California Expands Mobile Driver’s Licenses to 24 Million Residents Under New Law

Millions more California drivers can soon leave the plastic card at home. Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 169 on July 13, quadrupling the cap on the state’s Mobile Driver License Pilot Program from 15 percent to 60 percent of licensed drivers statewide, a change that puts a phone-based ID within reach of an estimated 24 million Californians.

The bill is part of the state’s 2026-2027 budget package and pairs the mobile ID expansion with a set of DMV efficiency measures: fewer mailed notices, an end to printed driver handbooks, and updated systems for how the department contacts customers about renewals. For a state whose DMV has spent years fighting a reputation for long lines and slow service, the law marks the next step in a push that started with a 2019 reinvention effort under Newsom.

What SB 169 Actually Changes

California’s mobile driver’s license program launched in August 2023 through the DMV Wallet app, letting residents store a digital version of their license or ID card on a smartphone. More than 3.5 million Californians have applied for one after launch, but the program has operated under a strict participation cap. SB 169 raises that ceiling from 15 percent of the state’s roughly 27 million licensed drivers to 60 percent, opening the door for tens of millions more residents to enroll.

The mobile ID sits alongside, not instead of, the physical card. Drivers still carry a traditional license, and the DMV has built privacy and security safeguards into the digital version, including the ability to share only specific pieces of information, such as proof of age, without handing over a full ID to a business or bar.

“California’s DMV has put in the hard work to make operations more efficient and modernize how people get things done,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the signing. “Now we’re going further by cutting the red tape that slows government down and giving more Californians the option to carry their ID right on their phone.”

California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin described the law as part of a broader accessibility push. “Governor Newsom’s commitment to innovation is helping to deliver secure, convenient DMV services that better serve all Californians,” Omishakin said.

How We Got Here: A Seven-year Modernization Push

SB 169 does not arrive in isolation. Newsom created the DMV Reinvention Strike Team in 2019 to overhaul the department after years of complaints about wait times, and the agency has layered on digital tools in the years that followed. More than 90 percent of DMV transactions are now available online, a shift the state says cut transaction times by two-thirds and could keep 2.4 million trips out of DMV offices each year. Newsom also signed an executive order directing state agencies to build generative AI into government operations, and the DMV rolled out digital signature barcodes on physical licenses this spring to fight identity fraud, alongside a QR code check-in feature now live at offices statewide.

Wait times have already dropped nearly 40 percent this decade under the modernization push, according to the governor’s office. SB 169 also extends financial relief for transit operators and funds highway preparation ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, tucking transportation policy into the same bill as the DMV changes. The pairing is not unusual for California budget bills, which routinely bundle unrelated policy priorities into a single piece of legislation to move them through the Assembly and Senate together.

How To Get Your Own Mobile ID

Californians who want a mobile driver’s license need the DMV’s official wallet app, available for both Android and iPhone. Setup requires holding a valid physical California license or ID card and using the phone’s camera to scan it, followed by a facial verification step to confirm the applicant matches the photo on file. Once approved, the mobile ID appears in the app with security features designed to prevent screenshots or copies from being used as a substitute.

For now, acceptance varies by location. Mobile IDs work at select TSA checkpoints for domestic travel, with certain California retailers accepting them for age verification, and law enforcement in participating jurisdictions can read them electronically at traffic stops. The physical card remains the only form accepted everywhere, so the DMV recommends carrying both through the rollout.

Residents currently locked out under the 15 percent cap should watch for expanded enrollment windows as the DMV works to accommodate the new 60 percent ceiling. The department has not published an exact date for when new slots open, though the law took effect immediately upon signing as part of the budget package. Drivers can check current enrollment status directly through the DMV’s website rather than relying on secondhand reports of when the program reopens to new applicants.

Where California Fits In A National Shift

California is not alone in pushing mobile IDs, but the scale of SB 169 is larger than most. States including Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and Ohio already run mobile driver’s license programs, and Texas, Georgia, and Louisiana have added varying degrees of digital ID access in recent years. Apple Wallet and Google Wallet both support mobile IDs in more than a dozen states combined. What separates California is population: a jump from a 15 percent to a 60 percent cap in the country’s most populous state moves millions of additional residents into digital ID access in a single legislative action, a scale few other states can match given their comparatively smaller populations.

The federal government has also nudged states toward digital ID adoption. The Transportation Security Administration has expanded which airports accept mobile driver’s licenses at security checkpoints, treating them as equivalent to physical Real ID-compliant cards at a growing number of terminals. California’s DMV has not confirmed which airports currently accept its mobile ID, so travelers should check directly with TSA or their departure airport before relying on a phone-only ID for a flight. A dead phone battery at a security checkpoint has already tripped up mobile ID holders in other states, which is part of why officials keep recommending travelers carry a physical backup.

The bill did not pass without a fight over privacy. The bill did not pass without pushback. Lawmakers and privacy advocates raised concerns in the legislative process about how digital ID data gets stored, who can request it, and what happens if a phone is lost or a database is breached. The final version of SB 169 built in safeguards around data handling, though it stops short of the strictest privacy rules some advocates wanted. The law does not require anyone to give up the traditional plastic card, so residents wary of a digital footprint tied to their identification keep a simple alternative.

That compromise counts: a mobile ID, unlike a physical card, can theoretically log when and where it gets scanned, depending on how a business or agency’s reader software works. The DMV has stated its app does not track that kind of usage data beyond what is needed to verify identity, though independent security audits of the expanded program had not been published as of this signing.

What To Watch Next

The DMV has signaled more digital tools are coming as it works to serve customers faster, though SB 169 itself focuses on raising the enrollment ceiling rather than announcing new features outright. For drivers who already carry a mobile ID under the old cap, the law changes little day to day. The bigger shift lands for the millions who wanted in but could not enroll while the program stayed capped at 15 percent.

As California’s DMV opens that door wider, other large states will likely watch how the rollout handles both the technical load of new sign-ups and the privacy questions that come with putting a government ID on a phone. New York and Florida, both reviewing their own mobile ID expansions, have cited California’s program as a reference point in prior policy discussions, meaning the success or failure of this rollout could shape how quickly other big states follow.

Sources:

• https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/07/13/governor-newsom-signs-dmv-modernization-law-expands-mobile-drivers-license-access-for-millions-of-californians/
• https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB169
• https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/