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Note · · Digital ID · 2 min

Digital IDs in your wallet: what works, and what India is missing

A wallet ID shares only what’s asked. An app asks “over 18” and gets a yes or a no, not a birth date or a photocopy. In India, the first uses on Google Wallet are PVR INOX age checks, visa form autofill on Atlys, and verifying delivery and service staff. The new Aadhaar app is aimed at hotels, airports and hospitals, which today mostly keep a photocopy.

It already works in parts of the world. The US has 13 states and Puerto Rico in Apple Wallet, and Japan has the My Number Card. In India, Aadhaar has been in Google Wallet since April, and UIDAI has also linked it to Samsung Wallet and DigiLocker. Apple has announced nothing for India.

The technology isn’t the gap. These IDs are ISO 18013-5 mdocs: the issuer signs a digest of every field and ties the credential to a key on the phone, and the verifier checks both against an issuer it trusts. UIDAI already publishes Aadhaar in the same standard, with about 40 fields that can each be shared alone, including an over-18 flag. On the web, the Digital Credentials API already works in Chrome and in Safari on iOS 26.

What’s missing is the deal. UIDAI would have to become an issuer in Apple Wallet, and I can’t find any sign of talks. UIDAI did ask for its Aadhaar app to be preinstalled on phones, and the IT ministry said no in April. Apple’s other India partnership, Apple Pay with Axis Bank, launched without RuPay or UPI, so Apple’s India services are still small.

Sources