No more need to keep your ID card in your wallet: you can now keep it in digital form on your smartphone thanks to an application to easily authenticate you if necessary.
A real key to daily life, your identity card accompanies you everywhere. Whether for a trip, administrative registration or simply to prove your identity, it is essential. But how many times have you forgotten it? How many times have you searched your bag to find it? And what about the endless administrative procedures that you put off because you didn’t have it on hand? Not to mention that, when you have to send a copy, it can be misused or stolen, and your personal information ends up in malicious hands. Fortunately, there is a very simple way to dematerialize your identity card on your smartphone, all in a secure manner.
To do this, you must use the France Identity mobile application, available free of charge on the Play Store for Android and the App Store for iPhone. Developed by the Government as part of the action plan for the digital transformation of the State and associated with the SGIN, the Digital Identity Guarantee Service, it allows you to prove your identity without disclosing private data, while having the document always with you.
To scan your ID card, you must be of legal age and have an NFC-compatible smartphone running at least Android 8 or iOS 16 and a new ID card – the credit card format model, distributed since August 2021, which incorporates a chip and a QR code. All you have to do is download the France Identity application, enter the six digits located at the bottom right of your card and scan its NFC chip with your smartphone. All you then have to do is create a certified account by identifying yourself with FranceConnect and defining your personal six-digit code. And there you have it, your identity card has been scanned and placed in your France Idêtes application! Note that you can also add your digital driving license.
Having your ID card directly on your smartphone gives you many advantages. Firstly, it allows you to prove your identity without having the physical version with you. In addition, France Identity insures you against identity theft and protects your personal data. Indeed, through FranceConnect, you can easily identify yourself with more than a thousand online services, public or private (Ameli, taxes, La Poste, MaPrimeRénov’, CAF, France travail, Yris, MSA, etc.), which reinforces connection security by proving your identity online, without having to create multiple usernames and passwords. It is therefore more secure, since it limits the risks of hacking and phishing attacks.
The app also allows you to create single-use identity credentials, which allows you to prove a particular attribute – such as your majority – without revealing all the other personal information contained in your identity card. In addition to preventing identity theft, France Identity also allows you to avoid transmitting copies of your identity card to third parties, who could use them for fraudulent purposes. Not to mention that your data is encrypted and stored in the NFC chip – this technology is the same as that used for mobile payment or for certain public transport – of your card and in the secure memory of your smartphone, which again makes it their hacking very difficult.
Please note that scanning your identity card is optional, you will always have a physical version. Note also that the centralization of personal information can attract hackers who want to get their hands on it. In addition, if your phone were stolen, it could become problematic and compromise access to sensitive services, such as your Social Security insurance profile for example. And that’s without taking into account the problem of the digital divide, not everyone being comfortable with technology…