The Distinctive Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has unveiled a redesigned Aadhaar app for smartphones that scans a consumer’s face to substantiate their id. Based on the UIDAI the brand new app is designed to allow digital verification through a QR code and the digital camera on a consumer’s smartphone, with out the necessity to submit photocopies of a consumer’s Aadhaar card. The app might ultimately pace up the method of id verification, however considerations round using biometrics for authentication proceed to linger.
UIDAI Conducts Testing of Revamped Aadhaar App
The brand new app was showcased at Aadhaar Samvaad, the stakeholder assembly with ecosystem companions, that was held in Delhi on Tuesday. On the occasion, the UIDAI demonstrated the revamped Aadhaar app, which integrates its Aadhaar Face Authentication system that scans a consumer’s face to substantiate their id.
3/ With the brand new Aadhaar app, customers not have to get their Aadhaar scanned or photocopied.
No extra scanned & printed copies pic.twitter.com/kAaP3vp3cQ
— Ashwini Vaishnaw (@AshwiniVaishnaw) April 8, 2025
Based on the UIDAI, the brand new Aadhaar app permits customers with an Aadhaar card to authenticate themselves with out carrying a bodily model of the cardboard, or sharing photocopies of the doc with a service supplier. As soon as the app is ready up on a consumer’s smartphone, it may be used to securely confirm their id and no particulars are shared with the supplier.
A video showcasing the capabilities of the brand new Aadhaar app sheds some mild on the authentication course of. When introduced with a QR code or an utility that requests id verification, the Aadhaar app will immediate customers to enter their safety PIN to unlock the app and start authentication.
Customers will then be introduced with a masked, digital model of their Aadhaar card within the app. They’ll scan a QR code, which exhibits the data (for e.g. identify, date of delivery, and masked cellular quantity) requested by the service supplier, which could be a resort reception desk or a store.
If a consumer chooses to go forward with the authentication course of, the app will immediate them to place their face in a circle in the midst of the display. The app requires a consumer to blink as a way to full the authentication course of, and a affirmation message is displayed to tell the consumer that their id has been verified.
Whereas the redesigned Aadhaar app would possibly streamline the authentication course of and minimize down on using bodily paperwork, specialists have warned in regards to the safety of consumer’s biometric data on centralised servers. Facial biometrics, fingerprints, and iris scans are immutable and can’t be modified — not like passwords and safety codes — and leaks might put enrolled customers vulnerable to id theft and different types of misuse.
The UIDAI says that the redesigned Aadhaar app will defend customers towards forgery (or modifying) and information is just shared with a consumer’s consent, based on the UIDAI. It has been launched to a small group of testers and shall be rolled out extensively sooner or later, after suggestions is acquired from testers and ecosystem companions.
