Student IDs Coming to Apple Wallet

Apple is delving into mobile access control, in collaboration with HID Global and ASSA ABLOY. The companies are developing a mobile ID solution that will essentially create a virtual smart card for students in the Apple Wallet app.

The virtual student ID card is designed to take advantage of NFC technology, allowing students to open doors throughout a given campus by waving their phones over ASSA ABLOY locks featuring HID technology. The system could also allow students to make payments associated with their virtual student ID cards, and will function with Apple Watch devices.

In announcing the solution, HID Global and ASSA ABLOY did not indicate which, if any, educational institutions had signed on to deploy it, but they did assert that the solution will launch this autumn. “ASSA ABLOY will leverage its expertise in mobile access to support Apple’s efforts to make it easier to access dorm rooms with contactless student IDs, which we feel will help open doors to their future,” said ASSA ABLOY CEO Nico Delvaux.

HID Global’s mobile ID technology has seen school environment deployments in the past, but its iteration in the Apple platform could help to heighten its profile, given the latter brand’s ubiquity among affluent young consumers. Students, in turn, may appreciate the ability to use their phones for even more everyday purposes beyond texting and social media posts.