After two years of intense collaboration, the NOBID project is concluding its role as one of the Large Scale Pilots supporting the European Digital Identity Wallet initiative.
Co-funded by the European Commission and involving six countries and over 30 public and private partners, NOBID focused on piloting the European Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI Wallet) and its use cases, including electronic identification, payments, signatures, and attribute sharing.
The pilot contributed to defining requirements and technical specifications, and entailed robust implementations and national usability testing in all six partner countries. This ultimately validated key architectural components of the EU Digital Identity framework and pointed to practical interoperability across Member States.
On 26 June 2025, the public and private partners from Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway met in Rome for the final NOBID Consortium meeting in Rome. It celebrated the approval of all major deliverables and reaffirmed NOBID’s contribution to shaping the next phase of digital identity pilots in Europe.
Testing the NOBID solution with users
One of the project’s most significant contributions was the initial feedback gathered on the usability and the accessibility of the EUDI Wallet. Partners across the six countries held tests with real users to provide a future digital identity wallet that’s both technically sound and intuitive, inclusive and reliable.
Tests were conducted in-person and across a range of demographics, digital skill levels, and accessibility needs. A collective effort of all NOBID Work Packages helped to define the test strategy, outlining target groups and test cases, as well as test planning for each country.
Denmark
Denmark’s testing focused on ensuring a successful user onboarding and the enrolment of the personal digital identity (PID) into the wallet. Tests were conducted with five participants who were guided to independently interact with the app and asked to complete a series of steps to obtain their digital identity credential. The goal was to evaluate both the functionality and the usability of the app, ensuring that it met user expectations and supported the intended use case of secure digital identification. Next steps include testing the cross-border identity matching solution, together with Iceland.
Germany
Germany’s usability testing involved 15 users and addressed a comprehensive set of wallet functionalities while tailoring its activities to national systems and regulatory requirements. Test scenarios included digital identification, bank account credential integration, and particularly secure digital payments, including a combination of a payment transaction with age verification of the citizen. The German pilot primarily aimed to validate the technical feasibility and the user experience of wallet-based payments, testing the integration between various stakeholders, including banks, payment service providers and merchants.
Iceland
From 3 to 11 June, in Reykjavik, Iceland ran its usability testing with 20 users across a diverse set of scenarios. Users tested key features such as wallet onboarding, PID retrieval, bank account linking, making payments in an online store, and verifying proof of education and age. Accessibility was a major focus, with the participation of users with disabilities and the involvement of the national ÖBÍ Human Rights Association, ensuring that the EUDI Wallet’s design could work with assistive technology and a diverse range of user needs.
Italy
From 20 to 22 May, Italian usability testing brought 25 participants and the national public and private partners together in Rome. The testing covered the full wallet journey from PID issuance and wallet activation to bank account opening, digital signature processes, and both proximity and online payment use cases. The structured sessions were aimed at gathering end-to-end feedback across all major touchpoints of the EUDI Wallet experience.
Latvia
Latvia’s national usability session was held in Riga on June 4. It involved 30 participants and focused on PID issuance, onboarding flows, digital document presentation (such as diplomas and driver’s licenses), electronic signatures, and proximity payments. In a significant inclusion effort, Latvia also partnered with the accessibility advocacy group Apeirons to test the wallet’s usability for people with disabilities, sharing important feedback on inclusive design and assistive technology compatibility.
Norway
Norway carried out its usability tests between April and June in Oslo and Leikanger. With 23 users and the involvement of key national partners, the testing focused on wallet onboarding, digital identity issuance, e-signature flows, and the handling of qualified attributes such as legal domicile and guardian status. The sessions were designed to simulate use case scenarios and collect both functional and experiential feedback from the participants.
Results and lessons learned
During the sessions, participants were invited to perform everyday actions such as onboarding with a digital identity, signing documents and making payments. Partners were responsible for setting up the devices and systems required, facilitating the tests, reporting and analysing the results of their national testing. These were derived from the feedback collected from the users and the performance measured across key metrics like task success, satisfaction, and error frequency.
Primary usability pain points
Firstly, strong technical performance must be matched by a smooth user experience: users often encountered confusion in areas such as PIN setup, flow clarity, multi-provider interactions, and transparency in data sharing. Some associated a simplified interface with lower security, while others struggled with limited guidance during complex tasks or unclear terminology. For example, not all users were familiar with the concepts of “digital identity” or “banking credentials”, thus making their purpose less intuitive.
Accessibility testing also revealed further important needs, such as improved compatibility with assistive technologies and alternative navigation options for users with disabilities. It also highlighted that trust is not achieved by default, but rather, it is built through clear communication and a well-designed user experience. These challenges allowed the project to identify gaps and evolve the solutions developed.
Key positive user feedback
Despite the challenges observed during testing, user feedback across countries was largely positive and enthusiastic. This encouraging response can be attributed to the high expectations many participants have for the EUDI Wallet, and the growing desire for a fundamental shift in how digital services are accessed and managed.
Participants appreciated several key features that highlighted the wallet’s innovative potential. Many highlighted the broad range of use cases available within a single application as a major advantage.
Another commonly praised element was the convenience of having multiple official credentials consolidated in one secure digital space, eliminating the need to carry physical documents and streamlining access to both public and private services. Many participants also cited the government-backed nature of the wallet as a reassuring factor, reinforcing the importance of institutional trust in driving adoption.
In terms of accessibility, with improvements to language, layout, and assistive support, the wallet has been recognised to hold great potential to deliver seamless and inclusive digital identity experiences. The insights confirm that the EUDI Wallet is seen as a promising solution expected to deliver meaningful impact across Europe.
What’s ahead?
NOBID’s work contributed to shaping the future of digital payments in Europe and to building an interoperable, secure, trusted and accessible EUDI ecosystem starting in 2026. These impactful activities will be carried forward in the upcoming Large-Scale Pilots WE BUILD Consortium and Aptitude.
