GOV UK One Login

[Contreras]

Happy New Year folks.

Has anyone installed the GOV UK One Login app?

I installed the app just yesterday. I tap through the startup page, then without even asking for account credentials it shows a login failure.

It's doing this still today so I'm suspecting my device (Android 10.0) or device settings.

[hobnob]

I helped someone else to install the app on an Android phone last week, and they were able to log in ok. However, I don't have it on my own phone, so I can't test it now.

According to the gov.uk website, the app will work on Android 10 or later:
Proving your identity with the GOV.UK One Login app - GOV.UK

However, that version went EOL in Mar 2023, so you might be due for an upgrade!
Android OS | endoflife.date

[Contreras]

I bought a generic Android tablet from Amazon, installed the One Login app, and I'm able to log in with my account credentials.

However I'm spinning in circles trying to make this do something useful.

[hobnob]

If you want to verify your identity, I think you need to initiate that from outside the app:
a) Log into your One Login account via the website.
b) Add Companies House as a service.
c) On the Companies House website, say that you want to verify your ID. This will show you a QR code to install the app (which you've already done).
d) There should be some instructions on screen for the next step, but I can't remember what they are.

[Contreras]

If you want to verify your identity, I think you need to initiate that from outside the app:
a) Log into your One Login account via the website.
b) Add Companies House as a service.
c) On the Companies House website, say that you want to verify your ID. This will show you a QR code to install the app (which you've already done).
d) There should be some instructions on screen for the next step, but I can't remember what they are.

The on screen instructions say "Follow the instructions in the app to prove your identity."

Sorry for spamming with images. Hopefully it will be of use generally as I cannot be the only one having trouble.

The QR-code links to https://identity.account.gov.uk/ipv/...direct/android

[Contreras]

Partial success but no bananas yet.

I uninstalled the app and then reinstalled it when prompted by the web QR code. This time, after entering the account credentials it went through the process of verifying ID.

The cheap android tablet that I had to buy just for this has no NFC, so no passport scanning, and the camera is so tulip that my driving licence image was rejected due to being blurred, but there are "ways" so finally was able to submit it.

At this point the website spinner stops spinning and the Continue button works. Hurrah, well maybe not -

Sorry, we cannot confirm your identity

We could not find a match when we checked your details with another organisation.

To keep your information safe, we cannot tell you which of your details we were unable to match.

[hobnob]

That all sounds frustrating! But it's useful to know that you shouldn't install the app in advance - presumably the QR code is either unique for each person (with an embedded ID code) or it has some kind of "start verification" flag in it.

When I went through this recently with someone else, there were a few stages to using the app:

a) Take a photo of the passport (a bit like using a banking app to deposit a cheque)

b) Scan the chip on the front of the passport (assuming that your device has a scanner and that your passport has a chip)
As far as I can tell, the purpose of scanning the passport is to get more accurate data, i.e. it can do a database lookup rather than OCR to read the text in the photo.

c) Take a selfie, a bit like a passport photo booth. During this process, the screen went into "disco mode" (flashing in different colours), which reminded me of the loading screens for old C64 games!

Then the app/website went off to think about it, and came back with a result. Were you able to do the selfie? I.e. is it saying that you don't look like the passport photo, or did it skip that comparison altogether?

If this won't work, it might be worth going through some of the alternatives from the other thread:
Web filing (shared access) - Contractor UK Bulletin Board
In particular, you could go to a Post Office or get an ACSP to verify you.