United Kingdom
There has been much activity in the UK in response to the British Government’s proposal for a ‘Brit Card’ digital ID system.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said the mandatory digital ID – including citizens’ photos, names, dates of birth, nationalities and residency status – would come into use by July 2029.
Digital ID cards present “an enormous opportunity” for the UK, Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking on Friday, Starmer said: “I know working people are worried about the level of illegal migration into this country. A secure border and controlled migration are reasonable demands, and this government is listening and delivering.
“Digital ID is an enormous opportunity for the UK. It will make it tougher to work illegally in this country, making our borders more secure.
“And it will also offer ordinary citizens countless benefits, like being able to prove your identity to access key services swiftly – rather than hunting around for an old utility bill.”
United Kingdom
However, there appear to be mixed reactions to the proposal from the British public.
A report by Sir Tony Blair’s think tank claimed there is growing public support for a “super-digital identity card” which would allow people to access public services and report problems in their local area.
The report, which surveyed more than 2,000 adults, saw 62 percent of people say they favour introducing a form of digital ID alongside an app that would allow them to report things such as potholes and missed bin collections.
Three-quarters of those polled supported the use of such an app to track the progress of applications made to local authorities, while some 69 percent said they wanted it for voting or receiving official notifications, the Tony Blair Institute report showed.
However, a petition opposing the digital ID cards has collected more than 1.5 million signatures, expressing concerns about mass surveillance and digital control.
Elsewhere, Keir Starmer’s plan for digital IDs risks creating “an enormous hacking target”, a cybersecurity expert has warned.
The government said the ID would sit in a digital wallet on citizens’ smartphones and use state-of-the-art encryption. But Alan Woodward, a professor and cybersecurity expert at the University of Surrey, told The Guardian that if the data is also held on a vast database to allow for cross-referencing, “it’s painting a huge target on something to say, ‘come and hack me’”.
Starmer’s announcement also sparked concerns that millions of people who lack credentials or suffer from digital poverty could be excluded from public services.
“When things don’t go well it could have serious consequences, especially for those on the margins of society who could be excluded,” said Peter Chamberlin, who developed part of the scheme’s digital architecture and is the senior director of technology at consultancy Public Digital. “In order for this to succeed, transparency is absolutely crucial.”
The campaign group Liberty warned that digital IDs could become “a nightmarish surveillance system”.
Europe
Signicat has launched ReuseID, a digital identity solution enabling organisations to create, manage, and reuse verified identities across platforms and countries.
According to Signicat’s latest The Battle in the Dark research, 74 percent of companies in Europe believe they’re successfully tackling fraud, even though 1 in 5 transactions remains fraudulent and less than half of them (45 percent) are measuring the impact of identity fraud on their businesses. These findings underline the urgent need for robust and secure identity solutions.
ReuseID is designed to help enterprises “reduce onboarding friction, cut operational costs, and address rising regulatory complexity in a landscape of growing identity fraud, all while giving businesses full control over the identity experience.”
The firm said early applications across banking, payments, eCommerce, and iGaming show reductions in fraud exposure, faster onboarding times and stronger KYC compliance.
Global
Diplomatic Courier Global Media announced the launch of Civitas ID, a human-centered, localised digital identity platform designed for displaced populations, at the 80th UN General Assembly in New York. The platform reportedly “creates pathways for 123 million displaced people worldwide to transition to economic self-sufficiency, representing up to $700 billion in unrealised economic potential.”
Civitas ID said a lack of legally recognized identity documentation creates an “invisibility crisis” that blocks access to formal employment, financial services, and economic participation in host communities.
“We will connect existing humanitarian efforts with economic opportunities by applying proven technologies such as mobile platforms, biometrics, verified credentials, AI, and DPI integrations. This will be done through a human-centered, localised approach, directly collaborating with host communities and other stakeholders,” said founder and board chair of Civitas ID, Colin Walsh,
The platform is designed specifically for migrants and displaced populations through public-private partnerships. Verified credentials will be scored and integrated into public and private service provider systems to gain access to essential services and facilitate a pathway to integration within established frameworks.
Global
One Identity has appointed Praerit Garg as its CEO.
Prior to joining One Identity, Garg served as president of product & innovation at Smartsheet, where he led the product and engineering organisation and shaped the company’s strategy across technology, customer-driven innovation, pricing, packaging and M&A. Before Smartsheet, he was general manager of Identity, Directory, and Access Services at Amazon Web Services (AWS); co-founder of Symform, a cloud- storage startup later acquired by Quantum; and held various product & engineering roles at Microsoft, contributing to the development of Windows software and its security features, including Active Directory.
United States
Apple is planning to include US passports in its iPhone Wallet app later this year, the company has announced.
“Digital ID will be coming later this year with US passports only,” the company says in the footnotes on its website, presenting the latest iOS 26 features.
The news comes after the tech giant announced in June that the latest version of iPhone’s operating system will support Transportation Security Administration (TSA)-approved digital passports and augmented boarding passes.
The digital passport is likely to be added in a future update of iOS.
The TSA already accepts passports presented as an “ID pass” within Google Wallet, a feature that was launched by Google last year. Digitized passports, however, cannot be used for international flights to or from the US
To add IDs to the Apple Wallet, users are first asked to scan the physical document, complete a series of facial and head movements for a biometric liveness check and take a selfie. Lastly, users perform a Face ID or Touch ID authentication, according to Biometric Update.
Ghana
Ghana plans to activate the digital payments function on the country’s national digital ID (Ghana Card).
Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Yayra Korku Deku said the digital wallet will enable holders of the Ghana Card to easily make or receive payments using the Ghana Card as an authentication tool.
Deku said he hopes the move would “generate a huge sum of money for us.” In May, the NIA and the ID authorities of a few other countries shared their digital ID revenue generation experiences at the 2025 ID4Africa AGM in Addis Ababa.
The NIA official told Joy News that the digital wallet is one of three features of the Ghana Card, the other two being the digital ID and the biometric passport, both of which have already gone live.
Africa
Mastercard has expanded its strategic partnership with African digital identity verification provider Smile ID through a minority investment and technology integration agreement. The collaboration aims to streamline secure digital onboarding across Africa by addressing fragmented identity systems that currently limit financial inclusion. The partnership builds on Smile ID’s recent launch of its Enhanced SmartSelfie biometric authentication system, which introduced advanced liveness detection capabilities to combat digital fraud in African markets.
The partnership integrates Smile ID’s verification tools directly into Mastercard’s platforms, combining Mastercard’s global payment network and identity solutions with Smile ID’s local market presence and fraud detection capabilities, said Mobile ID World.
