I think mDL is going to be a pretty big deal in some industries (e.g. banking). Apple announced an ecosystem around this at WWDC25. Very soon we are going to be in a world where you walk into a bank to open/maintain an account and the following occurs:
1. The bank emails/SMSes the customer a link
2. The customer takes out their iPhone, opens whatever email/messaging software & taps the link
3. The link takes the customer to a specially crafted page owned by the bank that triggers a native OS process for opening Apple Wallet and gathering requested ID details with consent.
This is potentially a superior arrangement because it could eventually establish a strong cryptographic chain of trust all the way to the issuer (e.g. the State of Alabama). Right now there are some gaps in that chain but I see no reason they couldn't be closed over time.
1. The bank emails/SMSes the customer a link
2. The customer takes out their iPhone, opens whatever email/messaging software & taps the link
3. The link takes the customer to a specially crafted page owned by the bank that triggers a native OS process for opening Apple Wallet and gathering requested ID details with consent.
https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/232 https://www.w3.org/TR/digital-credentials
This is potentially a superior arrangement because it could eventually establish a strong cryptographic chain of trust all the way to the issuer (e.g. the State of Alabama). Right now there are some gaps in that chain but I see no reason they couldn't be closed over time.