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France Identité: how to activate your digital ID card on your smartphone

Farid Arab 6 min read
L’essentiel

Requirements, activation steps, certification at the town hall and uses of France Identité: a guide to carrying your French ID card on your phone.

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Requirements, activation steps, certification at the town hall and uses of France Identité: a guide to carrying your French ID card on your phone.

Showing your identity card from your phone, logging in to a public service without a password, sending proof of identity without a photocopy: this is what France Identité offers, the official French app published by France Titres (Agence nationale des titres sécurisés, the national agency for secure documents). According to France Identité, it has passed 5 million users, two years after its launch to the general public. Here is how to check that you are eligible, activate your digital identity and then have it certified, based on the app’s official website and Service-Public.fr, the French government’s official information site.

What France Identité is for

The app stores your identity documents on your phone and saves you from sending a full copy of your card. The uses listed by France Titres are as follows:

  • Logging in online to more than 1,800 services through FranceConnect, the French government’s login system, without a username or password; this channel has already been used for nearly 16 million logins.
  • Generating a single-use proof of identity, for example to rent a home, which shares only the information needed for the procedure (more than one million generated).
  • Showing your documents in person, notably during ticket checks on certain trains (TGV INOUI, Intercités, OUIGO and TER regional trains requiring a reservation).
  • Boarding a plane: since 24 June 2026, the digital identity card has been accepted at all French airports.
  • Carrying the digital version of your driving licence and vehicle registration certificate (carte grise), which can be shown during a roadside check, and activating the digital carte Vitale (the French health insurance card) in its dedicated app.

The requirements to meet before you start

Three requirements are set by France Identité and restated by Service-Public.fr:

  • being 18 or older;
  • holding the new credit-card-sized identity card, fitted with a chip: the old laminated paper card cannot be used with the app;
  • having a compatible smartphone: at least Android 11 with NFC (contactless reading), or an iPhone running at least iOS 16.6.

Activating your digital identity, step by step

The creation process described in the official help pages and in the Service-Public.fr article follows this order:

  1. Download the France Identité app from your phone’s app store.
  2. Scan the front of your identity card with the camera.
  3. Place your phone on the card so that the app can read its chip via NFC.
  4. Link and confirm your email address.
  5. Have your identity verified. In mainland France, the two original options are a registered letter bearing a QR code and FranceConnect; since May 2026, French citizens living abroad and in the overseas territories concerned can use an in-person verification with an agent.
  6. Create your 6-digit personal code, chosen by you and linked to your card through an NFC read. It is used to give your consent before each use of your identity data.

For in-person verification, Service-Public.fr sets out the timeframes: show the QR code to an agent within 100 days, the check is processed within 24 to 48 hours, then finalise in the app within 7 days. If you are renewing your card, there is another route: since April 2025, you can create and certify your digital identity directly when the town hall or consulate hands you the card, according to France Identité.

Getting your digital identity certified

Certification attests your identity at the highest level of security, and some procedures require it: accessing FranceConnect+, the enhanced-security version of FranceConnect (MonCompteFormation, MaPrimeRénov’ or INPI, for example), and setting up a voting proxy entirely online, without going to a police station or gendarmerie. More than 80,000 proxies have already been set up this way, according to France Identité. The procedure described on the official page:

  1. First create your digital identity in the app.
  2. Start the certification request from the app.
  3. Confirm your email, enter your personal code and read your card via NFC: the app generates a QR code.
  4. Go to the town hall (or consulate) with your card, your phone and this QR code.

All town halls that handle identity document renewals can certify; their list is available on the website of ANTS (the national agency for secure documents). The result arrives within 48 hours, in the app and by email.

Using the app at the airport

At boarding or when checking in hold baggage, open the app, select the “digital identity” card on the home screen and show it to the airline employee, explains Service-Public.fr. At baggage drop, you must also show your travel ticket. Before leaving, check that the app is up to date (the bell at the top right of the home screen): an update done on the spot lengthens the procedure. An important limitation: the digital card is not valid at foreign airports or during checks related to crossing a border. Keep your physical card or passport for these checks.

Security: where your data goes

According to the app’s security page, the data read from your card’s chip is not kept on servers: it is stored only in the app, on your phone. The app has obtained first-level security certification (CSPN) on Android and iOS, it has complied with the high assurance level of the European eIDAS regulation since 7 February 2024, and the vulnerability research campaigns carried out since 2022 have revealed no critical flaw. You can delete all your data at any time by deleting your digital identity.

Frequently asked questions

Is my old laminated paper identity card enough?

No. The app requires the credit-card-sized identity card, because it reads its chip via NFC. For any question about renewing your card, ask your town hall or ANTS.

What should I do if I lose my phone or it is stolen?

Delete your digital identity from the France Identité web portal: according to the official website, this deletion removes the risk of identity theft.

How long does certification take?

After your visit to the town hall with the QR code, the result is announced within 48 hours, in the app and by email.

Can I use France Identité to travel abroad?

No. It is accepted at all French airports, including for a flight abroad, but not at foreign airports or at border crossing checks.

What is the 6-digit personal code for?

You choose it when you create your digital identity. It lets you give your consent before any use of your identity data, which leaves you in control of what you share.

Sources

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