The digitalization process at the bureaucratic level, although slow, is advancing. As far as our identification is concerned, we have been able to show our driving license for years with the ‘miDGT’ app. It even helps us at a polling station. However, The app to carry your ID remains somewhat stagnant, although with progress both at national and European level.
In recent months you have probably heard and/or read about this type of apps, but the truth is that for Spain there is only one official app that is not yet legal. Same at the European level, also in tests and in digital wallet format. Below we review everything important about this matter.
No, there is no legal app that you can use to identify yourself with your DNI.
As always, it will depend on the scale they use in the place where they ask for your DNI. Sometimes a photo taken with your cell phone or a photocopy is enough. However, and especially before authorities, only the physical ID is valid for identification.
We believe it is important to clarify this issue given the rise of unofficial applications that allow us to carry it on our smartphone. No matter how good a job they do with them, at the moment they are not legal for our identification.
Spain already has its app, although it is being tested at the university level
As we explained at the beginning, our country already offers an application that It really is downloadable by anyone, since it is found on Google Play for Android and in the App Store for iPhone under the name ‘Digital Wallet’. Now, if you download it, you will see that it will not be of much use to you.
As the Administration itself already says, it is a application that is being tested for a select group of universities. Hence, in order to enter our ID we have to enter credentials associated with one of those universities.
This application is expected to be the successor to the DNI 4.0 app, which has had its development paralyzed, as confirmed to us months ago by the National Police. No reasons were given for why it was paused, but it is suspected that advances with other apps such as the one already mentioned and the one prepared by Europe could be the cause.
Izertis created a Spanish open source app
The Córdoba-based company, Izertis, has created a open source app called ‘Identify’ which is the first of its kind. As reported in ABC with statements from the developer Miguel Ángel Calero, the application has special attention to the privacy and security of the data collected in it.
Although if there is something to highlight about this initiative, it is that has the approval of the European Commissionwho have approved the project in favor of the experience it provides to the user, allowing them to obtain reliable and decentralized credentials from other external systems.
The operation of the application, as reported by its creator, works similarly to Android and iOS wallets. Of course, he explains that in the case of this app, having the particularity of being open source, there is certainty that there are more people who are “watching over the security of the tool.”
The European Union is also testing a much more ambitious app
In the European Union, they have been drawing up a roadmap for digitalization for years, which includes the development and publication of an app that allows us to carry our ID on our smartphone. However, his plans seem to become even more ambitious when establishing the idea of carry a complete digital wallet in which not only the identification document is included.
Under the NOBID project (Nordic-Baltic eID Project) we find several countries in which it has been tested since March. Spain is not among them, but Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Latvia and Norway are.
A pilot test is being carried out in these chosen territories of which, at least for now, no reports have emerged. This is an application in which They bring together identification documents, driving documents, password managers and even PSD2 payment systems..
Precisely for this last system, that of payments, there are several European banking entities supporting the process and trying to achieve a system as secure as that of platforms such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. And probably by virtue of this, it is expected that the tests will not be short.
It is expected that In 2024 the tests will be extended to more countries, Spain could be among them. It does not mean that it will be a public app by then, but it will be one step closer to its arrival. Europe must draw conclusions and, once it does, the roadmap for its officialization will be known.
There are serious doubts about the viability of the Spanish DNI app and the digital wallet
It is likely that the Spanish app will also continue to be tested during the time when the European digital wallet ends up landing. In fact, The big doubt is in the coexistence of both applications. Although there would not be any problem for legal purposes, the truth is that it sounds confusing to say the least to imagine two official apps for the same process, even if the European one has more functions.
In any case, we have no choice but to wait for progress in this regard. As Spain is a member country of the European Union and one of the most active, we hope to soon hear news related to this matter. For the moment, we have no choice but to continue carrying our ID in our pocket wallet.
In Xataka Mobile | The best cheap fiber and mobile rates in 2023 and comparison with all operators