Starting today, iPhone owners with an electronic ID card will be able to use it to authenticate within compatible services. Here's how
After arriving on Android smartphones, where it proved to have more than one problem, the CIEid app arrives on iOS as well. In this way, all 15 million Italians and residents in Italy who already have an Electronic Identity Card (CIE) can use it to authenticate themselves automatically on the Web.
Like the other app, the one for iOS was developed by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato and, of course, is free. The CIEid app for iOS is already available on Apple's App Store and can be downloaded, installed and used by all those who have a CIE. Some technical limitations, however, don't allow everyone to use it: in fact, CIEid is only compatible with iOS 13.0 or later and only works with iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and iPhone SE 2020.
A lot of Apple users with older generation iPhones, therefore, won't be able to use it because the basic requirement is the presence of an NFC module.
CIEid app: how it works
If your device is compatible, you can install the CIEid app on iOS and launch it normally. At the first start the user will have to register his Electronic Identity Card and enter the eight-digit PIN. Then he will have to bring the card close to the back of the iPhone (with NFC enabled) to complete the registration. Then it will be possible to go to any site that allows authentication with the CIE and choose "Enter with CIE". You will be shown on screen the steps to complete to make the identification of the citizen on the site.
CIEid app: the problems on Android
At the moment the downloads of the CIEid app for iOS are very few, but the reviews are good: just 18, but the average is 4.6 out of 5. Quite different is the situation on Android, where the app has had in the past (and continues to have for many users) several glitches.