THOSE TOO ARE FEATURES:

Apple touts the feature as an added convenience, though to privacy experts and advocates, it is raising alarm.

"This just strikes me as the latest example of where they're trying to weave themselves into more and more aspects of our lives," said Evan Greer, director of the group Fight for the Future, a progressive organization critical of Big Tech. "And when Apple becomes kind of indispensable, it truly is too big to fail."

While iPhone users can already store digital copies of their credit cards and make purchases using Apple's Wallet app, some see the digital ID as a bridge too far, inviting greater surveillance and data tracking.`

Elizabeth Renieris, a fellow at Standard University who studies digital identification systems, said the feature may be easy-to-use and save time. Those conveniences, however, come at a cost: Turning every instance in which we show our ID into a business opportunity.

"The sleeker these credentials are, the more they're embedded into things we're always attached to like a mobile device, which we take everywhere, the more there's an incentive to introduce identity requirements in contexts where it never existed before," Renieris said. "We're running a risk where we'll be in a situation where we always have to identify ourselves..."

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