iOS 12

University of Alabama president touts partnership w/ Apple to bring student IDs to Wallet

Chance Miller | Jun 17 2018 - 9:19 am PT

With iOS 12 and watchOS 5, Apple is introducing support for student IDs in the existing Wallet application. While the company didn’t go into a whole lot of detail about the feature at WWDC, Blackboard last week detailed its involvement, and now the University of Alabama is touting the benefits of student IDs in Apple Wallet…

As reported by the Associated Press, University of Alabama president Stewart Bell explained that the school has been working with Apple on the feature for “some time.” Bell also touted that it will allow students to have more secure access to their ID as they won’t have to carry a physical card with them.

“We have actually been working on this project for some time a little bit under the cloak of secrecy,” Bell said. “It is a next-generation technology program that will allow our students to have access to security issues and things they pay for.”

While Alabama and Apple have been working on student IDs in Apple Wallet for “about a year,” it won’t launch in time for the start of the Fall semester – which shouldn’t come as a surprise as the feature comes as part of iOS 12, expected to be released in September.

Bell said the university and Apple have been partnering to develop the program for about a year. The functions will be available in September after students arrive for fall classes on Aug. 22.

Alabama is one of three schools who will support student IDs in Wallet at launch – Duke and the University of Oklahoma are the other two. The next wave will bring it to Johns Hopkins University, Santa Clara University and Temple University.