The European Digital Identity Wallet is a secure digital application that allows EU citizens, residents, and businesses to store, manage, and share identity data and official documents entirely online. It is the centerpiece of eIDAS 2.0, which amends Regulation (EU) 910/2014 and entered into force on 20 May 2024. The regulation requires all EU Member States to offer a wallet to their citizens by 24 December 2026. The sections below answer the most common questions about how the EUDI Wallet works, what it contains, and when you can expect to use it.
How does the European Digital Identity Wallet actually work?
The EUDI Wallet works by storing verified attestations on your device and allowing you to share selected pieces of that information with services that request it. Instead of handing over a physical document or re-entering personal data on every platform, you approve what gets shared directly from the app, and the receiving party receives tamper-evident data tied to a cryptographic proof.
The underlying technology is built on standardized credential formats, specifically mdoc and SD-JWT VC, as defined in the Architecture and Reference Framework. These formats tie identity data to a cryptographic proof that allows any accepting party to confirm the data is genuine.
Verification is not a single cryptographic check. A relying party that receives a presentation from the EUDI Wallet performs three distinct controls. First, it verifies the issuer’s signature against the relevant national trusted list, which is part of the EU List of Trusted Lists. This check can be performed fully offline. Second, it checks the revocation status of the attestation using status information provided by the issuer, which requires a connection to that information. Third, it validates the wallet unit attestation to confirm that the presenting wallet is running on a certified wallet solution. These three controls together establish the trustworthiness of a presentation.
A key design principle is selective disclosure. If a service only needs to know you are over 18, the wallet shares that single confirmation, for example by disclosing the attribute “age over 18”, without revealing your date of birth or any other personal details. This puts users in control of their own data and limits unnecessary exposure of personal information.
The wallet connects to a broader ecosystem of participants. Issuers, including governments, institutions, and qualified trust service providers, place attestations into the wallet. Relying parties, meaning the services and organizations that accept those attestations, verify them when needed. Governance is a shared responsibility: the European Commission manages the legal framework and adopts implementing acts; EU Member States provide or mandate wallet solutions, certify and notify them, and supervise actors within their jurisdiction; the European Digital Identity Cooperation Group supports cross-border alignment; and national competent authorities oversee compliance at the national level. The Architecture and Reference Framework, developed by the European Commission together with Member States, provides the technical elaboration of the requirements set out in the implementing acts, and defines the standards that make this ecosystem interoperable across all EU countries.
What can you store and use the EUDI Wallet for?
The EUDI Wallet is designed to hold a wide range of official and personal attestations that you can use across both public and private services. At launch, the focus is on high-priority use cases, but the scope is intended to grow significantly over time.
Documents and attestations you can store in the EUDI Wallet include:
- A national digital identity document (the mobile driving licence is one of the first planned attestations)
- Educational qualifications and diplomas
- Professional certifications and licences
- Health data, such as prescriptions or medical records
- Bank account information for payment-related identification
- Travel documents
- Company registration data for business users
In practice, you will be able to use the wallet to log in to government portals, open a bank account, sign contracts with a qualified electronic signature, prove your age, access healthcare services across borders, and verify professional credentials when applying for a job. The goal is a single, trusted digital identity that works wherever you are in Europe. Cross-border use depends on a relying party being registered and operational under the applicable national framework in the country where you are using the service, and sector-specific legal requirements continue to apply alongside the wallet framework.
It is also worth noting that a qualified electronic signature made through the wallet carries the same legal effect as a handwritten signature throughout the EU, as established by eIDAS 2.0. National formal requirements for specific legal acts continue to apply, and certain attestations may carry different legal consequences depending on sector-specific legislation in individual Member States.
What is the difference between the EUDI Wallet and existing digital ID solutions?
The key difference is scope, standardization, and user control. Existing digital identity solutions, such as national eID schemes, bank-based logins, or commercial identity applications, are typically limited to one country, one sector, or one platform. The EUDI Wallet is designed to work across all EU Member States, all sectors, and both public and private services under a single regulatory framework. An existing national eID scheme is not automatically an EUDI Wallet, even where it provides a strong foundation for one.
Most current solutions operate on a centralized model where a central provider holds your data and shares it on your behalf. The EUDI Wallet shifts this toward a model where attestations are stored on your own device. You decide what to share, with whom, and when. There is no single central European database holding everyone’s identity data. At the same time, the governance of the ecosystem is centrally organized through national trusted lists, state-designated PID issuers, and national registration of relying parties under CIR (EU) 2025/848.
Another important distinction is legal recognition. Under eIDAS 2.0, attestations issued through the EUDI Wallet at the highest level of assurance are legally recognized across all EU Member States. Existing solutions often lack this cross-border legal equivalence. Certain attestations may still carry different legal consequences depending on sector-specific legislation in individual Member States, and national registration requirements for relying parties remain in place.
