It’s been a while since I’ve written the walletless aspect of my quest for a digital lifestyle. Those of you who are long time readers know that my end goal to to be able to leave the house with nothing but my iPhone. On the one hand, I’m almost there. On the other, I’m not any closer than I was the last time I wrote about this.
Entry to my house is controlled from from my iPhone and if I leave the neighborhood and return the door unlocks automatically so I don’t even need to take out my phone. That means I no longer have to carry house keys.
Sadly, I still don’t have a car that is completely keyless. Although my current car allows me to open the door and even warm it up with my phone, I still need the key fob to drive it.
That brings us to my wallet. Apple Pay means that I theoretically don’t need to carry credit cards but, of course, there’s always the odd merchant who still won’t accept NFC payments. The driver’s license situation is even worse: Florida has had a digital license—which I have—for over a year but they still haven’t officially rolled out the program so I still need to carry my license. Their pilot program has been ongoing since 2011 so I’m hoping they’ll launch soon. Right now, I carry my license and a single credit card in my Slim Clip wallet, which is very compact but still something else I have to carry.
This post was inspired by Christine Romero-Chan’s article, In 2023, it’s time to finally ditch your real wallet for Apple Pay. She says that it’s mostly possible to do away with carrying credit cards but that you do occasionally find a merchant who won’t accept it. Similarly, she is still waiting for California to get its act together with a digital license.
Meanwhile, Mike D’Avella who is currently living in Australia has basically ditched his wallet. He uses Apple Pay everywhere and—at least where he is—they have a digital driver’s license. I continue to hope and believe that Florida and the rest of the US will catch up soon.