Checking digital driver licences

Find out how digital licences are better for your business.

Digital driver licences are coming to all Victorians in 2024. This follows our successful trial in Ballarat. If your business or organisation checks licences, you may get people showing you their phone instead of a card.

The good news is that checking digital licences is a safe and simple way to get info when you need it. You’ll be able to check licences quicker, and you’ll know the info comes straight from official driver licence records.

Don’t worry, licence cards will still be around. You can accept them until you're ready to check digital.

Use these quick guides for licence checkers:

The most secure way to check a digital driver licence is to scan the QR code using the Service Victoria or myVicRoads app. If you plan to use the QR code to check digital licences, we encourage you to download the Service Victoria and VicRoads apps available from the Apple Store and Google Play.

An easy and secure way to check ID

A digital driver licence links a person’s official records to their mobile.

They have QR codes that you can scan to:

  • check a full driver licence
  • confirm someone’s basic ID details, or
  • check a person is over 18

The digital licence shows you when the app last pulled info from the Victorian Licensing Registry. If the info isn’t current, you can ask the customer to refresh it so you know it’s up to date.

How to check a digital driver licence

To check a digital licence, ask the person to:

  1. Pull down on their details screen to refresh, then show you the photo and the hologram
  2. Show you the QR code to scan if you need to
  3. Ask to see their physical licence if you’re still not sure

Don’t take a person’s phone while scanning. Get them to tilt their screen towards you to show you the QR code. They can enlarge the code by tapping on it if they need to. That way you can scan without touching the customer or their phone.

Getting your business ready

You’ll need the Service Victoria app to scan licences from Service Victoria. People can also have a digital licence in the myVicRoads app. You’ll need both apps to be able to scan licences.

Always be sure to download the official versions of these apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. The digital driver licence QR code isn’t going to a website like most QR codes. You’re viewing someone’s info by connecting to their official licence records. This needs to happen inside of the Service Victoria or myVicRoads app. That way, customers can keep their info safe, and you can trust the result.

There are 3 levels of info that someone can share with their digital driver licence:

  • Full licence: This shows you info about a person’s right to drive. People will share this info when they need to show police things like licence status, classes, or restrictions.
  • Identity: This is a person’s basic ID info — their name and address.
  • Proof of age: A proof of age check confirms that someone is over 18. This won’t show their exact age or date of birth.

When people refresh their licence, it updates straight from their official record. This means that when you scan a licence, you know the info is coming from a trusted source.

When you scan someone’s digital licence, you’ll see when they last refreshed their info.

Even if someone has had their licence suspended, cancelled or expired you can still check they are over 18 or check their identity.

The QR code connects to a person’s records every time the code gets refreshed. Each code is unique and lasts 2 minutes. After that, a person needs to refresh again to update their info. This helps protect against fraud, so you know the info is valid.

The hologram on a digital licence is similar to the one on a plastic card. If a person tilts their phone back and forth, you’ll see the image move and change colour.

A scan of the QR code can quickly verify the information needed.

Sometimes you’ll get an error if we can’t connect to a network, or to a person’s info. If you try to scan again it should work. But if it doesn't, you should check a person's physical licence or use another form of ID.

Other errors will tell you if the licence isn’t valid, or if the QR code doesn’t look right. In that case, you can check a person’s physical licence or use other ways to check their identity.

You can always ask someone to see their plastic driver licence or ask for another form of ID.

Right now, there’s no way for someone to share a copy of their digital driver licence. You shouldn’t hold onto copies of customer details unless you really need to. Keeping copies of this info is a fraud risk.

We don’t recommend that anyone shares screen shots of digital driver licences.

We're working on a safe and secure way to share copies of digital licences.

More info

Check this page over the coming weeks. We’ll add more updates as we get closer to launching the digital driver licence for all Victorians.

You can always contact us if you have any questions or feedback.