The EUDI Wallet is built on open, interoperable standards defined through the implementing acts and elaborated in the Architecture and Reference Framework. This means different national wallets can communicate with each other and with private sector services, something that fragmented national solutions have historically struggled to achieve.
Who is required to accept the European Digital Identity Wallet?
Under eIDAS 2.0, certain categories of service providers are legally required to accept the EUDI Wallet for identification and authentication. The regulation draws a clear distinction between public sector obligations and private sector obligations, with different deadlines for each.
From 24 December 2026, public sector bodies that require electronic identification for access to online services must accept notified EUDI Wallets. This applies to services such as tax authorities, social security, and government portals.
From 24 December 2027, the obligation under Article 5f of eIDAS 2.0 applies to regulated private sector entities where strong user authentication is required by law or contract. The sectors covered include:
- Banking and financial services, for customer identification and onboarding under KYC and AML obligations
- Healthcare, where authentication is required for access to services or records
- Telecommunications providers that require identity verification when issuing SIM cards or contracts
- Energy providers
- Transport services
- Education
- Social security
- Digital infrastructure and digital services
Micro and small enterprises are exempt from the private sector obligation. The exemption applies to organizations with fewer than 50 employees and an annual turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 10 million euros.
Very large online platforms as defined under the Digital Services Act are covered by a separate provision within Article 5f. Where a platform requires user authentication, it must offer wallet-based login as an option on the voluntary request of the user and for the minimum necessary data. The condition relating to legally or contractually required strong authentication does not apply to very large online platforms.
Before requesting wallet data, every relying party must register with the national authority of the Member State where it is established, in accordance with CIR (EU) 2025/848, adopted on 6 May 2025. Registration is done per intended use, specifying which attributes and attestations will be requested. The wallet checks each presentation request against the registered scope. A relying party must be able to accept every relevant notified wallet, regardless of which Member State issued it or which provider operates the wallet solution.
Beyond the mandatory categories, many other organizations are expected to integrate the wallet as it becomes widely adopted. For organizations in government and regulated industries, early preparation is important because acceptance obligations come with technical integration requirements that take time to implement correctly.
When will the European Digital Identity Wallet be available?
The EUDI Wallet is already in an advanced stage of development. eIDAS 2.0, Regulation (EU) 2024/1183, entered into force on 20 May 2024. The legal deadline for Member States to make a wallet available to all citizens and residents who wish to use one is 24 December 2026. This is a legal deadline, not a predicted launch date, and it does not mean that every national wallet will reach the same level of maturity on that date or that every possible cross-border use case will be fully operational throughout Europe from that moment. Practical interoperability and national rollout are expected to develop in phases, and the pace will differ between Member States.
Four Large Scale Pilots ran from April 2023 to 2025 and have concluded. The EWC pilot covered Digital Travel Credentials, payments, and organisational digital identity. POTENTIAL tested government services, bank account opening, SIM registration, mobile driving licences, remote qualified signing, and electronic prescriptions. NOBID focused on payments. DC4EU covered education and social security. The findings from these pilots fed directly into the technical specifications and implementing acts being finalized during 2025.
A second wave of pilots started in 2025. WE BUILD focuses on business wallets and payments. APTITUDE covers travel, ticketing, vehicle registration, and payments.
In practice, the rollout will be gradual. Some Member States will launch earlier than others, and the range of supported attestations will expand over time. Certification and notification of national wallets, operational interoperability, and widespread acceptance by relying parties are distinct milestones that will be reached at different points across the EU. The private sector acceptance obligation under Article 5f applies from 24 December 2027. Organizations that want to be ready should begin their technical and compliance preparation now. The regulatory timelines are firm, and the integration work required is substantial.
For businesses, the relevant question is how ready your systems will be to accept and process wallet-based attestations when the obligation applies to your sector. Understanding the implementation approach early gives you a meaningful advantage.
How TrustTech helps with the European Digital Identity Wallet
Preparing for the EUDI Wallet means rethinking how your organization verifies identity, handles compliance, and manages trust across digital interactions. TrustTech addresses this through the ID Connector.
The ID Connector is an integration that lets relying parties accept every certified European wallet, whatever Member State issued it, for identification, login and qualified signing. EUDI Wallet acceptance comes first; the same interface also carries other IDs, such as national eIDs, bank IDs and identity documents, inside and outside the EU.
Concretely, the ID Connector handles:
- Wallet acceptance across all notified wallet solutions, regardless of issuing Member State
- Verification of issuer signatures against national trusted lists, as consolidated in the EU List of Trusted Lists
- Revocation status checks using issuer-provided status information
- Validation of wallet unit attestations to confirm the presenting wallet runs on a certified wallet solution
- Enforcement of the registered attribute scope per intended use, in line with CIR (EU) 2025/848
- Reuse of verified identity data for onboarding and compliance flows in financial services, healthcare, pharma, and government
- Qualified signing via a connected qualified trust service provider
Get in touch with our team to discuss what the EUDI Wallet means for your organization and how the ID Connector fits into your integration roadmap.