What is the EU Digital Identity Wallet?

The EU Digital Identity Wallet, or EUDI Wallet, is an app that lets people identify themselves online and in person and present credentials such as a driving licence or a diploma, sharing only the data a service actually needs. Every EU member state must offer at least one such wallet to its citizens and residents. Use is voluntary and free of charge. As of 12 October 2026, the Eudigo EUDI Index lists no certified EUDI Wallet in any member state and tracks where each country stands.

The legal basis

EUDI stands for “European Digital Identity”. The wallet is set out in the revised eIDAS Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, often called eIDAS 2.0. Article 5a obliges each member state to provide at least one wallet within 24 months of the entry into force of the relevant implementing acts. Those implementing regulations entered into force on 24 December 2024, so the deadline is, by calculation, 24 December 2026. All dates are explained in EUDI Wallet deadlines.

The wallets are national products, but they follow common EU rules and technical specifications. A wallet issued in one member state is meant to work with services in all the others.

According to the regulation, a wallet can be provided directly by a member state, under a mandate from a member state, or independently but recognised by it (Art. 5a(2)). In practice, most countries are building a state wallet or upgrading an existing government app.

What the wallet stores

A wallet holds two kinds of data:

• Person identification data (PID): the core identity record, issued under national law, in Germany for example on the basis of the ID card or electronic residence permit. It is used to prove who you are, for example when opening a bank account or signing a contract.
• Electronic attestations of attributes: further credentials such as a driving licence, educational certificates, professional qualifications or membership cards, issued by public bodies or private providers.

Typical use cases are opening an account, signing up for a mobile contract, proving your age, logging in to public services or presenting a credential across borders. The regulation also requires that the wallet can be used to create qualified electronic signatures (Art. 5a(4)(e)); some countries, including Germany, will add this only after launch.

How it differs from a plastic ID card

When you hand over a physical ID card, the other side sees everything on it. The regulation requires the wallet to support selective disclosure (Art. 5a(4)): the user shares only the attributes that are needed. An age check, for instance, can be answered with “over 18” without revealing name or date of birth.

Organisations that want to request data from a wallet, called wallet-relying parties, must first register in the member state where they are established and state what data they request and for what purpose (Art. 5b). They may not ask for more than they have registered. From 24 December 2026, each member state must publish its register online, including through a common public API (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/848). To identify themselves to the wallet, relying parties use an access certificate. How registration works is described in Relying party registration.

Who has to accept it

Public sector bodies that require electronic identification for an online service must also accept the EUDI Wallet (Art. 5f(1)). Private companies that are legally or contractually required to use strong user authentication, for example in banking, energy, transport, telecommunications, health or postal services, must accept it at the user’s request, by calculation from 24 December 2027 at the latest (Art. 5f(2)). Very large online platforms under the Digital Services Act must accept it too (Art. 5f(3)). Micro and small enterprises are exempt from the private-sector obligation.

Details: Which companies must accept the EUDI Wallet? and Small business exemption.

Is it mandatory for citizens?

No. The regulation states that use of the wallet is voluntary and that people who do not use one must not be disadvantaged (Art. 5a(15)). Existing ID cards, national eID schemes and offline procedures remain available.

What does it cost?

Issuing, using and revoking the wallet must be free of charge for natural persons (Art. 5a(13)). Issuers of individual credentials may still charge fees, as they do today for some paper documents; the German project FAQ, for example, says so explicitly.

Where things stand in the member states

The member states are at very different stages. Eudigo classifies each country using official sources; as of 12 October 2026 the index shows:

Some examples: Denmark’s AltID has been live since 3 June 2026 with ID and age proof. Italy’s IT-Wallet in the IO app has been live since December 2024. Romania has announced a test version from 31 October 2026 and a launch on 14 January 2027. Germany’s ministry for digital affairs has announced the launch of its wallet, d-you, for 2 January 2027 (details in German). Finland, Czechia and Slovenia expect their wallets in 2027.

The country-by-country overview is in EUDI Wallets in the EU, and the full data with sources and history in the EUDI Index.

Is it secure?

The regulation sets high security requirements, and each wallet must be certified by conformity assessment bodies designated by the member states (Art. 5c); member states notify certified wallets to the Commission, which publishes a list (Art. 5d). Whether individual national implementations meet these goals, for example on pseudonymous use or protection against tracking, is debated by experts and civil society in several member states. Eudigo reports on such assessments with sources but does not certify or rate wallets.