The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday launched the mAadhaar app for Android. As you might have guessed from the name itself, the 'mobile Aadhaar' app allows users to carry their Aadhaar demographic information, i.e. name, date of birth, gender, address and the photograph linked with their Aadhaar number, on their smartphones.

The mAadhaar app, which is already available for download on Google Play, has been launched only for Android users as of now but might be released for iOS soon as well. The app description of mAadhaar clearly states that users need to have their mobile numbers registered with their Aadhaar in order to use the mAadhaar app.

As we said, with the mAadhaar app, users will be able to download Aadhaar number profile through their smartphones and will therefore not require hard copies of the card, wherever applicable.

Notably, the app also allows users to lock or unlock biometrics data. "Once resident enables Biometric Locking system their biometric remains locked till the Aadhaar Holder chose to either Unlock it (which is temporary) or Disable the Locking system." Interestingly, the mAadhaar app also comes with "Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP)" feature that can be used instead of SMS-based OTP.

With the mAadhaar app, users will be able to get the updated view of the profile upon completion of the update request and they will even be able to share QR code and password protected eKYC data to retrieve accurate demographic information from it instead of manual entry.

However, the app is currently in beta stage, notes UIDAI in its announcement tweet, and some of the features will be made available post future updates. To recall, a new amendment to the tax proposals in the Finance Bill for 2017-18 made it mandatory from July 1 for anyone who has a PAN card to provide their Aadhaar number to the principal director general of income tax (systems) or DGIT (systems).

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