When Tim Cook came to Japan in late 2022, it was a charm offensive to stave off government talk of forcing 3rd party app stores. During that time Tim Cook met with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida where he was reportedly asked to add support for the Japanese My Number ID on Apple Wallet. Nothing came out of the meeting as Cook reportedly had ‘security concerns’.
I’ll say. The whole My Number (Individual Number) digital ID initiative has seen many tech setbacks along the way with the Android Osaifu Keitai (Global Platform embedded secure element) app rollout postponed many times, finally launching in May 2023. Japanese media reports were finally right this time however…after 4 years of back and forth discussions and wishful thinking but little action on the part of the Japanese government, Apple has finally agreed to add digital My Number ID support to Apple Wallet, the first non-USA ID for Apple Wallet.
So there we have it: a full blown native Japanese government issue digital ID card, not a Japanese government issue app. Why now? WWDC marketing? Nope, the timing is due to revisions of the digital My Number legislation that passed the Japanese Diet on May 27 that aim to make ‘tap to ID’ easier and widespread on smartphones. This was spurred by the recent Noto Peninsula Earthquake disaster where My Number card use for evacuee tracking didn’t work out so the Ishikawa Prefecture government used Suica instead.
If the extremely slow rollout of Apple Wallet Driver Licenses and State IDs in America is any indication, I think we can expect a long wait. After all, the Apple press release is a ‘forward looking’ statement completely void of delivery dates. Some hopeful JP media types think it could come with iOS 18 in the fall of 2024, but considering the multiple delays on the Android Osaifu Keitai side, something which the Japanese government has some leverage with, probably not. I’m optimistic..but not that optimistic.
At best, Japan will see My Number in Apple Wallet at the tail end in the iOS 18 life cycle. There’s a lot of backend work to do and let’s face it, Apple is very distracted putting out regulatory fires in the EU, America, Japan and India. I wonder what Tim Cook hopes he got in Apple’s end of the bargain as Apple is being forced to allow 3rd party app stores.
2025-04-31 Update
Apple kept their end of the bargain adding new PassKit APIs to support My Number card in iOS 18 Wallet. The iOS 18.4 update showed the Wallet ID category in Japanese although there wasn’t any My Number ID add option. Apple later removed the Wallet ID category for the Japan region setting but it was an indication that the backend is ready pending final go-ahead from the Japanese Digital Agency.
Reference posts
Tim Cook’s December 2022 Japan Visit
Japanese government in discussions with Apple to add My Number ID
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