Bollywood: Android Users Can Soon Store COVID-19 Vaccination Details On Their Phone

Google's COVID Card will allow users to store vaccination reports and test cards on their Android smartphone. However, this is not the first time that the company has come up with a secure way of storing information for users on their phones. With the debut of Android 11, Google introduced the IdentityCredential API that enables an Android phone to store data, including ID cards and driver licenses, using a secure electronic identification library.

The ability to store ID cards is quite convenient, as users no longer have to worry about carrying physical copies that are prone to being misplaced or damaged over time. However, Google is not alone at implementing such a system. A few weeks ago, Apple also announced that the Apple Wallet can now store a driver's license and personal IDs, in addition to documents such as student IDs, reward cards, concert tickets, and airplane boarding passes, to name a few.

Google’s latest initiative of letting users store COVID reports on their Android phones comes just as pandemic-related restrictions are being eased in a few countries and international travel is finally opening up. The company has already started offering API access to developers working for health organizations, government bodies, and authorized agencies involved in vaccination programs and issuing COVID-19 passes. The new feature essentially turns an Android phone into a so-called COVID passport.

Authorities that have access to the COVID Card API will be able to issue a digital copy of vaccination report cards. These reports have been deemed mandatory by many countries for international travel, and the ability to carry a shareable digital copy on a smartphone is likely to prove useful. To make the whole process truly hassle-free, users will also be able to quickly access their vaccination report card via a shortcut on the home screen of their Android phone. Interestingly, Google has kept the software requirement for implementing the COVID Card API quite low. Any smartphone running Android 5 or later should be capable of securely storing COVID-19 vaccination cards.

For those worried about privacy, Google assures users that it won’t store a digital copy of the report or any information mentioned in the test report. Plus, the information won’t be shared with any third-parties either, or used for ad-targeting. For those that own more than one phone, they'll also be able to store the vaccination report on their secondary device as well. Furthermore, the vaccination card shortcut will be protected behind a layer of authentication, which can be a PIN, lock pattern, or fingerprint scan, to ensure security. Google says the API is currently being rolled out in the United States, but it will soon be released for health authorities and local government agencies in more countries.

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Source: Google

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July 02, 2021 at 12:00AM

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