Jump to:
- Verifiable Records
- What's included
- Add with QR code
- Add with downloaded file
In iOS 15.1, Apple has added the ability to insert a digital COVID vaccination card to your Wallet on iPhone or iPod touch. Here's a look at what the cards include and how to add them to your device.
About Verifiable Records and Limits
Not every provider includes a verifiable health record. These documents are considered SMART Health Cards, a new technology with added importance because of the pandemic. You can receive these cards in paper or digital format from any organization with your clinical information, such as a doctor's office, pharmacy, or state immunization registry. If you didn't receive a SMART Health Card after receiving your COVID vaccination, you probably can't add the record to the iPhone wallet.
What's included
Verifiable versions of your COVID-19 vaccination and test result records get stored in the Health app on your iPhone or iPod touch. When verified, this information is similar to providing paper documents with an official seal. You can download verifiable vaccination and test result records if your vaccine or test result provider supports this format. Check with your provider to see if they keep verifiable health records.
Once you add your verifiable COVID vaccination card to the Wallet app, you can view and present it at any time. On the front of the card, you'll find your name, the vaccine type, the date(s) of administration, the issuer, and the QR code. The exact placement of these details might differ by location. These details aren't viewable on the card unless you first verify your identity with your Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode.
Add with QR code
To add your COVID vaccination card to the Wallet app using a provided QR code:
- Open the Camera app on your iPhone or iPod touch.
- Scan the QR code.
- Tap the Health app notification.
- Choose Add to Wallet & Health to add the record to the Wallet and Health apps.
Add with downloaded file
Instead of a QR code, your provider might have included a downloaded file with your vaccination. Under this scenario, to add your card to the Wallet app:
- Tap the provided download link on your device.
- Choose Add to Wallet & Health to add the record to the Wallet and Health apps.
If you've already connected the Health app with your digital medical record, you might already have verifiable vaccination data available. In this case, to add to the Wallet app:
- Open the Health app.
- Tap Summary.
- Choose Add to Wallet under Vaccination Record.
Adding verifiable health records to all the best iPhones is an excellent option for living in these uncertain times. With our COVID vaccination cards on our phones, there's one less thing we need to worry about during travel or any other time we might need to show our vaccination status.
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Staff Writer
Bryan M. Wolfe has written about technology for over a decade on various websites, including TechRadar, AppAdvice, and many more. Before this, he worked in the technology field across different industries, including healthcare and education. He’s currently iMore’s lead on all things Mac and macOS, although he also loves covering iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Bryan enjoys watching his favorite sports teams, traveling, and driving around his teenage daughter to her latest stage show, audition, or school event in his spare time. He also keeps busy walking his black and white co*cker spaniel, Izzy, and trying new coffees and liquid grapes.
3 Comments
It should be noted that if you received your Covid shots at a regular clinic and all you have is the card provided to you by those clinics, that this function of adding the card to Apple Wallet is not available to you. This function only applies if you received all of your vaccinations from your own private health care provider.For the massive majority of US citizens who received our vaccinations from mobile clinics, all we can do is scan a picture of our vaccination cards and store it in the Notes app.With iOS's new capability of reading written and printed text, one would think that this capability could be used to scan a Covid card and store it in Wallet, but I guess that is too much to ask.
thanks for your insight!
There really needs to more standardization in this and associated health record access. I can access my vaccination record at a my provider site and at state level, because my provider supplies that data, but I apparently cannot take advantage of this option, because somewhere in the chain, that is not supported.
