Jim Hudson, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, announces the availability of a mobile app allowing Arkansans to download their driver’s license information in digital form at a press conference in the DFA Revenue Division headquarters in Little Rock on Monday, March 3, 2025. (Photo by Sonny Albarado/Arkansas Advocate)
Arkansans can now download a digital driver’s license or state ID onto their mobile devices, but it will be a while before law enforcement agencies will be able to accept them, state officials said Monday.
The Revenue Division of the Department Finance and Administration announced the “AR Mobile ID” app at a press conference, but DFA Secretary Jim Hudson and Revenue Director Charlie Collins said it may take a few weeks or months for law enforcement to acquire the necessary digital equipment to allow citizens to use the digital license or ID in place of a physical license.
Hudson and Collins also announced the formal rollout of an online appointment system that allows residents to schedule visits to state revenue offices to renew driver’s licenses or handle other business.
The state is working with the federal Transportation Security Agency to enable users of AR Mobile ID to go through security checkpoints at airports to board flights, Hudson said. He said DFA hopes to complete the TSA approval process “sometime this summer.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
“Once that process is completed, you have your driver’s license information on your device, you have your boarding pass on your device,” he said, mentioning the benefit of not having to dig around in a purse or wallet for a physical license and worrying about leaving it behind during the security check-in.
The digital license, which officials described as highly secure, can also be used at participating businesses and venues as a valid form of ID, Collins said.
“If you’re a restaurant or a bar, you want to make sure the IDs being presented to you are authentic and valid … [with the app] they can check and be sure it’s not a fraudulent ID, that it’s a real ID.”
The list of organizations and businesses that accept Mobile ID should grow over time as more businesses and law enforcement agencies adopt the Mobile ID Verify app to confirm the digital license and IDs of Arkansans, the department said in a press release.
Appointment scheduler
The revenue division began piloting the appointment system in December and has so far had 7,000 completed appointments, the DFA secretary said. The Bentonville revenue office averages about 100 appointments a day, he said.
The appointment system is in place at about half the agency’s 134 revenue offices. The rollout should be complete in late spring or early summer, he said.
The digital license app is available via Apple’s App Store and Google Play.
“What we like about it is we’re out in front,” Collins said, because not many other states have such systems.
One feature that should be welcomed, he said, “is the ability to share your documents in advance. One of the things we can all be concerned about when we go to a revenue office is ‘did I bring I bring all the right documents or not.’”
“A lot of us don’t have an hour to sit around and wait.” Hudson said. with the appointment system, “you’ll be able to pick a day and pick a time to come into the office and do your business. Your wait time will be minimal. We’ll serve you in a few minutes.”
Revenue offices will continue to take walk-ins, he said, but making appointments is one of the agency’s efforts to improve efficiency and better serve Arkansans.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.