If you’ve flown domestically recently, you might have noticed the signs (or the panic) leading up to May 7, 2025. That was the final REAL ID deadline, ending years of delays. But while most Americans were scrambling to find their birth certificates to get that gold star on their plastic card, a quieter, more technical revolution was already underway: the rise of the U.S. digital ID.
Current U.S. digital ID plans don’t involve a single “national ID” app like Estonia’s. Instead, there is a fragmented, state-driven model where your phone is slowly replacing your wallet—potentially solving longstanding TSA REAL ID problems like bottlenecks and manual checks.
At the same time, with the numbers of state social media age verification laws and federal proposals like KOSA creeping up, the days of simply clicking “I am over 18” are fading fast, and the internet is becoming a less anonymous place.
So let’s dig into the reality of age assurance and digital ID in the U.S. right now—and how to keep your data safe in a world that increasingly demands your papers.
REAL ID vs. Digital ID—What’s the Difference?
First, let’s clear up the confusion between the terms:
- REAL ID is a security standard for physical driver’s licenses and identification cards. If your license or ID has a gold star in the corner, it’s a REAL ID.
Enhanced vs. REAL ID
While both documents can get you on a domestic flight, only an Enhanced Driver’s License, or EDL, lets you cross land borders into Canada or Mexico.
When do you need a REAL ID to fly? As of May 7, 2025, the requirement is in full effect. But do you need a REAL ID to fly specifically? Technically, no—but only if you have an acceptable alternative, such as a passport or military ID. If you show up with just a standard, non-compliant license today, you aren’t getting past the TSA officer without a lot of extra screening hassle.
- Digital ID is the cryptographically signed version of your driver’s license or ID pass on your phone—usually in Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet, or a state-specific wallet app.
However, there’s a catch: having a digital ID in USA airports is convenient, but that’s as far as it gets right now. Only airports with specific CAT-2 credential authentication technology units can read your phone, which significantly limits acceptance. As of December 2025, the TSA lists fewer than 20 states where digital IDs are accepted, explicitly highlighting the obligation to “always carry a physical and acceptable form of ID.”
How the U.S. Digital ID Actually Works
As mentioned before, unlike the UK’s mandatory digital ID or the EU’s pan-European plan, there’s no one single U.S. digital ID card or app. What is usually meant by a “digital ID” in the U.S. falls into two categories:
- Mobile driver’s license (mDL): A state-issued digital twin of your physical license, signed with your state DMV’s private cryptographic key. It can be revoked in real time by the state if your license is suspended.
- ID pass: A federal-level credential derived from your U.S. passport (often found in Google Wallet).
Both credentials are designed to protect the holder and minimize tracking risks. At least, that’s the idea. Here’s the “secret sauce” regulators promise:
- Selective disclosure: With a physical card, buying a bottle of wine means doxxing yourself—handing over your full name, home address, and exact birth date to a stranger. A digital ID flips the script. It proves a single fact (e.g., “Age > 21”) without revealing any other data. You verify your right to access, not your identity.
- Offline verification: A common fear is that a digital ID creates a surveillance trail where the government tracks every scan. But the system is designed to work offline. The verification happens locally between your phone and the reader using preloaded public keys, so your phone doesn’t need to ping a central server to say, “Hey, Steve is at the airport,” protecting you from real-time location tracking.
Online Age Verification in the U.S.—Laws and Scope
While the digital IDs are about proving who you are in person, online age verification is about proving how old you are to websites. And the era of simply lying about your birthday is over. However, unlike the recently enacted Australian Social Media Minimum Age regulation that bans under-16s from using social media country-wide, most of the pressure in the U.S. is produced on the state level, while the majority of federal bills are still in their infancy.
State level
States are actively forcing technological change across three major directions:
- Adult content: Since 2023, 25 states have passed laws requiring pornographic websites to implement strict age gates, allowing verification using a government ID, a digital credential, or a “commercially reasonable” equivalent. Most are already live, with the rest activating by late 2026.
- Social media: The net is widening beyond adult sites. As of late 2025, 10 states have adopted regulations enabling age verification for social media platforms with the goal to restrict access for minors. While active in eight states, these laws face fierce First Amendment challenges, leaving six similar proposals currently enjoined by courts.
- App stores: In a novel twist, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, and California have passed laws (effective 2026–2027) shifting the burden upstream. Soon, the Google Play Store and Apple App Store themselves may be legally required to verify your age category before letting you download an app.
Federal level
Washington is slower, but its proposals are sweeping:
- KOSA (Kids Online Safety Act): The “duty of care” bill that refuses to die. While it hasn’t passed the Senate as of late 2025, it hangs over the industry, threatening to impose liability on platforms that fail to mitigate harm to minors—a requirement that de facto mandates age assurance.
- KOSMA (Kids Off Social Media Act): Introduced in January 2025, this proposal would ban social media for under-13s entirely and kill algorithmic feeds for under-17s. It remains stuck in the introduction stage, but its existence signals a bipartisan appetite for hard limits.
- COPPA: The 1998 “old guard” law still anchors federal guidance for under-13s, but in 2025, it looks increasingly like a relic in an era of algorithmic addiction.
