> If your photo is in the DMV database, wouldn't that also mean you have a drivers license, and therefore could use that rather than the app

Perhaps today, but if the REAL ID rules ever actually kick in, just having a driver's license won't necessarily be enough. It got pushed back from an Oct start date to some unspecified future date.

There's been some press about this, but when these rules do go into effect, I suspect there will be stories about people that have trouble taking their flight.