEMIA, for example, revealed in September that it was working with the Mississippi Department of Safety on a mobile ID solution, adding the state to a roster of partners that already included Arizona, Delaware, and Oklahoma. And IDEMIA’s mobile ID solution is designed to regulate access through the biometric capabilities of their personal device, ensuring that the virtual driver’s license can only be accessed through a fingerprint or face scan.

These kinds of activities aren’t just happening in the US. The New South Wales government, for example, recently issued an Expression of Interest concerning the development of a mobile wallet system, and the Canadian province of Ontario has been working on a mobile ID system of its own. But what’s important about the high-profile efforts from IDEMIA and Apple is the core role that biometric security plays in their solutions. And bearing in mind Apple’s key role in prompting rivals to embrace mobile biometrics over the past several years, that company in particular could help to make mobile ID one of the most exciting emerging application areas for biometrics.

Maybe it already has. That’s certainly one of the questions we’re trying to answer in the FindBiometrics Year in Review Survey for 2021. The survey is still open and we would love your perspective, so please be sure to take a couple of minutes to fill it out below if you haven’t already done so – it will help everyone in the industry to understand the dynamism of biometric tech in 2021.

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December 21, 2021 – by Alex Perala