Learn more: Age Verification & Digital ID: A 2025 Privacy Reality Check
The Road Ahead—What to Expect for Digital ID and Age Checks
The question is no longer “Is digital ID coming to the U.S.?” but how quickly it will standardize. The same goes for age assurance. Let’s try to peek into the future and forecast what it holds:
- The “splinternet” gets worse before it gets better. Following the Supreme Court’s pivotal 2025 decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (which upheld Texas’s age verification for adult content), the legal floodgates are open. Expect a dozen more states to copy-paste these laws, creating a chaotic patchwork where your digital rights change every time you cross state lines.
- Privacy tech to the rescue (or not). The industry knows that uploading a driver’s license to a random website is a security nightmare. The solution that builds hopes up is zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). This tech allows you to prove you are over 18 without revealing your birthdate or name. Expect Apple and Google to integrate these native “age tokens” deeper into iOS and Android, turning your device—not a third-party server—into the ultimate verifier.
- Federal inertia vs. state velocity. While Washington debates heavy-handed bills (which often stall in committee), state legislatures are moving fast. The result? A “California effect” in reverse, where conservative states dictate the technical architecture of the internet for everyone else.
- The end of the honor system. The days of clicking “I’m 18+” are dead. Whether through an mDL scan or a biometric age estimation, the friction of the internet is increasing. We are moving toward a model of “authenticated anonymity”—where you can be anonymous to a website, but only after you’ve proven you are a real (and adult) human to the gatekeeper.
VPNs vs. Digital ID & Age Checks
The VPN market is growing, and for good reason. With servers getting faster and prices becoming more affordable, VPNs have silently turned into our everyday sidekicks when it comes to protecting our privacy on the internet. But can a VPN bypass online age verification? It depends.
If you live in Virginia, and your favorite orange site is blocked, a VPN can route your traffic through a state like New York, restoring access. This works because the block is based on your IP address. However, if Instagram requires you to scan your face or upload an ID to create an account, a VPN is useless. A VPN hides where you are, not who you are. And it cannot forge a biometric scan or a certified mDL.
Learn more: VPNs Explained: How They Work, What Matters, and the Best Secure VPNs of 2025
Are VPNs legal in the U.S.? Yes, absolutely. Using them to secure your traffic is smart. And using them to bypass state-mandated age gates is generally legal for the user (the liability usually falls on the platform), but it defeats the “safety” purpose of the laws.
Quick tip: Types of VPN Explained: How Each Works and Which Is Best for You
Surviving the Identity Shift
We are truly living through a pivotal period. The gold star on your license has transmuted into a cryptographic key in your pocket, and the honor system that governed the early internet is being dismantled by a new regime of proof of personhood. And while the shift to the U.S. digital ID may seem convenient, and the age check intensification is aimed at keeping kids safe, it comes with a hidden cost: the digitization of your very existence into a trackable, revocable data point.
Here is how to survive in this brave new world without becoming a cautionary tale:
- Check your wallet: See if your state offers an mDL and if your local airport is on the TSA acceptance list. If you travel often, setting it up is worth it as a backup, but always keep your plastic card on you.
- Minimize data sharing: When a website demands your papers, resist the urge to upload a raw scan of your ID. Always prioritize methods that use ZKPs or simple age tokens. Verify the attribute (“Over 21”), never the identity (“Steve from Ohio”).
- Use a VPN: VPNs and other privacy tools like Tor remain essential for network hygiene and prevent your ISP (and the state) from building a dossier of your browsing habits. A VPN won’t fake a biometric scan but is useful for bypassing geoblocks where age checks are state-based.
Quick tip: Best Free VPNs in 2025: Top Secure & Reliable No-Cost Options
Mass adoption of age assurance systems and digital ID in the USA is no longer science fiction—it’s just government bureaucracy with a better user interface. So use the tools and enjoy the future, but remember: in a digital world, you are only as secure as your private key.
What’s next for Digital IDs? Continue reading:
EU Digital ID and Age Verification
FAQs
Does the U.S. have a digital ID?
Yes. A U.S. digital ID is typically a mobile driver’s license (mDL) or an ID pass stored on your smartphone. It is a cryptographically secure version of your physical ID, used for in-person checks (like TSA checkpoints) and, increasingly, for privacy-preserving online verification.
When will digital ID be mandatory in the USA?
There is currently no plan to make the U.S. digital ID mandatory. The REAL ID standard for physical cards, however, is now mandatory for federal uses like flying.
What does the REAL ID look like?
It looks almost exactly like your standard driver’s license, but with one critical distinction: a star symbol in the upper-right corner. This star—usually gold or black, sometimes encased in a circle or a state symbol (like California’s bear)—signifies federal compliance. If your card lacks the star, it is a legacy credential that won’t get you past a TSA checkpoint. But can you fly without a REAL ID? Yes, as long as you have an acceptable alternative, such as a passport.
How does online age verification work in the USA?
Methods vary widely, from AI-based facial estimation to third-party services that require uploading a copy of your government ID. The method used is determined by state law and platform policy.
Are VPNs legal in the USA, and can they bypass age checks?
Yes, VPNs are legal in the U.S. They can bypass age checks based on your geographical location. However, they cannot bypass “hard” checks that require a verified government ID or biometric scanning, as they only mask your IP address.
