Apple Watch student ID support makes getting around the campus easy

Apple has announced it will allow students to add their ID card to the Apple Wallet. The program is being piloted at three universities.

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Starting today, the ability to add student IDs to Wallet is available at the University of Alabama, Duke University and the University of Oklahoma. Johns Hopkins, Santa Clara and Temple Universities will join this list by the end of the year.

If all goes well, others will follow in 2019. The only caveat is that schools will have to actively partner with Apple in order to get student ID support. It won’t be possible to enable the feature without the company’s assistance.

What this means is that students will be able to use their Apple Watch or iPhone to gain access to the dorm, study halls, dining halls, gyms, libraries and more. All they’ll need to do is hold their device of choice in front of a card reader.

Students will also be able to pay for supplies at the bookstore, laundry or meals at all points on and off campus that accept physical student ID cards. Definitely a more secure way of paying for things.

The Cupertino outfit has apparently been testing the functionality at Apple Park for employee badges, so hopefully it should all go without a hitch. Its quite likely the company will open up the functionality at some point to other public and private institutions.

“When we launched Apple Pay, we embarked on a goal to replace the physical wallet,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services in a statement.

“We have expanded the capabilities of Wallet beyond payments, and we’re now thrilled to be working with campuses on adding contactless student ID cards.”

Now all that’s left is for someone to think of a way to get rid off those pesky computer passwords…

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