Apple delays launch of driver's licenses on iPhones until next year

Apple is delaying the launch of a feature allowing iPhone owners to keep their driver's license or identification on their smartphone.

According to the website for iOS 15, Apple notes the ability to add ID cards to the Wallet app on iPhones will launch in early 2022.

When the feature was introduced earlier this year during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed the feature would launch later this year.

The change was first reported by tech site MacRumors.

In September, Apple revealed the first eight states supporting the Wallet ID feature. Apple said the option would first debut in Arizona and Georgia. followed by Connecticut, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah.

The option to add a driver's license or state ID is one of several planned features for the Wallet app on iPhones. Earlier this year, Apple said it's adding features allowing Wallet to hold digital house keys, car keys, and workplace badges to enter buildings.

The primary use for having your state ID on your phone is for traveling, popping out your phone at airport security checkpoints, Apple said in September. The Transportation Security Administration will enable security checkpoints and lanes and participating airports to use the ID in Wallet, the company said.

"The addition of driver's licenses and state IDs to Apple Wallet is an important step in our vision of replacing the physical wallet with a secure and easy-to-use mobile wallet," Jennifer Bailey, Apple's vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, said in a September statement.