Samsung Wallet now supports digital passports in the United States, letting users store government-issued passport credentials on their phones for domestic travel.
The feature brings Samsung in line with Apple and Google, both of which already offered digital passport storage in their respective wallet apps for U.S. users.
What digital passport support means
A digital passport — also called a mobile identity document — is a cryptographically verified version of a physical passport stored within a phone’s secure enclave, the isolated chip designed to protect sensitive credentials.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection accepts mobile identity documents at select TSA checkpoints as valid identification for domestic travel, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Where Samsung stood before
Apple introduced digital ID support in its Wallet app at select U.S. airports in 2022, with Apple confirming Arizona as the first participating state.
Google followed with its own digital ID rollout for Google Wallet users, expanding availability to additional states and airports over subsequent months.
Samsung Wallet, which launched globally in 2022 after the company merged Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass into a single app, did not initially include digital passport functionality for U.S. users.
Supported states and availability
Digital passport acceptance at TSA checkpoints depends on state participation, since the credentials draw on data from state-issued identification systems.
The Transportation Security Administration lists the airports and states where mobile identity documents are currently accepted.
Samsung has not publicly disclosed a full list of supported states for its rollout, and availability may vary depending on the user’s device model and software version.
The Galaxy phone lineup running One UI with the latest Samsung Wallet build is expected to support the feature, though Samsung has not issued a formal compatibility matrix as of publication.
The broader digital ID push
The U.S. government has taken incremental steps toward standardizing mobile identity documents at federal checkpoints.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology published guidelines for mobile driver’s licenses and digital IDs under its SP 800-217 framework, setting interoperability standards that wallet providers follow when building compliant features.
Several states, including Maryland, Arizona, Colorado, and Georgia, have issued mobile driver’s licenses accepted alongside or in place of physical IDs at TSA checkpoints, according to TSA.
Digital passports operate under a separate but related framework, using data from the user’s physical passport paired with a selfie for biometric verification during the enrollment process.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency, sets the technical standards for electronic passport data that wallet providers and border agencies use to validate mobile credentials.
