UIDAI expands Aadhaar with new app and offline verification

The Indian government-backed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) announced in late January a new Aadhaar app and offline verification framework. This update allows users to share limited identity information, such as age confirmation, without revealing their full date of birth or requiring real-time checks against the central database of Aadhaar, India’s digital identity system. The new app, which appeared in app stores toward the end of 2025 after testing earlier in 2025, operates in parallel with the existing mAadhaar mobile app. The rollout has seen rapid early adoption: combined monthly installs of Aadhaar-related apps rose from close to 2 million users in October to nearly 9 million users in December.

This offline verification framework is expanding Aadhaar’s footprint into everyday private life and mobile ecosystems. UIDAI is expanding Aadhaar’s footprint in mobile wallets, with upcoming integration for Google Wallet, discussions underway for Apple Wallet, and existing support in Samsung Wallet. Beyond mobile wallets, the technology is being adopted in policing and hospitality. The Ahmedabad City Crime Branch has become the first police unit to integrate Aadhaar-based offline verification with PATHIK, a guest-monitoring platform launched by the police department to record visitor information at hotels. This expansion layers onto an identity system that already operates at a massive scale, having issued more than 1.4 billion identity numbers and handling roughly 2.5 billion monthly authentication transactions.

The expansion of India’s digital identity system into everyday private life has raised new questions about security, consent, and the broader use of the massive database. Raman Jit Singh Chima, senior international counsel and Asia Pacific policy director at Access Now, warned that the rollout introduces new threats, particularly at a time when India’s data protection framework is still being put in place. Chima stated, “The fact that this has gone ahead at this point of time seems to indicate a preference to continue the expansion of the use of Aadhaar, even if it is unclear in terms of the further risks that it might pose to the system, as well as to the data of Indians” Prasanth Sugathan, legal director at New Delhi-based digital rights group SFLC.in, pointed to a 2022 report by India’s Comptroller and Auditor General to argue that the app does not address inaccuracies in the Aadhaar database, security lapses, and poor mechanisms for redress, which can lead to the disenfranchisement of people. Additionally, campaigners Shruti Narayan and John Simte of Rethink Aadhaar warned of Aadhaar creep, noting that enabling private entities to routinely rely on the system for verification risks normalizing its use across daily life, despite a 2018 Supreme Court judgment.

Why it matters

The Indian government is embedding its massive digital identity system into everyday private interactions, sparking a debate over whether this convenience comes at the cost of user privacy and security.