If you’re pulled over by a patrol car in Iowa, you might in future find the officer asking for your ‘iPhone and registration, please.’ The state is working on creating a smartphone app that can be shown in place of a physical license, reports the WSJ.
DOT spokeswoman Andrea Henry said that both security and privacy concerns need to be addressed before the project can proceed. Animation might be used to guard against someone showing a screengrab in place of the app, and privacy will be protected by ensuring that “the phone never leaves your hands.”
The app will also need to hide notifications while it is in use, preventing a police officer having access to any other information on the phone, such as text message alerts.
Users could hold up the phone so that police or Transportation Security Administration officers can scan the license electronically, rather than handling the phone.
MorphoTrust USA, the company working with the state to create the app, says that it is in discussion with more than 20 other states.
