Mississippi is unveiling a new app that’s designed to store someone’s driver license on their phone.

Mississippi Mobile ID is advertised as a convenient, secure and private app that will Mississippi residents to manage their identity unlike before. The app digitizes your driver’s license or state-issued ID so it can be carried around the through the app on your smartphone making it convenient for everyone.

Mobile ID keeps user data secure and ensures privacy of personal information by only storing information with the state system of record and on the user’s device. Privacy views allow you to verify your age without having to expose sensitive data like birth date, height, or address.

Mobile ID offers the convenience of a contact-less method for verifying identity with barcode scanning enabled. By creating a direct line of communication with consumers, Mobile ID allows the DPS to push updates to information such as an address change or status update, so verifiers can be confident the identity they are accepting is authentic and up-to-date.

Users can prove their identity and pay for purchases from the same device at participating locations.

However, state officials say people will still need a physical driver license to show if requested when they are stopped by law enforcement. Another exception listed on the program’s website is boarding an airplane.

Still, there’s a “growing list” of businesses and state agencies that accept the Mississippi Mobile ID, state officials said.

A merchant or vendor can use Mobile ID in any context in which they would use your physical ID to verify age or identity.

“Vendors can accept the Mobile ID with confidence, as information on the digital ID can be verified against what is on file with the Department of Public Safety and will always be accurate and up-to-date,” the program’s website states.

The Oxford Police Department has received notice of the new mobile app and they are reviewing the best way to partner with and utilize it, said Police Chief Jeff McCutchen. McCutchen said he is sure the app will be very helpful for the police department.

“We’re still trying to learn and see how we can implement it,” he said. “We are so new to it but we are going to get it going and get started. I feel like it will be a benefit to our community.”

Residents’ information is secure and can only be accessed with their fingerprint or face ID, officials with the Department of Public Safety said.

Mississippi Mobile ID is voluntary, and residents may continue relying on their physical ID.
Some residents interviewed by the WLOX TV station prefer to continue relying on their physical ID.

“At the end of the day, we already have so much of our personal data on our phones anyway that I think that we kind of need to keep a little bit off of our phones,” said Nick Fain of Ocean Springs. Fain said he prefers the physical card he keeps in his wallet.

More information about the program is available at www.driverservicebureau.dps.ms.gov/mobile-id.