Own identity is one of the great challenges of the digital age.Trust is something very important when you do business, government procedures or try to access some type of service online.But in a world of transactions across screens, trust is hard to establish.How can you know for sure that the other party is real?In June 2021, the European Commission set out to address this issue by offering all EU citizens a set of strong digital identity credentials that will be recognized anywhere in the area.These credentials will be accessible from a digital wallet and will be available to anyone from their mobile device, making it possible to carry the DNI on the phone, as well as other identification documents.In the 'real' world, for both citizens and companies, any of the aforementioned processes is mainly based on physical documents that we are all forced to carry.Do you want to buy something, get on a plane or sign a contract?So the normal thing is that you use some type of physical identification such as your DNI, passport, your driving license, etc.In the digital world, things are somewhat more complicated.Neither party is physically present, so the mere presentation of a passport number/photo is not proof of anything.That is why in Europe and, by extension, in Spain, a new identification technology has been developed, called DNI 4.0.An evolution of the current DNI 3.0 with a chip that can be read on our computers, but that goes a step further by allowing it to be stored on the smartphone in a completely legal way.In this way, any of us can leave the wallet at home and carry the documentation with a mobile phone.The downside is that it is a technology that is still in its infancy, despite the promises of government agencies and politicians.The possibility of being able to carry your DNI on your mobile phone is something that should already be in place, but for now it is only 'half' possible, since the necessary technology for it has not yet been developed.To get it you need two things: an application and a new ID.As with the DNI 3.0 that many of us have carried in our pockets for years, this new card has a microchip that guarantees a much higher reading speed.In addition, through this new document, you will be able to identify yourself with the phone thanks to an application designed for it, DNIe.This card is obtained in the same way that any other DNI is obtained, whether it is new or due to the need for renewal.You simply have to go to a National Police station where these types of documents are issued and ask for an appointment.When you go, you will have to take a couple of passport photos and pay the fee of 12 euros.It is the same card for all the member countries of the European Union, except for one detail that differentiates it: the two letters that serve to identify the code of the corresponding country (in the case of Spain, the letters ES).In addition, it shows the citizen's data in Spanish and English, to favor identification in any territory of the continent.Once you have the new DNI in your possession, to save it on your smartphone you have to use the aforementioned DNIe app.This will collect our biometric data, the holder's certificates and the passport photo.The bad thing is that it is an application that they promised would arrive before 2022 and even today it is still not developed.At the moment there is no news regarding its launch, but we hope that, at least, it will arrive before the end of the year and allow, just what they promised at the time, to be able to carry the DNI on the mobile.Bearing in mind that DNI 4.0 has been with us for almost a year, it is unacceptable that the Developers team of this app has not yet found the key that allows it to be published on Google Play and the App Store.Therefore, due to the delay in the app, at the moment you cannot carry your DNI on your mobile, although we hope that in the coming months we will be able to turn this statement around.Legally, no.We cannot identify ourselves using an ID photo, as it can be easily edited with photo retouching applications such as Photoshop.No government body, administration or business will accept an image of your identity card that you have stored in the memory of your mobile phone.But, yes, it is possible that carrying a photo of the DNI on the smartphone will be useful for other things, such as making photocopies of it when you need it.Waiting for those responsible for bringing the DNIe app to a successful conclusion to allow us to carry an Identity card on our mobile, right now there are other types of documentation that we can legally use from our mobile phone, and others that are in developing.The General Directorate of Traffic is ahead of the Ministry of the Interior and, for months, has made a free mobile application available to users so that you can carry your driving license and the documentation of your vehicles in digital format on your mobile.Best of all, it's completely legal.But not only that, but also the application of the DGT helps us to pay fines, identify drivers, or carry out any other type of paperwork and management.These are the documents you can store in it:Of course, the validity of this digital medium is limited to Spanish territory.It will not do any good if security agents stop you abroad, for which you do need to show the documentation on physical support.Right now there are different autonomous communities, such as Madrid, that have these virtual health cards that help us carry out different procedures such as requesting an appointment, making inquiries, directly accessing the medical history, consulting our medication or configuring alerts and notices, among other actions. .With the pandemic, these apps were improved to speed up procedures and now it is possible to use them both in health centers and hospitals and pharmacies to identify ourselves without having to carry a physical card.In addition, the EU plans to start testing the application to prove our identity online, either to verify our age or to check other data, which it calls 'wallet'.Its launch is scheduled for October 2022, when it is likely that the basis for an agreement between the member countries will already be in place.The idea of ​​this technology is that, instead of using our Facebook or Google profile to log in to certain applications or services, the Commission proposes 'a secure European electronic identity, a technology in which we can control what data is shared and how are used'.We will not be provided with a European digital identity number, and we will remain citizens of our own country, but if you want one, you will have to wait a bit.The EU only plans to start testing the plan in October, if there is no delay as is the case with the DNIe app, and has not yet set a firm date for when it would be available to all residents of the region.