UK NHS app updated with Apple Wallet support for COVID Pass

Posted:
in iPhone edited July 2021
Separately from its controversial coronavirus contact tracing project, the U.K. has updated its regular NHS app to effectively become a vaccination passport.

UK COVID Pass in Apple Wallet
UK COVID Pass in Apple Wallet


Wales and England's famously poor $50 million NHS COVID app is currently under criticism for sending almost 700,000 self-isolation alerts in the week of July 14-21, 2021. Now known locally as the "pingdemic," these alerts have become so numerous that the UK government has cut back on its advice about self-isolating.

According to BBC News, though, the separate NHS app has been given more COVID-related functionality. NHS App is an iOS app that lets users access health services from their phone.

Now it's been updated to allow iPhone and iPad users to store their COVID vaccination details in the Apple Wallet app. In England, vaccinated people get what's called an NHS COVID Pass, and increasingly are being asked to show it as a condition of entry to events or venues.

Businesses are not required to ask for it, but the UK government is encouraging the use wherever people are likely to be in large groups for a sustained period.

Users of the NHS App must register with their National Health Service details, and then from the Popular Services section, choose Get your NHS COVID Pass.

There are different options depending on whether users are travelling, although the government also says the pass is not to be used for international travel at all.

The app generates a QR code, although the UK government calls it a barcode. This code has an expiry date on it, but that date is specifically to do with the QR code, it is not an expiry for the COVID pass.

Once generated, the QR code can be displayed within the NHS App or, now, also sent to Apple Wallet. If it's sent to Wallet, it will not automatically be updated after the expiry date.

Users will have to go back into the NHS App, get a new QR code generated, and send that to Apple Wallet.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?
    williamlondondarkvaderMacPro
  • Reply 2 of 19
    XedXed Posts: 2,519member
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?
    Funny how they're against something reasonable because they feel they'll be tracked and yet those same idiots are willing to live-stream their own treasonous acts.
    bonobobrob53williamlondondarkvaderseanjMacPro
  • Reply 3 of 19
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Xed said:
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?
    Funny how they're against something reasonable because they feel they'll be tracked and yet those same idiots are willing to live-stream their own treasonous acts.
    yep!!!!
    edited July 2021 williamlondondarkvaderMacProGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 4 of 19
    KuyangkohKuyangkoh Posts: 838member
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?
    No iD required to Vote? What’s the difference 
  • Reply 5 of 19
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?

    This is just ugliness at a big level, utterly without a modicum of thought of next week or next year. Incredible.. So you're equivocating a 'what's my name' identification with 'what is my health and medicine' identification?  Are you kidding me? 

    You all are creating quite a nice future -- cloaked in 'we are doing it to protect you'. That not one single poster above my message even mentions the ramifications is appalling.  

    Trust me when I say to others reading this thread, you don't want these people 'keeping you safe for your own good'. You or your children will have neither safe nor good with people who can't see and think past today's TV or newspaper headlines. 
  • Reply 6 of 19
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?

    Honestly, I hate that ID is ever asked for.  I wish we'd get over the obsession about "underage" drinking.  I certainly don't want to have anyone have to show ID to vote.  And I'm not thrilled about the idea of a "vaccine passport". 

    But it's probably time for something like this here.  There's clearly a substantial minority of the population that isn't capable of understanding science, isn't capable of making responsible health decisions for themselves, and who are now putting all of us in danger.  Because of them, I get to start wearing masks in public again.  Because of them I get to avoid eating out.  Because of them, my life will be disrupted by this pandemic for months or years to come. 

    The vaccines aren't perfect, they were never going to be.  But if we'd hit 90% of the 12+ population vaccinated, we wouldn't even be talking about variants now, the pandemic would be over.  Instead it's starting again, and this time it's killing young people too.

    So screw it.  Bring on the American vaccine passports, and ban businesses from letting anyone unvaccinated in the door.
    edited July 2021 seanjrob53
  • Reply 7 of 19
    darkvader said:
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?

    Honestly, I hate that ID is ever asked for.  I wish we'd get over the obsession about "underage" drinking.  I certainly don't want to have anyone have to show ID to vote.  And I'm not thrilled about the idea of a "vaccine passport". 

    But it's probably time for something like this here.  There's clearly a substantial minority of the population that isn't capable of understanding science, isn't capable of making responsible health decisions for themselves, and who are now putting all of us in danger.  Because of them, I get to start wearing masks in public again.  Because of them I get to avoid eating out.  Because of them, my life will be disrupted by this pandemic for months or years to come. 

    The vaccines aren't perfect, they were never going to be.  But if we'd hit 90% of the 12+ population vaccinated, we wouldn't even be talking about variants now, the pandemic would be over.  Instead it's starting again, and this time it's killing young people too.

    So screw it.  Bring on the American vaccine passports, and ban businesses from letting anyone unvaccinated in the door.
    You actually stated "people who don't understand science" as a stance  of moral, scientific, and educational superiority, then state "If the entire population was vaccinated we wouldn't be talking about viral variations"? Just wow...

    People are just incredibly funny. Sometimes they even let thst funniness be allowed to be seen or heard by many. 
    Unfortunately those who think they know it all when in reality they are ignorant, they are a large and loud crowd. The ultimate victim ends up being better decision making as a collective..
  • Reply 8 of 19
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    People are just incredibly funny. Sometimes they even let thst funniness be allowed to be seen or heard by many. 
    Exactly the same could be said of people who advertise their stupidity. They are also a large and loud crowd. Sometimes they even infect forums like this. Even this very thread.
    poisednoisecrowley
  • Reply 9 of 19
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    rob53 said:
    And why are Americans worried about a vaccination card/passport/whatever? We have to show ID at several places. Nobody, except border patrol, asks for proof of citizenship. It’s seems like only republicans are worried about this. Why is that?
    I think that republicans are worried that people will be able to track them as they travel between KKK meetings and school playgrounds. 
    MacProwilliamlondonrob53
  • Reply 10 of 19
    chr15hchr15h Posts: 13member
    Note - The UK NHS COVID-19 Apple Wallet pass is only valid and only gives the option for use for UK domestic travel. It is not valid for international travel at the moment. 

