In most countries it is not yet possible to load the personal identification system on the mobile phone, although it is already prepared for the functionality: Google Wallet allows you to load ID cards. Europe is preparing its electronic DNI for the smartphone and in Europe there is an initiative to create a virtual wallet compatible with the applications of the countries concerned. In principle, we shouldn’t wait too long.
Since our lives currently involve mobile phones, it is the primary access to our communications, entertainment and even payment methods. So why not extend these uses to identification? In Europe we can load our driving license on our smartphone to prove our identity, but the same does not happen with the DNI, and both Google and Apple offer support. In Europe the DNI on mobile phone is projected into the future, let’s see how the process takes place.
Today there is no identification by DNI from the mobile
Even if you can carry a photocopy of the card on your cell phone, and even if there are applications that offer identification via a virtual identity document, The authorities will not accept these ID documents. When you carry out a procedure or if you need to prove that you are in fact at a police station, the only way to do it with your Android is to use the miDGT application with the downloaded driving license.
You can leave your home with just your cell phone and prove your identity using your miDGT driving license: this is valid even to vote in an election. You must keep in mind that To download the map you need an internet connection, since miDGT validates the identification by quickly downloading the driving license. And one last point: it is common for miDGT to ask for a login from time to time; so you might have problems if you need to log in and you haven’t used the app in weeks.
To identify yourself with your driving license on your mobile you need the miDGT application registered with your account and an active Internet connection
In Europe, identity accreditation only with a cell phone is possible, but not with a virtual DNI: currently the Ministry of the Interior is developing the next phase of the electronic DNI, says DNIe 4.0 in digital version. Announced at the end of 2020, and without knowing the current progress of the project, we do not know when we will have the map available on the smartphone.
This is within the strictly Spanish framework, because at the European level what is called “European digital identity” is being developed, a platform for Member States to have a unified wallet of identification, registration and payment documents. These digital wallets will exchange data at the European level, although each country will be able to have its own wallet applications once the security of the companies developing them is certified. For example, there is already evidence of the existence of a digital wallet in the Nordic countries.
More promises than reality
The Ministry of the Interior is preparing the DNIe 4.0, Europe is in full development of Digital Identity at the European level and, in the meantime, the only way to prove our identity from the smartphone is to use the driving license of the miDGT app. Although it is entirely valid, it obviously requires that anyone wishing to identify themselves got a driving license. According to statistics, 27.4 million Spaniards had a driving license in 2021, or just over half of the population.
In Xataka Android | Your DNI and Android get along better than it seems: how to access the Treasury, the DGT or the SEPE with the digital certificate of the card and without Cl@ve
