Your Student Life: Mobile BuckID

September 22, 2026

Hopefully you’ve by now seen a lot of your peers using the new mobile BuckID — more than 19,000 Buckeyes have already made the switch from tap-enabled BuckID to mobile. If you haven’t made the switch, or want to know more about it, here’s more information on it and why it makes sense to make the free upgrade.

The BuckID — the physical card used by Buckeyes like you for everything from access to buildings to paying for food — is available for free on mobile devices for most Columbus campus students, faculty and staff. 

It especially makes sense for students. 

While the card is easy to use, with just a tap, it requires users to always carry it, and it can be easily misplaced, lost or stolen.

Now, you can instead use the mobile BuckID with a compatible smartphone or smartwatch.

You just tap your iPhone, Apple Watch, eligible Android phone or Samsung watch at readers, just like a physical card. If you have an iPhone or Samsung phone, it will still work for several hours after the battery dies. Your physical BuckID card can no longer be used once you switch to mobile BuckID.

Mobile BuckID is initially open to the Columbus campus, with plans for a rollout to regional campuses in 2027. Students that are in online programs and remote-work employees can access a basic digital BuckID in the Ohio State App without needing to add the full mobile BuckID to their mobile wallet.

Switching is optional. If you do not have a compatible device, or prefer to have a physical card instead, you will still be able to keep your current physical BuckID — but you can’t have both physical and mobile. Some people, including anyone with access to the Wexner Medical Center and some students and employees in the health science colleges, are not currently eligible to switch. 

For more about BuckID and how to easily switch to mobile, please see the BuckID website and answers to frequently asked questions.

Josh Bodnar
Director, BuckID
Office of Student Life