Which states had TSA-approved digital/mobile driver’s licenses by August 2025 and what are the technical requirements for those waivers?
Executive summary
By mid-August 2025, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had expanded acceptance of state-issued digital or mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) to include 16 states for use at participating checkpoints [1] [2]. Those approvals flowed from a temporary waiver process and a final rule that tied acceptance to REAL ID compliance, specific technical safeguards, and state-by-state waivers published by TSA [3] [4] [5].
1. Which states were approved by August 2025 — the headline and the reporting limits
TSA’s public reporting shows a phased rollout: earlier reporting noted 11 states were accepted in 2024, and by August 14, 2025 TSA’s program had expanded to cover digital IDs from 16 states at 250+ checkpoints [6] [1] [2]. The sources provided here do not publish an explicit list of those 16 states within the snippets supplied, and TSA’s own pages state it will publish the list of “mDLs Approved for Federal Use” and a participating-states page [5] [7]. Therefore the accurate, source-supported conclusion is that 16 states were included by mid‑August 2025, but this reporting set does not enumerate them individually.
2. Legal and regulatory mechanism that made approvals possible
The approvals come from a temporary waiver process built into amendments to the REAL ID regulatory regime: TSA issued a final rule that creates a waiver pathway under 6 CFR part 37 so states can seek temporary waivers to allow their mDLs to be accepted for federal “official purposes” when REAL ID enforcement began in May 2025 [3] [4] [5]. In short, states must apply and receive a TSA waiver under the procedures the agency established; upon approval TSA issues a certificate of waiver and publishes the state’s name in its approved list [5].
3. Core technical and security requirements for those waivers
TSA’s framework ties waiver approval to meeting REAL ID standards and additional technical safeguards: an approved mDL must be based on a REAL ID‑compliant physical driver’s license or identification card (or an enhanced equivalent) and the issuing state must itself be REAL ID‑compliant [5] [4] [7]. The Federal Register explanation of the waiver process sets baseline conditions, including that the mDL holder possess a valid REAL ID physical card from the same state and that TSA determine the state to be REAL ID‑compliant before issuing a waiver [4]. TSA’s rollout also relies on specific checkpoint hardware and procedures — notably the Credential Authentication Technology 2 (CAT‑2) units that capture an image for facial comparison and interface with Secure Flight to verify travel status — and TSA has said readers will be posted at participating checkpoints [8] [6] [9].
4. Standards, interoperability and privacy safeguards referenced
State programs are expected to align with industry and international standards cited in reporting: ISO/IEC 18013‑5 (the mobile ID interoperability and security standard) and guidance from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators are referenced by states building mDL systems, and TSA has signaled that formal minimum standards will follow to ensure privacy and security consistent with federal requirements [10] [4]. TSA’s public messaging emphasizes that eligible mDLs are digital representations of a state‑issued REAL ID credential and that the program is intended to limit data shared at checkpoints to what is necessary [9] [7].
5. Caveats, alternative viewpoints and operational risks
Critics and practical advisories appear across the reporting: digital readers use facial comparison and online verification, raising privacy and biometric‑use concerns noted in TSA’s materials and reporting [9] [6], and travel advisories urged passengers to carry a physical REAL ID or passport as backup because not all checkpoints or agencies accept mDLs and technical failures (app errors, dead batteries) can prevent use [5] [11] [7]. The Federal Register also acknowledged that comprehensive government standards were premature before wider industry norms were finalized, which is why the waiver path is temporary and conditional [4].
6. What remains unclear from these sources
The assembled reporting authoritatively establishes the mechanism (waiver under 6 CFR part 37), the linkage to REAL ID‑compliant physical cards, use of CAT‑2 readers, and that 16 states were accepted by mid‑August 2025 [4] [5] [8] [1] [2]. What this set of sources does not provide within the provided snippets is the full, named list of those 16 states and the granular technical checklists TSA used for each waiver decision; those details are published by TSA but are not included here [5] [7].