Denmark’s digital ID app AltID became available this week, giving residents a new way to prove their identity and age directly from a smartphone, while laying the groundwork for a future European digital identity wallet.
The app, developed by the Danish Agency for Digital Government (Digitaliseringsstyrelsen), allows users to store selected identity information digitally instead of showing a passport or driving licence in everyday situations. In its first version, AltID can be used in Denmark for identity verification and age checks, with wider functions expected to be added over the coming years.
AltID starts with digital age and identity checks
AltID is Denmark’s new official app for ID and digital proofs. According to the Danish Agency for Digital Government, the app is available to people over 13 who have MitID and a CPR number, Denmark’s civil registration number.
The first version includes two main functions: a digital identity card and an age proof. The age proof is designed for situations where a person only needs to show that they are old enough to buy a restricted product, rather than revealing their full name, address or exact date of birth.
This is one of the central privacy arguments behind the app. In a supermarket or at a checkout, a user can present a QR code confirming that they meet the required age threshold. The person checking the ID does not need to see more information than necessary.
Adam Lebech, deputy director at the Danish Agency for Digital Government, told TV 2 that the system is built around selective disclosure: “You only provide the precise information. That is the whole infrastructure we are building on.”
Denmark’s digital wallet will expand beyond the first app
The first version of AltID is limited, but the Danish authorities present it as the beginning of a broader digital identity wallet. Over time, the plan is to collect several digital proofs in one place, including travel documents for use in the EU, a driving licence and a health card.
The Danish Agency for Digital Government says AltID will be developed in stages to meet the requirements of the revised eIDAS regulation, the EU framework for electronic identification and trust services. The agency is responsible for making the digital identity wallet available in Denmark.
This means that AltID is not only a domestic digital service. It is also Denmark’s route into the European Digital Identity Wallet, a system designed to allow citizens, residents and businesses to identify themselves and share verified information across EU member states.
The European Commission says the EU wallets are intended to provide a “safe, reliable and private” means of digital identification across Europe. Each member state must provide a wallet to citizens, residents and businesses under the new framework.
Privacy advocates welcome less data sharing, but warn about tracking risks
Digital rights organisation Digitalt Ansvar welcomed the idea that people should not have to show more personal information than necessary. Its director, Ask Hesby Holm, told TV 2 that the new app can reduce unnecessary data exposure when people are asked to prove their age.
But the organisation also warned that the system must not become a tool for centralised monitoring. One concern is whether the app could create a central register allowing the state to track when and where citizens use identity checks.
The Danish Agency for Digital Government says this has been a key concern during development, and that the app has been designed to avoid such tracking. Digitalt Ansvar said this will only become clear once the system is used in practice.
AltID includes security features already familiar from Denmark’s Covid pass, including a QR code, a digital clock and watermarks. These are intended to reduce fraud and make digital proofs easier to verify.
Digital inequality remains a concern in one of Europe’s most digitalised countries
Denmark is among Europe’s most digitalised countries, but the launch of AltID has renewed questions about whether public services risk excluding people who do not use smartphones or digital tools.
Thomas Ploug, professor of data ethics at Aalborg University, warned that digital inequality can grow if access to services becomes dependent on using an app. “The problem of inequality can arise if one can only access online services and services when one has the app,” he told TV 2.
For now, AltID remains voluntary. Danes can still use a passport or driving licence to identify themselves or prove their age. This is important for older people, people without smartphones and anyone who prefers not to use digital identity tools.
The Danish authorities expect adoption to increase gradually. Lebech said younger users are likely to be the first to use AltID, while broader use may come later as the app becomes accepted in more places in Denmark and across Europe.
A Danish test case for Europe’s digital identity future
AltID arrives at a time when the EU is trying to make digital identity both more practical and more interoperable. The goal is to let people prove specific facts about themselves, such as age or residence status, without sharing full documents every time.
For Denmark, the app fits a long-term public digitalisation strategy. For Europe, it is part of a wider attempt to create common infrastructure for cross-border services, travel and verified digital documents.
The main test will be whether AltID can combine convenience, privacy and inclusion. If it works as intended, it could make identity checks simpler while reducing unnecessary data sharing. If not, it may deepen concerns about digital dependence in public life.
