Why introduce new problems? I was bike touring and wasn't carrying a phone. Isn't that allowed?
I like being able to skip all of that. That works too. It's not that hard.
Regardless, I have global entry so I do appreciate the desire to skip a line, but I don't follow how 100% digitization solves the need for checkpoints completely. It just seems like techno utopianism to me.
Edit: It's convenient if you are a digital native, but elderly folks, among others, will not find it easier than a physical passport. The push to require everyone to have a digital device to participate in society is troubling to me.
I'm not denying that it's security theater or claiming that it's more meaningful; I'm saying solely that there are physical expectations that are going to be very hard to shake once you go off the beaten path.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/273018/number-of-interne...
I've found that money is more meaningful than anything else to those bored officers. Either they don't actually care that much about your documents, or if they do, they're simply looking for a bribe. At least that's been my experience at out of the way border crossings in southern Africa.
The most ridiculous experience I had was crossing into Zimbabwe with my 11 year old son. The officer wanted to see his birth certificate, which was still in the car that had already been driven across the border. So I had to leave the building, walk across the border, which nobody batted an eye at, get the document, walk back across the border, re-enter the building, and then present the document to the officer who didn't even look at it before letting me proceed to leave the building and walk across the border once again.
So these documents can be checked locally without any form of communications to some central authority (which doesn't exist across national boundaries).
They have visible anti forgery like UV printed symbols and information, underprinted background text and patterns, etc etc.
So they are more "meaningful" than an offline smartphone with a passport app in that they do not require anything other than the officer's ability to see, feel and read the documents.
Even when there's no connection, no electricity, you get some modest layer of security out of "it's hard to manufacture a convincing fake passport if you don't have large-scale resources behind you."
What happens then with app-only passports? Do we close the border crossing entirely until the network is back up? Or do we rely on showing a QR code or NFC handshake that can't be properly verified? I'd think creating a fake passport app that reached those hurdles would probably be easier than getting access to specialized papers and printing technology.
just playing devil's advocate with the way I see it heading
Expecting always on satellite connections in a lot of these places is asking for a lot.
It might be easier than having reliable power grids or running water supply. Assuming at least some of the satellite-internet projects work out (Starlink, Amazon's thing, Chinese thing, European thing, ...) all you need might be a fairly affordable (comparing to infrastructure for running water) hardware that can run on demand using batteries.
AST Spacemobile and Starlink's user experience will just require mobile phones. No adapters or base station. they'll find a way to power them, or extend signal from them. for the passport holder, that will just be client side and no connectivity necessary.
Good luck to the French dude trying to drink in the U.S. without a passport, or getting stopped by the police in Łodz and not having any valid identification on you.
Nowadays, the licenses in the EU are standardized, but at the same time, they are completely unreadable if you don't know the standard, since data fields are numbered, but not usually described in English.
But as others have noted: assuming satellite cellular access is also a big leap. I once had someone check my papers by taking my passport, writing a copy of the entry visa number on it (itself hand-written), and then finding me hours later after they were able to find a landline to call the border service with.