Which Country Launched First?

Which Country Launched First? A detailed timeline and analysis of EUDI Wallet rollouts across Europe, from Belgium's May 2024 launch to upcoming deployments in 2027.

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Why Speed to Market Matters

Being first to market with an EUDI Wallet provides significant advantages. Citizens gain immediate access to streamlined identity verification services, from faster bank account opening to simplified government interactions. Early deployment allows real-world testing and iteration, meaning these wallets will be more mature and reliable by the time the EU's mandatory acceptance deadline arrives in December 2027.

For countries themselves, early launch creates a first-mover advantage in shaping emerging standards. Belgium and France have been able to influence EU-level discussions about implementation details based on real-world experience. Their technical teams have encountered and solved practical challenges that other countries have not yet faced.

However, speed is not everything. Germany's deliberate approach of ensuring complete BSI security certification before launch reflects a different but equally valid strategy. A wallet launched prematurely with security weaknesses could damage public trust far more than a delayed launch with strong security. The ideal approach balances urgency with thoroughness.

The Launch Timeline Explained

Belgium claimed the first-mover title by launching MyGov.be in May 2024, making it the first EUDI-aligned wallet in any EU member state. Belgium's success was built on itsme, a public-private digital identity partnership that had already achieved 7 million users. By integrating the existing eID card infrastructure with mobile-first design, Belgium delivered a functional wallet months ahead of other countries.

France followed with France Identité, which used the established FranceConnect ecosystem to rapidly onboard users. With over 5 million active users, France Identité represents the largest actively deployed EUDI-aligned wallet by user count. Poland's mObywatel 2.0, while not yet fully EUDI-compliant, has the largest user base of any digital government app in the EU at 20 million users.

Italy's IT-Wallet is in active pilot phase, building on the massive SPID infrastructure (37M users) and the CIE system. Germany's AusweisApp EUDI upgrade is planned for early 2027, taking a methodical approach with full BSI certification. The Netherlands' NL-wallet also targets 2027, with Logius leading development incorporating DigiD lessons learned.

Lessons From Early Adopters

Belgium discovered that user onboarding is the biggest friction point. Even with itsme's 7 million users providing a familiar starting point, connecting the physical eID card to the digital wallet required careful UX design. Their solution of step-by-step guided onboarding with video tutorials has become a reference model for other countries.

France learned that scale creates its own challenges. With 5 million users generating millions of verification requests, France Identité had to be designed for high availability from day one. Their FranceConnect scaling experience directly informed the architecture, using distributed processing to handle peak loads without degradation.

Poland's mObywatel demonstrated that government document digitization is the killer feature driving adoption. The ability to carry a legally valid digital ID card, driving license, or vehicle registration is why 20 million Poles actively use the app. This insight has influenced other countries to prioritize government document storage as the initial wallet feature set.