A campus-wide rollout of the digital mobile IDs was enacted in January of 2024. Prior to this update, students utilized physical IDs with a square photo of themselves taken on move-in day.
These photos from move-in day are no longer a way to connect with other people around campus. They had been a marker of past anxieties or fears in our wallets. There are no terrible IDs to laugh at and compare, to hide or to mourn. Personally, I know my ID made my face look like a square, and it’s the one thing I don’t mind putting to rest with the switch from physical to digital.
Even without the sometimes terrible photos, students still use Drake IDs to access the same things as before. They access buildings outside of their hours if you have been authorized to do so, as well as check out items at the library, use the Bell Recreational Center, ride the Des Moines DART bus system free of charge, purchase meals with dining dollars or Bulldog Bucks, or attend Drake Athletic Events.
Any student who already owns a physical ID could keep it, but if it was lost or stolen, the replacement is now $50, and there may be a delay in receiving the card.
It is worth noting that students can contact Student Services to discuss other options for ID if they feel they cannot utilize a mobile Drake ID. The new digital IDs can be added to Apple wallets, but for some students without iPhones, their device has trouble with the new systems needed to accommodate the change.
There is no Apple Wallet to hold the new ID, and instead, students must download a new app. As someone who used to have an Android, the two-factor authentication on the app worked to slow everything down, at all hours of the day —to eat, to study, even just to try to go to bed.
The virtual IDs glitch and log out often across campus. I’ve seen the mobile IDs disappear from the Apple Wallet or suddenly decide not to scan. There was a reliability in using the physical ID card. If a phone is misplaced, stolen, or simply forgotten, there is no backup card in a back pocket.
If a phone dies after adventures out, people are left locked and in the cold. Now, being spontaneous means falling victim to a 15% curfew.
Additionally, students used IDs in checkout systems for the residence hall kitchens. If a student wanted to use the kitchen or kitchen supplies, they could leave their ID behind as collateral.
The same can be said of the mailroom. If a student received a large package, they could borrow a cart to take it back to their room by leaving their ID behind. Due to the number of carts that were not returned without this collateral system, the mailroom is no longer allowing carts to be checked out. It is extremely difficult to work in the mailroom and hand off a package that neither of us can physically pick up to a student without wishing I could give them the cart that is sitting right there.
Most recently, the mobile IDs are blocking students from untangling themselves from the virtual world. If a student has a mobile ID, they have to bring their device everywhere. For me, sometimes all I want to do is throw my phone out the window.
With all that is happening on social media and within the news outlets, sometimes I just want to disconnect and leave my phone behind. Lying in the hammocks across campus with a good book and no notifications is the perfect solution. As someone who still has a physical ID, I can do that. But I wish that others could, too.
