New in OS X: Get MacRumors Push Notifications on your Mac

Resubscribe Now Close

Three Universities in U.S. Launch Contactless Student ID Cards on iPhone and Apple Watch

Tuesday October 2, 2018 5:06 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
Following a preview at WWDC 2018, Apple today announced that students at three universities in the United States can now add their student ID cards to Apple Wallet to get around campus using just an iPhone or Apple Watch.


Namely, starting today, students at Duke University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Oklahoma can now add their ID card to the Wallet app on iOS 12 and watchOS 5 and use it to pay quickly and easily for laundry, coffee or lunch, and even get into their dorms, the gym, or the school library.


Apple says Johns Hopkins University, Santa Clara University, and Temple University will roll out the capability by the end of this school year.

Students simply hold their iPhone or Apple Watch near the reader anywhere physical student ID cards are accepted — on and off campus. An optional Express Mode bypasses the need to authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode, allowing for the quickest entry possible to buildings around campus.

[ 74 comments ]


Top Rated Comments

(View all)

Avatar
Bbafett
25 weeks ago

Nice idea though I wouldn't use it.

Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).


You have to remember that in most cases the current student generation is on their phone at all times so it is already in their hand or readily available.
Rating: 12 Votes
Avatar
bigboyz12000
25 weeks ago
Natural progression at this point. Waiting for my job to enable this feature and replace the keycard i currently use to access the building :]
Rating: 8 Votes
Avatar
Baymowe335
25 weeks ago

Nice idea though I wouldn't use it.

Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).

Hmm, I think it's far more likely some would fumble around for a plastic card that has 1 purpose than a phone they probably already have in their hand or a watch that's on their wrist.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
4jasontv
25 weeks ago
My university already has these readers installed on every door. My iPhone and Apple watch make it beep... so why exactly is this roll out so slow? I feel like this is nothing more than adding a student ID to ApplePay.

The article would be a lot more useful (for me) if it provided details on what a campus IT team needed to activate this. You know, so I could bug them about it.
Rating: 6 Votes
Avatar
G5isAlive
25 weeks ago

Nice idea though I wouldn't use it.

Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).


And don't forget it works with Apple Watch.. which presumably is on their wrist, whats more convenient than waving your hand over a reader? No slapping. No fumbling for a plastic card. Just wave your hand, which in most cases is right there. Seems convenient to me.
Rating: 5 Votes
Avatar
moovyphreak
25 weeks ago

I find it incredibly amusing that Tim Cook is an Auburn alumn, but Alabama is one of the first schools to roll this out. You think he’d have pushed his alma mater to support it at launch.


Yes, but Cook earned his MBA at Duke, so...
Rating: 4 Votes
Avatar
WannaGoMac
25 weeks ago
Nice idea though I wouldn't use it.

Fumbling with a $750-1500 device repeatedly to get into buildings or buy things is nowhere as convenient as slaping a plastic card against a reader. You use this a lot more than Apple pay (which also is annoying since they required that double press a button to activate).
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
conan-kun
25 weeks ago
This is only available for schools who use Blackboard for their ID card, which is only one segment of the market. As Apple works with other vendors (such as CBORD), hopefully this will expand. I believe Auburn uses CBORD.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
jonblatho
25 weeks ago

Any chance you could record yourself doing this? I'd love to see it in action but can only find still images of people's IDs :/

It's nothing terribly exciting to watch...you just hold the device up to a reader and it scans automatically with Express Mode enabled. I'll try to get a video later though.
[doublepost=1538534824][/doublepost]

Any chance you could record yourself doing this? I'd love to see it in action but can only find still images of people's IDs :/

Update: Here you go. ('https://youtu.be/uUk1flLsuk0') Apologies for the sketchy/vertical video.
Rating: 3 Votes
Avatar
longofest
25 weeks ago
My company has been doing this for a few years using bluetooth low energy because Apple was so slow to adopt NFC.

https://security.kastle.com/solutions/mobile-platform/
Rating: 2 Votes

[ Read All Comments ]