If you are a frequent flyer who visits Bengaluru, Delhi, and Hyderabad airports often, then DigiYatra could make your travelling easy. Recently, there have been reports of chaos and long queues at Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 as well. The DigiYatra app could make travelling easier, though some users have also complained the DigiYatra queue was also not functional on terminal 3. Still, the DigiYatra is a free-to-use app available for both Android and iOS devices and one that offers several capabilities. Here are details on how to use this. How to download DigiYatra app? Go to Google Play Store or Apple App store and search your DigiYatra and click and download the app that is published by Digi Yatra Foundation. Once you download the app on your phone, sign-up to the same using your phone number and confirm your identity by verifying the OTP that you receive on your phone number. While the app might not have the greatest ratings on Google Play Store and Apple App Store, the developer seems to be fixing these issues with frequent updates. In my case, I did not face any issues while downloading or the sign-up process on the DigiYatra app. Travel paper-free with DigiYatra Most of the airports in India now accepts digital boarding pass. If you have generated one on your PC, just scan the QR code using the boarding pass option on the DigiYatra app to add your boarding pass to the app. Similarly, you can also add a boarding pass by uploading an image or by uploading a PDF version of your boarding app, which makes it easy and convenient. Access your ID cards and vaccine certificate on DigiYatra DigiYatra app can also be used to access your ID cards such as Aadhaar and COVID-19 vaccination certificate in one place. Again, the app fetches these details from services like Aarogya Setu and DigiLocker, hence, you need a phone number that is attached to these services to import your documents to DigiYatra. Do note that, sometimes the app fails to fetch these details, in this case, you just have to force close the app and reopen it. While fetching an Aadhaar card from DigiLocker, DigiYatra needs to capture a picture using your phone camera for biometric verification. As of now, Aadhaar is the only ID card that is accepted on DigiYatra. Is DigiYatra safe to use? DigiYatra is an app by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Govt of India and it is designed to make faster document verification in airports by eliminating the handover of physical document copies to CISF (Central Industrial Security Force) and airlines. DigiYatra is built on the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standard and it uses Self Sovereign Identity (SSI) Verifiable Credentials (VC), and Decentralised Identifier (DIDs). The biometric data captured and any other personally identifiable information are stored locally on your phone and not in any centralised database or cloud. Do note that, a user has to share all these data with the airport operator in advance while travelling. The biometric data shared with the airport authorities will be retained for 24 hours for security reasons. As of now, DigiYatra is only available for domestic travellers.
