Apple's iOS 15 to reportedly use facial recognition to validate ID cards

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iOS edited July 2021
Code discovered in the latest iOS 15 beta reveals Apple is working on a security system for its upcoming digital ID card feature that relies on pictures of a user's face for identity verification.

ID Card


Apple is set to expand the utility of its Wallet app in iOS 15 with support for government-issued IDs, allowing users to carry digital versions of credentials like a driver's license on iPhone.

According to code in the latest iOS 15 beta, released today, users looking to add an ID to Wallet will be guided through an onboarding process that involves capturing images of their face to verify a claimed identity, reports 9to5Mac.

The procedure is similar to setting up Face ID, with an animation prompting users to rotate their head and perform other movements while the front-facing camera captures image of their face, the report said. Unlike Face ID, which captures multiple angles of a user's face, ID card verification asks users to look sideways, close their eyes, raise their eyebrows, open their mouth, and smile, the report said.

How the system matches captured imagery with digital card data is unknown, though iOS 15 code suggests Wallet will perform the verification phase using on-device processing. Facial recognition appears to play a role in the technology.

The security measure should alleviate some concern regarding identity theft.

Apple announced ID card support at WWDC 2021 in June. The feature will first roll out in the U.S. to store IDs, complete with name, date of birth, photo and Real ID status, in a secure and encrypted location on iPhone for later recall. Access is protected by Face ID or password.

Only a few U.S. states have launched digital IDs that could one day be compatible with Wallet. Others are trialing the technology, though it is unclear if those systems will be ready when iOS 15 debuts this fall. Apple in June said it is working with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration to facilitate use of the feature at airports.

In its bid to replace wallets and keys with iPhone and Apple Watch, the Wallet app is also gaining new digital key capabilities for smart homes, hotel rooms, and work badges. Separately, modern Apple Watch models running watchOS 8 will be able to lock, unlock, and start vehicles with CarKey support.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    apple_evoapple_evo Posts: 14member
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    edited July 2021 mpw_amherstlkruppcaladanianllamawilliamlondon
  • Reply 2 of 15
    swat671swat671 Posts: 150member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    You've heard of the 4th Amendment, right? Ok. Good. 
    boxcatcherGeorgeBMacjony0
  • Reply 3 of 15
    avon b7avon b7 Posts: 7,668member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    I very much doubt the implementation of this feature will require full unlocking of the phone as a requirement. 
    radarthekatboxcatcherbloggerblogGeorgeBMacjony0
  • Reply 4 of 15
    dope_ahminedope_ahmine Posts: 253member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    The Wallet already has exactly this feature. You don't need to unlock the phone to show a Wallet card from the home screen, and it stays locked.
    StrangeDayscaladanianradarthekatwilliamlondonboxcatcherapplguyArchStantonjony0
  • Reply 5 of 15
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,284member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    Please stop. You're never going to have to unlock your phone and hand it over. If there's ever a universal process for digital ID and law enforcement, it will involve the officer scanning a QR-type code on the phone. They already scan registration stickers in my state.
    StrangeDaysradarthekatwilliamlondonboxcatcherGeorgeBMacjony0
  • Reply 6 of 15
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    We don’t need to imagine - my state has this today with the LA Wallet app. There is a “hands off” policy in place. You show them the device, they scan or take a picture of it and go back to car. I’ve used it during a traffic stop just fine. 

    Having it built into Wallet is even better — because you don’t need to unlock the iPhone to use Wallet. You can test that today. 

    Nice fear mongering tho. 
    edited July 2021 caladanianradarthekatwilliamlondonboxcatcherapplguyGeorgeBMacjony0
  • Reply 7 of 15
    johnhwoodjohnhwood Posts: 9member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    We've already got this technology in Australia. 

    Your license is issued by the state transport authority. When you get pulled over you show you electronic license. If the officer needs to verify there is a QR code they can scan which cross checks in their system. 

    No handing over your phone. 

