GOV.UK ID Check 4+

Just used this app to verify my ID when changing address with HMRC. I thought it was really good and worked like a dream for me. It uses the phone to read the photo from the chip on your passport then uses facial recognition to check it is really you. It seems like overkill for an HMRC address change. It is likely to lead to info not being up to date because it makes it harder. However, it feels like a really useful app for remote ID verification. I hope that they will licence it beyond government applications. It gets really bad reviews here so clearly not everyone has such a positive experience as me. However, if my experience is not unique, it seems they may have cracked it!

Absolutely brilliant and easy to follow the instructions for scanning your passport and using the app etc. Artificial Intelligence at its best and no having to deal with a human on the other end of a phone after waiting for over an hour … all of these people will soon be replaced by A.I. anyway and will become available to pick the country’s fruit & vegetables … so a win win situation for everyone!

For the past two weeks I have been trying to verify my identity through the app. It won’t let me get past the instruction point of scanning my passport chip. As soon as I press “continue”, the next page says “something went wrong. Try verifying your identity another way”. I can’t use the other method. I have called HMRC. I have emailed different support mails and no one seems to understand there is a problem with the app because they keep telling me to follow the same instructions that I have been following from the start. Please test the app and you’d notice the problem. It needs to be fixed as it is making easy things very difficult.