Kentucky Digital ID: TSA Use, Wallet Support, and Limits

The Kentucky digital ID is a free smartphone app, launched in January 2026, that stores a state-verified copy of your driver’s license, learner’s permit, or non-driver ID card on your phone. You can use it at TSA airport checkpoints and at participating businesses for age or identity checks, but it does not replace your physical card. Kentucky law still requires you to hand a hard-copy license to a police officer during a traffic stop or crash investigation, so the app rides alongside your plastic card, not in place of it.¹

How to Get the Kentucky Mobile ID

Setup happens entirely on your phone. No trip to a licensing office is required. You will need a current, unexpired Kentucky driver’s license, permit, or ID card, because the app verifies your information against the Transportation Cabinet’s records during enrollment. A suspended, revoked, or expired credential will not pass that check.

The app runs on iPhones with iOS 16.0 or later and on compatible Android devices with Google Play access.² Your Mobile ID can only live on one device at a time. Apple Watch and other wearables are not supported.

Once you have your physical card in hand, the process looks like this:

Search for “Kentucky Mobile ID” in the App Store or Google Play and install the free app. Note that it is a standalone app, not an Apple Wallet or Google Wallet credential.
Register the phone number tied to the device you’re using.
Photograph the front and back of your physical license, permit, or ID card.
Take a live selfie so the app can match your face to the photo already on file with the Transportation Cabinet.
Wait for the app to confirm your records. Once verified, the credential is active.¹

If the selfie match fails or the card images are unreadable, you’ll need to retry the scan.

Where You Can Use It

TSA Airport Checkpoints

The Kentucky Mobile ID is accepted at TSA checkpoints in more than 250 U.S. airports, including Louisville Muhammad Ali International, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, and Barkley Regional Airport in Paducah.¹

One catch: the TSA only accepts digital IDs built on a REAL ID-compliant physical credential.³ If your plastic Kentucky license is not REAL ID-compliant, your Mobile ID will not get you through airport security. The upgrade to REAL ID at a licensing office costs $15 if your current card has at least six months left before expiration.⁴ The TSA also recommends bringing your physical ID as a backup when you fly.

Businesses and Age Verification

Participating Kentucky businesses can scan a QR code from the app to confirm your age or identity without touching your physical card. The business’s reader requests only the specific information needed for the transaction, you see the request on your screen, and you approve it before any data moves. A separate alert pops up if the verifier wants to store the data temporarily, giving you a chance to decline.⁵

Not every Kentucky business is set up to read the credential yet. If a merchant doesn’t have a compatible verification tool, you’ll need to show the plastic card.

Where the Mobile ID Does Not Work

Traffic stops are the big one. Kentucky State Police have said officers will only accept a hard-copy driver’s license during traffic stops and crash investigations.¹ Showing only the app on your phone could result in a citation for failing to produce a valid license. The Transportation Cabinet’s guidance is explicit: anyone who downloads the Mobile ID “must be prepared to present a hard copy upon request.”

The Mobile ID also is not accepted by all state agencies, and it is not valid for federal employment eligibility verification on Form I-9. Mobile driver’s licenses are not currently listed as acceptable Form I-9 documentation.

What It Shares, and What It Doesn’t

Your plastic license shows your full name, date of birth, home address, and license number to anyone who looks at it. The Mobile ID narrows that. A bar checking that you’re over 21 can ask for just an “over 21” confirmation and your photo, with no access to your address or license number. You approve each data request on your phone before anything transfers, and the exchange runs over Bluetooth with end-to-end encryption rather than the open internet.¹

Inside your phone, the credential sits behind Face ID, Touch ID, or your PIN.

If You Lose Your Phone

Because the Mobile ID is locked behind biometrics or your six-digit PIN, someone who picks up your phone cannot open the app or pull up the credential.⁶

When you get a replacement phone, just download the app and enroll again. Registering a new device automatically retires the old Mobile ID, so there is no separate deactivation step.⁶ You should still use Apple’s Find My or Google’s Find My Device to lock or wipe the missing phone and protect the rest of your data.

Apple Wallet and Google Wallet Support

For now, the standalone app is the only way to carry your Kentucky credential digitally. The Transportation Cabinet has said Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet integration is planned, but only after the state finishes modernizing its driver licensing system, which is targeted for summer 2026.¹ Once wallet integration arrives, Apple Watch access may follow, since Apple already supports driver’s licenses on Apple Watch Series 4 or later in participating states.⁷ Until then, the Kentucky Mobile ID app is where your digital credential lives, and your plastic card stays in your wallet.

1
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Kentucky Mobile ID Now Available
2
Apple. Kentucky Mobile ID on the App Store
3
Transportation Security Administration. Participating States and Eligible Digital IDs
4
DRIVE. Pricing
5
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. MID-Business
6
IDEMIA North America. KY MiD FAQs
7
Apple Support. Add Your Driver’s License to Apple Wallet