    Thats 20th century thinking with 21st century technology.  
    williamlondonboxcatcherjony0
  • Reply 8 of 15
    boxcatcherboxcatcher Posts: 267member
    I’m curious as to the need to validate that the person attempting to add the ID to their phone’s wallet is truly its owner … if they’re not the true owner of the ID, that fact will (better!) be exposed at the time of use … so kinda who cares about the first part?
    edited July 2021
  • Reply 9 of 15
    ArchStantonArchStanton Posts: 200member
    I don't think it is unreasonable to ask "do I have to lock my phone?". But that is answered nicely with the Wallet process. It's a single point unlock feature that keeps the rest of the phone locked.
    That sounds, if true, like an excellent implementation of the feature.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    bloggerblogbloggerblog Posts: 2,464member
    boxcatcher said:
    I’m curious as to the need to validate that the person attempting to add the ID to their phone’s wallet is truly its owner … if they’re not the true owner of the ID, that fact will (better!) be exposed at the time of use … so kinda who cares about the first part?
    They can be used in stealing identities, pretending to be someone they're not. They can go to the DMV get a new photo for an existing ID, and oftentimes the DMV doesn't really look hard enough. Then they can also access bank accounts, re-issue credit cards, change the shipping addresses. A friend of mine had his identity stolen, it was a mess, it took him over a year to bring things back to normal.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.

    If you aren't storing things like child pornography or plans for a terrorist attack on our Capitol on your phone, you should not being worried about a government official "invading your privacy".

    More likely, if you hand him your phone, is that you will never see it again.  Cops have the legal right to sell or keep anything "used in the commitment of a crime" (and they don't have to prove guilt or even that a crime was committed) -- and they often fund themselves by doing so.

    I saw this from my own experience while working as a nurse in the community:  a patient of mine was arrested but never charged with a crime -- but she never again saw her phone that they cop took from her.  This was a very poor, sick person who could not afford to replace her phone -- but when I accompanied her to the cop station where her phone had been taken all she got was the run around -- her phone had disappeared somewhere into their system.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    dope_ahmine said:
    apple_evo said:
    This is a very slippery slope. 
    Imagine the day when you chose to put your drivers license on your phone, and you get pulled over. You'll need to unlock your phone and swipe over to your wallet-app and bring up the ID to show the officer. What's that officer going to do next? Go back to his squad car and scroll through your entire unlocked phone looking for anything and at everything. You'll say that's an invasion of privacy and they will say "hey you unlocked it and gave it to me!!" 

    If anyone at Apple cares about the right to privacy (at least in the United States), there should be a way to open the wallet, load the ID of choice and display it until a password is entered or the phone runs out of battery.
    The Wallet already has exactly this feature. You don't need to unlock the phone to show a Wallet card from the home screen, and it stays locked.

    True!   But more appropriate is:  "Medical ID"  where holding the sleep & volume buttons gives you the option to either turn off the phone, dial 911 or display your medical ID information (name, birthday, emergency contact and various medical informaiton).  They would only have to add your ID to the list.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    boxcatcherboxcatcher Posts: 267member
    I’m curious as to the need to validate that the person attempting to add the ID to their phone’s wallet is truly its owner … if they’re not the true owner of the ID, that fact will (better!) be exposed at the time of use … so kinda who cares about the first part?
    They can be used in stealing identities, pretending to be someone they're not. They can go to the DMV get a new photo for an existing ID, and oftentimes the DMV doesn't really look hard enough. Then they can also access bank accounts, re-issue credit cards, change the shipping addresses. A friend of mine had his identity stolen, it was a mess, it took him over a year to bring things back to normal.
    Uhh, what?  Having one’s identity stolen isn’t what’s being discussed here. It’s having someone’s ID CARD stolen.

    If you’re claim is that someone could just take someone else’s ID CARD and then just use the ID CARD without anyone really checking it, then wouldn’t that mean the ID CARD was essentially useless to begin with? It would have fundamentally failed the purpose for its very existence…
    edited July 2021
  • Reply 14 of 15
    bennettvistabennettvista Posts: 178member
    This is just part of the foundation for the coming "social credit system". The coordination of hi-tech, the world bank and the "health" systems around the world. Read Huxley's "Brave New World", people need to wake up or soon they will find themselves living under absolute control of ruthless overlords. History repeats itself over and over again...
    williamlondon
  • Reply 15 of 15
    GeorgeBMacGeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member
    bennettvista said:
    This is just part of the foundation for the coming "social credit system". The coordination of hi-tech, the world bank and the "health" systems around the world. Read Huxley's "Brave New World", people need to wake up or soon they will find themselves living under absolute control of ruthless overlords. History repeats itself over and over again...

    Ruthless overlords have always had ways of controlling and manipulating people.
    It's why we chose democracy.   We can kick those ruthless overlords (or wanna be ruthless overlords) out.
    But it's also why we need to protect our democracy from those wanna be ruthless overlords.  It is our best protection.  But, as we have seen, it is fragile.
    bennettvista
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