Apple wants the iPhone to replace your passport, driver's license and other IDs

Apple's goal is to make the iPhone the only thing anyone has to carry, a device that securely replaces passports, driver's licenses, and other physical forms of identification. Apple recently announced a plan to get rid of car keys, but the iPhone has already made us free of diaries, cameras, pens, and even mirrors. Now the company is focusing on getting rid of passports, library cards, ski passes, and general ID cards.

A series of slightly different Apple patent applications, all titled "Providing a Verification Statement of User Identity," detail methods for recording or transmitting user IDs. Apple does not use the word iPhone once, but mentions devices that could be any technology hundreds of times. A system device for verifying identity includes at least one processor configured to receive a verification statement that includes information identifying a user of the device, the verification statement being signed by a server, an identity verification provider separate from the server, and the verification statement being specific to the device.

Under the proposal, a device like an iPhone could securely transmit some form of ID. If the owner of the device has been verified, say through a biometric sensor in an Apple Watch, then the ID sent could be verified. While Apple's application refers primarily to passports, the intention is that a system could be used for many things, allowing a user to obtain a verified identity claim as a digital identity for the user, which includes information used to identify the user and can be reused across different service providers.

These five patent applications with the same boundaries discuss features such as users opting in to provide identification and technical details on how to securely transmit data. All five patents are attributed to the same six inventors, including Christopher Sharp and Gianpaolo Fasoli, who previously had related patents such as "data verification by device independent processor". Previously, Apple has researched ways to securely present government ID cards and has worked with the German and British governments to help local identification projects.