A student uses their digital BuckID to unlock a door on campus (Posed). Credit: Michael Goulet | Campus Photo Editor
Ohio State’s BuckID system — the official ID of the university — launched a feature that allows students to add their BuckID to a mobile wallet.
Launched on Tuesday, the new feature functions the same as the physical card, allowing students access to residence halls, dining location payments and entry into other facilities across campus. The card can be added to a student’s preferred mobile wallet platform, such as Apple Wallet and Samsung devices, though not every student is eligible to participate in the first round of the change.
Josh Bodner, the director of BuckID, said the transition traces back to 2022, when the tap-to-pay chip was added to physical BuckIDs. However, the original goal was to have the platform ready in 2027.
“[Mobile is] always kind of where we were headed,” Bodner said. “But as you can imagine, an institution of our size takes a while to get everything in place that we need to do it. Student government did pass a resolution encouraging the university to look at mobile as an option, with their goal of us having it live before the fall of 2027. We have managed to beat that goal by a whole year. We’re pretty proud of that.”
As of Aug. 25, “almost everywhere” that uses BuckID has been equipped to accept the mobile version, according to Bodner.
Bodner also mentioned some other benefits of the switch to digital, like the elimination of replacement fees, sustainability impacts from printing less plastic cards and overall an increased level of convenience.
“We really feel like it’s going to be a better overall student experience,” Bodner said. “A lot of students today are used to their phone being able to do almost everything in the age of Apple Pay, and I’m that way too. I can’t remember the last time I got my physical credit card out of my wallet.”
With the mobile wallet option, students will only be able to have one form of ID, meaning going digital will deactivate the physical card.
“We have a university policy that essentially says that every cardholder can have one credential that works,” Bodner said. “There’s the policy issue of one person, one credential, and [also] the technical issue of all of our systems were built knowing that every person would have one BuckID number that needed to work in all those other systems, so that’s why that’s the way it is.”
Another concern Bodner said students have raised is what happens in the event a phone dies when a student needs to use the mobile BuckID.
“Both Apple and Samsung phones have a feature that’s called battery reserve, which means that the phone can be dead,” Bodner said. “When your phone dies and you get that charge the battery symbol… as long as it can still do that, the NFC is still enabled.”
As of Aug. 25, 1,100 people enabled mobile wallet features, leaving the physical card in the dust, according to Bodner.
Emails were sent to those with eligible devices and credentials on Tuesday. Out of the students who attended orientation, less than 20% chose to get a plastic card, Bodner added.
“I think the switch to mobile, it’s going to be a little easier,” Bodner said. “They’re not going to have to keep track of the card anymore. [But] they’re going to have their phone on them.”