mAadhaar App Coming Soon for iOS, UIDAI CEO Confirms

Launched in July last year, the mAadhaar app made carrying around the Aadhaar card easier. The app enables users to store all Aadhaar details, such as name, date of birth, gender, address, etc. on smartphones, instead of having to keep the physical card all the time. However, Aadhaar's Supervisory agency UIDAI had launched the mAadhaar app for Android devices, with no counterpart on iOS. Now, however, UIDAI has announced that the iOS version of the mAadhaar app will be arriving soon.

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, in a video posted on Twitter, informed that the mAadhaar app for iOS "is going to be out soon". Once the mAadhaar app becomes available for iOS users, they won't need to carry around their physical Aadhaar cards everywhere. Notably, there is no information on the specific time-frame for the launch. The information on mAadhaar's availability was provided on Sunday, in an 'AskAdhaar' session. On Data Privacy day, several users asked questions regarding the recent security concerns on Aadhaar. Meanwhile, Bhushan Pandey replied saying the Aadhaar database is fully safe and secure. He also answered questions regarding virtual IDs, eKYC, face authentication feature, Aadhaar centres, and more.

Putting an end to speculations regarding chips inside Aadhaar cards, the UIDAI CEO said,"Aadhaar is a card-less digital identity. Having a chip is not really required." Additionally, he also shared a link where there are answers to questions regarding the biometrics-based unique identifier. On user's concerns regarding security, notably, UIDAI says, "Aadhaar is an identifier, not a profiling tool."

Meanwhile, in order to use the mAadhaar app, users need to have their phone numbers registered with the UIDAI. After the process is complete, the Aadhaar card details can be downloaded on the app, which will store data such as the name, date of birth, gender, address and photograph digitally on their phone.

Meanwhile, UIDAI has informed that "All agencies should accept eAadhaar/mAadhaar. They are equally valid. The government has allowed the mAadhaar to be used as an identity proof for rail journeys in India.