Google Wallet to Soon Allow uploading of U.S. Passport

Smartphones have changed the ways tourists travel around the world. Thanks to technology, it’s easy to store frequent flyer numbers, credit cards and even some state identification cards in virtual wallets.

However, one major identification document has eluded world travelers, a passport. However, even that may be coming to an end thanks to a recent announcement from global tech titan Google.

Coming Soon: Digital Passports

According to a Google blog post, the company will soon be testing the availability to store a U.S. passport as a digital identification in a smartphone Google Wallet app.

The new digital passport is currently set to launch with the technology available at select TSA checkpoints. Initially, it will only be available domestically so travelers will still need to carry a physical passport when traveling overseas for now.

However, knowing the adoption of digital identifications and passes around the world, it will just be a matter of time before the system is out of beta and available in more popular travel destinations around the globe.

How to Add Your Passport

Adding a digital passport will be more involved, and therefore more secure, than simply adding a credit card or other frequent flyer card to a Google Wallet smartphone app.

To add a passport, once the technology is available on a approved device, select the prompt for “add to wallet” then select “ID”. 

There will be an option for “create an ID pass with your U.S. passport.” The traveler will then need to have their physical passport in hand to complete the rest of the process.

The next step will be to scan the biometric security chip on the back of the passport. Once the passport is scanned, the last step is the traveler will need to take a selfie to ensure the person entering the passport in the Google Wallet app matches the passport information.

After several minutes, and a confirmed match of the selfie photo and the passport data, the tourist will receive a notification on their smartphone that the digital passport stored in Google Wallet is available for traveler use.

Airline Travel Just the Start

Google states that using passport information for travel is only one of the many possible applications that they have in mind for the technology.

They also anticipate that the digital passport system could streamline other travel tasks such as identity verification and even car…