The identity card is coming soon to smartphones

After his transport tickets, his Carte Bleue or his plane tickets, will we soon have a digitized version of his ID card in his smartphone? According The Parisianit’s on the right track since a thousand beta testers are using a trial version of a application on android since May, and that recently the number of testers has even doubled.

The objective is to publish a finalized version of the application in 2023, and it will already be necessary to ensure that it is developed for the iPhone. According to our colleagues, the pre-version will be available in mid-September after the release of iOS 16. It is also due to complicated discussions with Apple that the identity card project digital got late. France wanted the information related to this official document to remain in the smartphone, and not to be transferred to a waiter distant.

A digital copy of the physical card

At the heart of the project there is the NFC chip, currently useful for contactless payment. The idea is to use this chip with suitable readers, and the project is rather to be used as a means of authentication. A way to show your credentials for administrative procedures, a commitment with an operator or simply to collect a package. Whenever you need your identity card, this digital version will replace it. It’s like it’s an official scan of his card.

But… it will always be necessary to present the version ” physical » of his identity card for checks such as at airports or in the street. Clearly, this “digital” version will be there to facilitate certain procedures, but it will not replace this good old identity card. Same as app Allanticovid digitize the notebook vaccination or that smartphones save a digital version of bank cards for contactless payment, it will first be a practical tool, but also above all secure.

Reserved for a small part of the population

But don’t believe that from 2023, all holders of a French identity card will be able to benefit from it. First, you will need to have the most recent version, in credit card format. Currently, only 10% of French people benefit from it. Then, you will obviously need to have a smartphone compatible with at least Android 8.1 and iOS 16 for iPhones. Clearly, it will take a state-of-the-art iPhone.

Then, for maximum security, you will have to register via France Connect or an equivalent service, or receive a code by La Poste as when receiving a bank card. If the application will be available from next year, it will be for the moment in a limited version. It will therefore take several years for this digital version to become widespread. In particular because 90% of French people do not have the latest version of the identity card which incorporates an electronic chip, comprising a digital copy of the identity photo and the digitized image of the fingerprints of the cardholder.