Google makes it easier to share digital credentials on your Android phone

What you need to know

• Android now natively supports OpenID standards for digital credential presentation and issuance.
• Users can securely store and send cryptographically verifiable digital documents across different apps.
• This update enables wider use of digital credentials for various purposes, including account recovery and identity verification on different platforms.

Google recently expanded its Digital ID access through its Wallet app for residents in the U.K. And to further expand the interoperability across different apps that store digital identities, the search giant is aiming to support open standards via various identity providers and services through the Android operating system.

Last week, through an Android Developers blog post, the company has announced that, “Android, via Credential Manager's DigitalCredential API, now natively supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance respectively.”

As the search giant further explains, the Digital Credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents. They can include documents like driver's licenses, passports, or national IDs. And, through Android apps and with the help of the respective app developers, more can be incorporated and submitted digitally like education certifications, insurance policies, permits, for example in the near future.

Currently, the supported digital documents can be stored in "credential holders" apps like Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Some apps like banking or airline apps would, however, sometimes require the digital document for verification, which is not necessarily stored in the respective banking app.

Since Android supports secure sharing between devices through CTAP protocols. Users will be able to store multiple credentials across apps and choose which one to pick using OpenID4VP requests from websites or Android Credential Manager API.

The process involves verifier sending an OpenID4VP request to the Digital Credential API, prompting the user to select a credential. The user here only chooses a credential, not a digital wallet app. Android then redirects the request to the digital wallet app holding the credential to complete the action. The app can further perform additional due diligence before releasing the credential.

Per the recent Google Wallet announcement, soon users can use digital credentials to recover "Amazon accounts, access online health services with CVS and MyChart by Epic, and verify profiles or identity on platforms like Uber and Bumble."

Next to Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and 1Password will also be able to hold people's digital credentials as digital wallets and support OpenID standards through Android's Credential Manager API.