New UK ID app yet again fumbles tech that Apple has already perfected
In a repeat of how it fumbled its costly and entirely failed COVID app, the UK is ignoring Apple Wallet and will instead develop its own digital wallet for documents such as driving licences.

UK Parliament
The move to digital driving licences, passports, and so on seems so inevitable that Apple has been working on it for years. So it's no surprise that the UK is following the US's lead and implementing the same idea, yet it's not the surprise it should be that the country is going it alone.
In the official announcement, the UK government says that it is simplifying digital documents and in doing so to save the equivalent of $55 billion. The UK's economy has yet to recover from 14 years of a Conservative government that split the country from the EU, so saving money is clearly a priority.
It's just that the now Labour government could save quite a bit more by implementing Apple's existing system instead. Plus Google's Android equivalent, which also already exists.
Rather than that, though, the claim is that "Brits will be given the option to use a digital version of their driver's licence," and it will be in a new "GOV.UK Wallet" app. GOV.UK is the current website for all government issues such as paying tax.
It is important to note that this government is not the same one that lost COVID death statistics because it put them in columns in Excel instead of rows. It's also not the one that allegedly decided to develop its own COVID app in order to later harvest and sell data, but couldn't even get it to work.
So it's not the same government that spent $12.25 million developing that app before giving in and switching to Apple and Google's solution. And it's not the same government whose leader at the time, Boris Johnson, stood up in Parliament and said that there was no working COVID app "anywhere in the world so far."
He said that publicly at a point when countless US States and countries had long implemented Apple and Google's system. On that same day, Johnson could have downloaded a complete app because Germany made its version open-source.
So the UK has been through a bad patch with technology, and it should be unfair to assume it's going to do so again. But the announcement of developing its own app to save money, instead of using the existing free ones is not promising.
And speaking of promises, the UK government's new app "will be launched later this year." Don't bet on it -- a 2020 study found that no UK government IT projects were even "highly likely" to be delivered on time.
In fairness, self-employed UK residents are using the GOV.UK website to pay their tax bills in January 2025, though. For first-time users, the sign-on is a complex mishmash of QR codes, mobile apps, and online, but it's quick and straightforward for existing users.
It's also of course a highly complex job developing a digital wallet app that's sufficiently easy to use yet secure. But then, that's another reason to use the tried and tested solutions from Apple and Google.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Seriously despite the politically leaning article you are completely right - why reinvent the wheel and require yet another app to be installed and managed?
You always take to gimme when trying to go about on your own so long as the gimme's are proven solutions. Passing on them shows complete fiscal irresponsibility.
I’d expect some kind of analysis in this way as what the motivation for governments is not to use Apple’s solution…
But:
1. Whatever the implementation, there will be a huge amount of public scepticism and resistance in the UK about using any digital ID. People in the UK are extremely against and anxious about being forced into a cashless/digital only society. Occasionally a politician will propose the idea of a national identity card and they get destroyed. This will feel like a road to this, so will be hated.
2. Personally I agree Governments should only be deploying digital IDs on platforms they have absolute control of. Yes it will be garbage compared to Apple & Google's implementation, but I don't trust Apple/Google/Microsoft at all and I think we need to be careful as a society how reliant we become on them.
And even if their current mob’s focus is benign, who is to say the next one, or the one after is? These apps are a lot, lot more than just a way to store your driver’s licence.
Many governments around the world are doing their own versions. With the same CF of building and implementation. Where I am it has taken five years and it still has a heap of problems. And the sign up process is, well difficult and glacial. And you have to link to a lot of ID. Lots and lots of ID (much much more than a driver’s licence) which as a result of this app gets all brought together quite handily for out lords and masters.
How they go about it can vary and the UK does have a poor reputation for many things 'digital'.
Getting my own Gov.UK.ID wasn't the most streamlined process.
That said, the complexity involved is much higher than most people assume and involves more than a wallet system.
Apple has a long history of moving from one technology to another quickly. That brings a level of agility that governments will never enjoy.
Most, if not all governments, simply cannot do that. Critical systems and infrastructure require resolving one headache after another. It's basically a non-stop line of headaches with the need of backwards compatibility and interoperability of systems that were often created with other goals in mind.
I have some experience with specific systems that, in their day (the eighties), were just massive right from the outset. For example, BRoCS and IRIS within the UK government and my brother was involved in a multi-billion pound conversion project for the UK government too.
Apple does not have a track record with critical infrastructure and having a secure enclave TEE and Digital Wallet is just a tiny part of what is needed.
With government, inevitably, comes mismanagement, or corruption, or policy changes, or budget cutbacks and a whole host of other potential issues. That is the nature of government. Not just the UK government. It also happens in the private sector.
Just look at Apple during the Copland years and that was just a company with a small userbase providing a limited set of services. Today, Apple is far more of a CE company.
Yes. It now has to provide certain 'digital' features by law and adhere to specific regulations where it operates but its responsibility is limited too.
