Google has announced that Android is getting support for digital credential presentation and issuance. This is being done with native support for OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI standards, which are being integrated within Android’s Credential Manager.
With the addition of this feature, users will be able to save digital credentials on their device within any app that supports the DigitalCredential API. The apps will also be able to share the information with other apps and the user can use them to upload the credentials or present them wherever necessary. For obvious security and privacy reasons, the transfers will happen over encrypted communication tunnels.
Digital credentials selection interface
Digital credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents, which can include anything from the user’s driver’s license, passports, or national IDs but could also be education certificates, insurance policies, memberships, permits, and more if the technology is more widely adopted. These can typically be provided and stored by typical wallet apps, such as Google Wallet, but also airline apps, which may want to store users’ miles reward programs.
For now, the feature is supported by Google Wallet and is also coming to Samsung Wallet and 1Password.