The Key to Convergence: Mobile Access Moves Towards Wallet-Based Credentials
Adoption of mobile-based identity is surging as 74% of organizations ditch plastic badges for the security and convenience of digital wallets.
- By Sanjit Bardhan
- May 15, 2026
While the concept of using a smartphone in access control is no longer new, the rate of adoption for mobile access may surprise you. Across higher education, healthcare, enterprise real estate, and critical infrastructure, organizations are accelerating the move toward wallet-based credentials stored securely on end users’ phones.
What began as a convenience feature has matured into a core component of identity strategy.
According to HID’s 2026 State of Security and Identity Report, 74% of organizations have either deployed or are planning to deploy mobile credentials. That level of adoption reflects a meaningful change in how identity is issued, managed and secured across both physical and digital environments.
Why Adoption is Accelerating
Several trends are driving this growth. Identity management now sits at the center of security and IT planning. In the same report, 73% of respondents identified identity management as a top strategic priority.
Security leaders increasingly view the person entering a facility and the person logging into a cloud platform as a single identity that must be governed consistently. Treating physical and digital access separately introduces complexity and risk that modern organizations can no longer afford. This has now led to the reintroduction of IT departments in critical security decision-making processes.
Cybersecurity expectations have also intensified. Legacy proximity cards can be lost, shared or cloned. Mobile credentials leverage encrypted communication, secure elements within devices and biometric authentication at the handset level.
Further, these credentials can be revoked remotely and instantly, adding further layers of security to avoid any opportunity for misuse.
User behavior is another driver. Smartphones already serve as trusted devices for payments, travel documentation, driver’s licenses and financial authentication. Extending that trust to building access aligns naturally with existing user habits and expectations.
Wallet-based Access as Identity Infrastructure
Mobile access should not be seen as a digital replica of a plastic badge. When credentials are embedded within native mobile wallets, they benefit from operating system protection, encrypted storage and device-level biometrics. Administrators can issue, update, and revoke credentials in real time without printing, shipping, or collecting physical cards. This can completely transform credential life cycle management.
New hires can receive access before their first day on-site, and contractors can be provisioned with time-bound permission. Role changes can be reflected at once across access rights, while lost devices can be deactivated remotely.
This enables security teams to move from managing inventory to managing digital identity and governance. Taken together, these changes can deliver significant operational efficiencies for organizations.
Hybrid Deployments Reflect Operational Reality
Mobile growth does not end the need for physical credentials. 84% of organizations reported a desire to maintain hybrid environments that support both mobile and card-based credentials.
Specific roles require visible identification, and some users lack compatible devices. Regulatory requirements in particular sectors still mandate physical badges.
Designing systems that support both physical cards and mobile credentials allows these technologies to coexist during the transition. This approach provides continuity for users while giving organizations the flexibility to migrate at their own pace, helping ensure that new technologies can be introduced with minimal operational disruption.
Backward and forward compatibility remain critical, with 86% of respondents identifying compatibility as essential to long-term infrastructure planning. Organizations that prioritize adaptable hardware platforms avoid forced replacement cycles and protect their capital investments.
Integration is a Value Multiplier
The most significant value of mobile access emerges when it integrates into broader security, operations and building ecosystems.
Organizations are planning to use mobile solutions alongside modern controller platforms. According to the report, 50% of respondents cited cloud connectivity as a key factor influencing controller purchasing decisions, driven by benefits such as improved scalability, centralized management and real-time monitoring.
When mobile credentials interact with these platforms, identity governance becomes more cohesive, and data becomes more actionable.
Access events can inform occupancy analytics, compliance reporting and operational insights. In higher education, a single credential can support dormitory access, shared workstation and printing access, dining privileges, smart lockers and recreational facilities. In enterprise environments, unified identity policies can span physical entry points and digital applications.
Mobile access becomes a gateway to convergence rather than a standalone feature.
Practical Implementation: A Three-step Roadmap
Organizations considering mobile access should approach the transition methodically.
- Inventory current infrastructure. Begin by assessing readers, controllers and software platforms. Decide which components support encrypted communication and modern protocols. Evaluate cloud readiness and cybersecurity posture. The goal is clarity. You need to understand what can be upgraded through firmware and what requires hardware replacement.
- Define use cases clearly. Mobile access works best when it is mapped to real operational workflows. Organizations should consider whether the priority is basic door access or a broader set of use cases such as parking, cafeterias, gyms and other extended building services. Are there visitor flows or contractor workflows that must be supported? Clearly defining these use cases informs credential design, system architecture and integration priorities.
- Plan for longevity. Select hardware and platforms that support future expansion. Controllers should be built with a security-first mindset and support secure firmware updates, encryption and interoperability. Organizations that prioritize open architecture avoid vendor lock-in and preserve architectural flexibility.
Modernization evolves in phases. A deliberate migration strategy enables organizations to advance without interrupting daily operations.
Cybersecurity as a Design Principle
As identity converges across physical and digital domains, cybersecurity expectations extend to access infrastructure. More than 71% of respondents identify advanced cybersecurity capabilities, including hardware-backed encryption and secure boot processes, as essential in controller selection.
Mobile credentials operate most effectively within a hardened ecosystem. Communication channels, credential storage and life cycle management processes must align with enterprise security standards.
Collaboration between physical security teams and IT departments has become standard practice, particularly around firmware validation, updating cadences and supply chain transparency. Mobile access strengthens security, but only when deployed within a hardened architecture.
Understanding Aliro
Aliro is a device-to-reader standard developed by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) that aims to enable interoperability among mobile devices, wallets, and access readers. At its core, it addresses how a credential stored on a phone or wearable communicates with a reader using technologies such as NFC and UWB.
For the industry, which is meaningful because it reduces fragmentation at the “tap or approach to unlock” layer and introduces more layers of modern security technologies that organizations can benefit from.
Opportunity for Integrators
For integrators, mobile access is more than a product upgrade. It is an opportunity to become a strategic advisor.
Cost concerns remain a barrier for some organizations, with 44% citing perceived expense as an obstacle to deployment. However, a broader life cycle analysis often highlights savings associated with reduced card issuance, simplified administration and stronger breach mitigation.
Integrators who understand identity governance, cloud architecture and cybersecurity can guide clients through phased transitions that align with business objectives. More opportunities exist for integrators with dev ops capabilities to create tailored solutions. Expertise in open-platform hardware and interoperable systems strengthens credibility and fosters longer-term partnerships.
Privacy and Governance Considerations
As mobile and biometric technologies expand, privacy considerations carry greater weight. 67% of organizations report concern about the privacy implications of biometric and identity-related technologies. Transparent governance frameworks, encryption at rest and in transit, and clear data retention policies are essential components of responsible deployment.
Organizations that integrate privacy safeguards into their identity strategies enhance both regulatory compliance and stakeholder trust.
Getting Onboard
Mobile access adoption is growing exponentially. Organizations are asking how to deploy it thoughtfully and how to get the most value from it over time.
Wallet-based credentials are becoming a core part of broader identity platforms, and biometric authentication is increasingly used in day-to-day access scenarios. At the same time, physical and digital security are converging in more practical ways as teams look to simplify governance and bring systems under one cohesive strategy.
The good news is that getting there does not require ripping everything out and starting over. Most organizations are taking a phased approach, supporting mobile and cards side by side while upgrading infrastructure in manageable steps. Interoperable architecture makes that progression far less disruptive.
Smartphones are already central to how people prove their identity in daily life. Extending that same identity into secure, well-managed building access is a natural next step for organizations focused on resilience, efficiency and long-term flexibility.
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2026 issue of Security Today.