It’s been a while since I’ve updated you on my quest for a digital life. For those who came in late, my immediate goal is to be able to leave the house carrying nothing but my iPhone. In my last update I recounted how I had installed a smart lock on my front door so that I no longer needed to worry about house keys but the major sticking point remained stuck. I still don’t have a car that allows a digital key and Florida, instead of making progress with their digital license program, have actually regressed.
In 2024 Florida became dissatisfied with their digital license vendor and suspended the program “until early 2025 when they expected to find a new vendor”. It’s now mid 2026 and there’s still no news on a new program. Meanwhile, the governor has come out against digital licenses because of privacy concerns. I’ve pretty much resigned myself to it not happening in my lifetime. Happily, we here at the bunker either walk or Uber to most places so the car isn’t as big an issue as it might be.
Thus my campaign to banish my wallet is stymied because Florida refuses to recognize that we’re well into the 21st century and that Apple and Google have digital license applications being used successfully by several states.
There is some good news around the edges. The Apple (and presumably Google) wallets are getting better and better. 9TO5Mac has a nice article on some of the lessor known Apple wallet features. One of those I knew about but didn’t realize its implications. By default, the credit cards you add to the Apple Wallet don’t have the actual card data available to the user but you can add that information. I always thought, “so what?” but as the article points out if you find yourself in a situation where Apple Pay isn’t available, you can always just use the card information to do a normal card transaction. That means there’s no reason to routinely carry a credit card. That means that unless I’m driving, I don’t need a wallet.
There’s more useful information in the 9TO5Mac article including a video so if you live in the Applesphere, you should definitely take a look.