    On the ‘showing my vaccination status’ points, different countries have different cultures. The US residents have an expectation that they can keep all their health records private and just asking for this is offensive to them. Personally I don’t have an issue with being asked or sharing but maybe that is because I am a UKer.
  • Reply 11 of 19
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    Terrible reporting in this article;
    • Mentioning two unrelated apps
    • Wrongly claiming the government has cut back on advice to self-isolate. The facts are that daily self-testing is allowed as an alternative to self-isolation for some workers in key sectors, and from August 16th nobody who is double-vaccinated will need to self-isolate.
    • Some businesses are beginning to as for the Corvid-Pass as from September it will become mandatory for people entering crowded venues that have the potential to become super-spreading events, such as nightclubs, concerts, etc.
    • The track and trace app is not “famously poor”, it’s one of the most successful globally in terms of usage and the number of lives it has been projected to have saved. Shame the USA couldn’t come up with one…
  • Reply 12 of 19
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    chr15h said:
    Note - The UK NHS COVID-19 Apple Wallet pass is only valid and only gives the option for use for UK domestic travel. It is not valid for international travel at the moment. 

    On the ‘showing my vaccination status’ points, different countries have different cultures. The US residents have an expectation that they can keep all their health records private and just asking for this is offensive to them. Personally I don’t have an issue with being asked or sharing but maybe that is because I am a UKer.
    US residents understandably fear health data being accessed, as we live in a culture that accepts insurance companies deciding if we can get treatments based on actuary tables of financial risk to them, not our health risks. Until that changes, fear rules. Having passed 65 and now able to access healthcare equivalent to other first-world countries, I have no such fears anymore, but I understand what it's like for younger Americans.
    rob53
  • Reply 13 of 19
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    Registering for the NHS app is weird.  You have to record a video of yourself reading off a bunch of numbers, for some sort of verification.  But I've got my COVID pass now, just in case I need it.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    elijahgelijahg Posts: 2,753member
    crowley said:
    Registering for the NHS app is weird.  You have to record a video of yourself reading off a bunch of numbers, for some sort of verification.  But I've got my COVID pass now, just in case I need it.
    Really? I didn’t have to do that, just entered my NHS number. I have had that for bank accounts though. 
    seanj
  • Reply 15 of 19
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    crowley said:
    Registering for the NHS app is weird.  You have to record a video of yourself reading off a bunch of numbers, for some sort of verification.  But I've got my COVID pass now, just in case I need it.
    Weird, I didn’t 🤷‍♂️
    williamlondon
  • Reply 16 of 19
    seanjseanj Posts: 318member
    chr15h said:
    Note - The UK NHS COVID-19 Apple Wallet pass is only valid and only gives the option for use for UK domestic travel. It is not valid for international travel at the moment. 
    Yes there’s two types of pass - the domestic one can be added to the Apple Wallet, whereas the international travel pass can’t.

    (Though with Apple’s plans to add ID cards and passports to the wallets, it’ll happen eventually.)
  • Reply 17 of 19
    Huh ... I wish the US government was as forward thinking as the UK in this regard.

    Contact tracing in the US is essentially non-existent, and we have no contact tracing app at the federal level or in my state.

    As for an official COVID passport: I want an electronic as well as a hard plastic official COVID passport, one with oval hang holes on the top and bottom so it can be placed in an ID hanger and have a hologram or some device which would make it practically impossible to forge.

    I live in the Chicagoland area and there's a festival going on called Lollapalooza which requires vaccine cards, a vaccine record, or a negative COVID 19 test. Reports have it that idiots are forging vaccine cards, so you can bet that this will turn into a super-spreader event.

    When I go somewhere for services, I want to see which service representatives are vaccinated and which are not - so I can see the vaccination status of any workers from whom I accept services. Given a choice, you can bet I'll use the vaccinated representative even if I have to wait. Shops or restaurants requiring a vaccine password would be my first choice.

    I also want checkboxes on things like grocery delivery with a "Vaccinated only" so I can choose who can deliver things to my door, and when I place a service call which requires someone to come into my home I want the ability to only have the vaccinated come in to my domicile. Businesses seeing statistics on these requests would eventually figure out that they should require employees be vaccinated.

    Given that the new Delta variant spreads like chicken pox and can infect the vaccinated, you can bet I want to reduce the chance that I'll run into an asymptomatic infection by only dealing face to face with the vaccinated.

    This is no joke: my wife and I are older and have co-morbidities - we're fully vaccinated, but we want to reduce the possibility of severe consequences as much as we possibly can.

    Before I retired I worked for a major midwest medical center. During my tenure, I was required to have a flu vaccine even though I was in IT and never met with patients in the clinical setting. COVID is many times more serious, and with variants popping up like dandelions vaccination and herd immunity are really our only way out.
  • Reply 18 of 19
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    seanj said:
    crowley said:
    Registering for the NHS app is weird.  You have to record a video of yourself reading off a bunch of numbers, for some sort of verification.  But I've got my COVID pass now, just in case I need it.
    Weird, I didn’t 🤷‍♂️
    How strange, I feel unfairly targeted.  Some weird NHS administrator getting off on watching me read out his numbers  :|
  • Reply 19 of 19
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    I'm not going mad though - it's definitely a thing: https://help.login.nhs.uk/recordvideo/
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