Lack of resources can also hinder projects (again, just like at companies like Apple, Alphabet, Meta etc).
Somehow the UK 'lost' one of my international payments. Finding it wasn't an issue because it was a digital transfer but I've been told it could around 56 weeks for it to be allocated correctly. 56 weeks is crazy.
Not using critical infrastructure and having less responsibility and having the advantage of moving quickly from one technology to another, makes companies agile first movers and we've seen where first mover status can lead us. It is not always good for anyone else.
No government is going to expose itself to that. They can collaborate, but wanting to provide their own solution is always going to be the preferred option.
The EU is currently testing its own Digital Wallets systems in four largescale pilots. Each member state will have at least one option to use. Roll out is scheduled for next year although I suspect there will be delays. It is government after all.
The EU is also developing its own cloud fabric solutions to ensure independence from outside influence. The same is happening with the EU processor initiative.
Those solutions are both public/private endeavours. I don't know how the UK is approaching the issue but being alone (post Brexit) does not make things easier.
In spite of all the potential negatives the desire to produce a homegrown solution is completely understandable.
The HORROR!
Whilst most of the responses criticise - in this case the UK Government over their miserably bad (in)ability to do IT projects the reality is that the UK Government itself generally does not do these projects but outsources them to various IT consultancy firms or IT software firms. Most of these go to big and appallingly bad firms. They might send an initial senior and (hopefully) competent person to represent them during the bidding process but by reputation once they win it they then delegate it to an infinite number of monkeys. (If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.)
Worse they will stick to the absolutely literal interpretation of the contract and will not correct obvious errors in the specification because they know once it goes wrong they will get even more business fixing these mistakes. Even when they deliver something that (mostly) works it is generally ugly as sin and horribly unfriendly and from a user perspective used to modern, simple, fast and friendly Internet systems - primitive beyond belief.
Government departments at least in the UK also seem stuck in the 20th or even 19th century. HMRC for example still insist all evidence be submitted in paper form by post. This is despite the fact that financial service institutions - not generally regarded as being beacons of modern IT, all have moved to emailing PDFs to you or at least making them available to download rather than posting paper documents to you. The NHS still uses Windows XP and fax machines! Not exclusively of course but these should all have been removed decades ago. The UK telecoms companies are rapidly discontinuing all ye olde analogue telephonic lines - you therefore cannot get a new analogue line so presumably they are using ATA - Analogue Terminal Adapters to keep their dinosaur thermal roll fax machines going. (Shudder!)
So, yes the UK Government is stupid to do this both because they are very, very bad at it, and also because it is reinventing the wheel and having multiple wallet apps is crazy. I would not regard the US as being perfect here - it is absurd how slowly US states are being in getting their driving licenses added to e.g. Apple Wallet - so far it is only about 10 or 11 out of fifty of the US states who have achieved this. At least here in the UK it would be the entire country.
Note: The current UK driving license being a physical only ID is currently effectively the same format as EU ones. However again due to the UK Government currently planning to (re)invent their own solution it is likely to be a uniquely UK one so UK citizens visiting the EU and vice versa - not to mention freight drivers will face issues whereas currently the UK and EU share the same physical format drivers license which as far as I am aware therefore all work via the same OCR solutions.
UK Govt digital services remain trailing behind the curve of many nations and territories, but has improved over time playing catch up. The difference is that some nations have had digital identities in widespread use for decades leading to generations that know of nothing else.
Now back on topic - could the UK digital ID solution also use the proprietary wallets of Apple, Google and others? Why yes of course. The UK Covid app already integrated with them while still keeping in-app documents as well. The key here is choice.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-59292649
William Gallagher appears to be following the path of Daniel Eran Dilger, writing without fully grasping the subject matter. Although his article includes a link to the Gov.uk press release, it seems he didn’t take the time to thoroughly read or understand it.
Let’s set the record straight: the UK government’s launch of the GOV.UK Wallet is not just about the word ‘wallet.’ It’s a forward-thinking app designed to simplify access to services and important documents. This includes providing convenient availability of government-issued documents and streamlining tasks like applying for government services (e.g., childcare) or reporting a lost passport, among other uses. Misleading readers with incomplete or inaccurate information does a disservice to everyone.
Those who are not anti-government:
"UK has been a leader in digital government, ranking third in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Digital Government Index (2023) and first in the UN E-Government Development Index (2016)." https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-digital-government-review/state-of-digital-government-reviewI'm fine with government using it as an option but the minute it becomes a reduced option we have a problem.
Within the EU Apple has had to allow other wallet options. The same requirement will probably appear in other jurisdictions sooner or later. Probably including the UK.
We have to be careful with current digital devices as they can be prone to situations that require users to update their devices for various reasons.
My perfectly good tablets and older phones are now not deemed secure enough for certain online government interaction. With that in mind there is definitely space for a digital solution for those on the far end of the digital divide. That is often the people who are older and have basic needs.
With that in mind a secure yet simple device for digital storage of passports, ID, certificates, biometrics, health data etc could also be an option.