How VerifyC19, the app to check your Green Pass, works

The government reiterates that the only valid and official app to check if your Green Pass is valid is VerifyC19, but the app doesn't work perfectly.

Everything is ready for August 6, the date on which the Green Pass is mandatory to enter cinemas, indoor restaurants, stadiums, swimming pools, gyms and many other places open to the public. Everything is ready, or almost ready, because some small problem still remains: how to read the Green Pass and how to know if it is valid?

After the rainfall of news, not very reassuring, on the fake Green Passes for sale on the Web, the Government has reiterated through its Twitter account that there is only one way to be sure that the Pass is valid: using the official VerifyC19 app. This app, however, has already been flooded with criticism from users for two main reasons. The first is the privacy issue, since verification requires a special procedure, the second is that the app often doesn't work. Or, at least, it would seem so, reading the many negative reviews left on the app stores by users who have already downloaded it to test it in view of August 6. The new question, then, is: will the government be able to release an update to the app that fixes the problems before August 6th? We'll find out in the coming days, in the meantime let's see how VerifyC19 works.

How VerifyC19 Works

VerifyC19 is a small app, available exclusively on the Play Store and App Store (everything else is fake, then). Once opened, it can scan the QR Code of the Green Pass to provide some information: whether it is valid or not, name, surname and date of birth of the holder of the Pass.

As the Government itself explains in the description of the app on the stores, the Green Pass verification procedure does not end here: the verifier (which is still not clear who it will be) will in fact have to compare the personal data present on the Pass with those present on an ID of the user.

The privacy controversy is predictable: why should a restaurateur, or whoever, know the name, surname and date of birth of his customers?

VerificaC19: too many bugs

The privacy issue is just one of the things that have angered many of those who have already tried to install and use VerifyC19. The second is that the app very often doesn't work: it can't read the QR Code if there isn't enough light and, in some cases, valid Green Passes aren't recognized as such.

The debut of VerifyC19 on the Play Store, for this reason, has been problematic, to say the least: out of about 804 votes received by the app so far, the average rating is 2.9 stars out of 5, with the 1-star ratings (which, as we know, are very often equivalent to a 0-star rating) being slightly higher than the 5-star ones.

Almost non-existent, instead, are the 2, 3 and 4-star ratings. A clear symptom, unfortunately, that behind the large amount of 5- and 1-star ratings there is also a form of bias for/against Green Pass. The bugs, however, are there, and with prejudice they have nothing to do.