TCU is saying goodbye to physical TCU ID cards. Before Spring Break, the TCU ID center announced IDs can now be added digitally to iPhone and Android devices through the GET Mobile app.
The long-awaited announcement came after TCU’s transition from swipe IDs to tap IDs, which started at the end of the fall semester.
According to the TCU ID Center website, “Anyone with an active TCU ID, including all faculty, staff and students, is eligible as long as they meet all device and software requirements.”
While all faculty, staff and students gained access to mobile TCU IDs at the start of the week, TCU has been testing the concept since July 2025 in the Burnett School of Medicine, according to Prescotte Stokes III, assistant director for digital development.
Students have mixed reactions toward the new mobile IDs, with most liking the convenience of accessing their TCU ID on their phone, but wanting their physical ID to remain active in case their phones run out of battery.
“I haven’t downloaded the app yet because my phone dies all the time, so I am just going to keep using my physical ID until it stops working,” Micky Fernandez-Pelayo, a first-year double-majoring in psychology and criminal justice, said.
The TCU ID website urges students whose phones died and are locked out of their residence hall to either call the RA on Duty or the TCU Police Department by using someone else’s phone, or to find the nearest blue light emergency station, which will send TCU PD to their location.
For now, faculty, students and staff can use their physical or mobile ID around campus. However, TCU plans to completely transition to mobile IDs by next fall. All physical IDs will deactivate on March 31, 2026.