Apple has delayed their digital-ID scheme until 2022.
The tech giant announced plans to create a digital driver’s licence feature in September this year, but they’ve now pushed back the release of the feature to early next year.
The update should allow residents in eight US states to store state IDs and driver's licences inside the Apple Wallet app on their iPhone, but the delay follows Apple's announcement it was looking for "sole control" over how states rolled out the feature.
According to MacRumours, the delay was first noticed on an update to Apple’s iOS 15 page.
And while the tech company has not provided a specific release date for the feature, it has been listed as coming in early 2022.
Arizona, and Georgia will introduce the system first, with Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Utah also signed up.
Apple has said it is in discussions with other US states - reportedly including Florida - as it works to offer the feature, announced at a presentation in June, nationwide in the future.
The digital IDs will be valid for use at airport-security checkpoints run by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Apple now says users do not need to unlock or hand over their phones for the system to work for airport security.
But it remains unclear if or how it might eventually work for other uses of ID, such as drivers stopped by police.
