Google announced on Tuesday that digital IDs are coming to more states and services in Google Wallet. The company also shared that Wallet is getting a way to privately verify age and that the app is expanding to 50 more countries.
Residents in Arkansas, Montana, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia will soon be able to save their U.S. government-issued digital IDs to Google Wallet. Plus, people in Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and New Mexico will be able to use their mobile IDs at the DMV.
As the REAL ID deadline of May 7, 2025, approaches, Google notes that you can use an ID Pass created from your U.S. passport to pass through TSA security for domestic travel at supported airports, even if you don’t have a REAL ID driver’s license or state-issued ID. However, your ID pass isn’t a replacement for your physical ID, so you should still keep that with you.
Users will also soon be able to use their digital ID to recover Amazon accounts, access online health services with CVS and MyChart by Epic, verify profiles on platforms like Uber, and more.
In addition, Google is rolling out the ability for residents in the U.K. to create digital ID passes with their U.K. passports and securely store them in Google Wallet.
As verification is required across many websites and services, Google says it wanted to create a verification system that not only verifies users’ ages but also protects their privacy throughout the process. To achieve this, Google is integrating zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology into Google Wallet.
This integration will allow Google to provide fast age verification across mobile devices, apps, and websites that use its digital credential API. The company will use ZKP in other Google products and partner with apps like Bumble, which will use digital IDs from Google Wallet to verify user identity and ZKP to verify age. Google will also open source its ZKP technology to other wallets and online services.
As for Wallet’s expansion to 50 more countries, Google didn’t provide a list of the specific countries. TechCrunch reached out to learn more.
