European digital identity wallets risk making access to public services dependent on security systems controlled by Google and Apple, according to an analysis by Dutch research organization Waag Futurelab. The article calls for open, hardware-based checks instead of platform-specific remote attestation and represents Waag’s policy position.
Digital wallets are intended to let residents identify themselves to government services and verify information such as age. Developers use remote attestation to check whether an app is running on hardware and software considered trustworthy. The systems discussed by Waag are Google’s Play Integrity API and Apple’s Managed Device Attestation. Such checks can help detect modified applications, automated abuse, banking fraud or cheating.
Waag’s objection centers on how Google defines a trusted Android environment. The organization says Play Integrity checks whether a device uses a Google-licensed Android version, whether an app came through Play Store and whether the user has a Google account. That design can reject alternative operating systems such as GrapheneOS or e/OS even when their users deliberately chose them for privacy or autonomy.
The practical stakes increase when an identity wallet becomes a route to official documents or public-service logins. Waag argues that excluding de-Googled devices makes a private platform policy an eligibility condition for public infrastructure. Its Mobifree research with 120 testers found compatibility with payment and government-identification apps was an important requirement for people considering alternative mobile ecosystems. The sample offers supporting user evidence but does not establish how all Europeans would choose.
Implementation is not uniform. Waag says wallet developers in the Netherlands and Italy use Play Integrity without conditions. Switzerland instead uses an Android hardware-attestation mechanism after rejecting Play Integrity over data-protection, sovereignty and freedom-of-choice concerns. The European Architecture Reference Framework does not require Google’s service, according to the article, but recommends it; Waag says some national teams have interpreted that recommendation more strictly than others.
An open Android Hardware Attestation API is presented as an alternative that can verify device properties without enforcing Google’s store and licensing policies. Waag also argues that use of Play Integrity conflicts with the EU Digital Markets Act and with identity-wallet goals of interoperability and technological sovereignty. The supplied evidence does not include a regulator’s ruling on that claimed legal violation, responses from Google or Apple, or a comparative security audit, so the legal and technical conclusions remain contested.
Waag wants Google and Apple attestation removed from the European framework and open mechanisms made mandatory. It also calls for broader public participation in wallet design, noting that current debate often occurs in technical development repositories.
The analysis identifies a genuine governance choice even without resolving it: remote attestation can reduce certain security risks, but the authority defining an acceptable device may also determine who can reach essential services. Europe’s varied implementations show that dependence on a single platform is not technically inevitable, while the supplied material does not establish that every alternative offers equivalent protection.
