New Delhi, August 20: The Aadhaar App has crossed the milestone of 5 crore downloads, underlining the growing preference among residents for accessing digital identity services through their smartphones.
Developed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the app is increasingly serving as a digital interface for Aadhaar holders, offering services such as mobile number, address and email updates, biometric lock and unlock, and e-Aadhaar downloads. More than 60 lakh residents have already updated their mobile numbers through the app, while over 15 lakh have updated their addresses and more than 23 lakh have updated their email details.
The growing use of these facilities reflects a shift towards digital-first Aadhaar services, allowing residents to complete several identity-related processes without visiting an Aadhaar centre. The app follows a “Show, Share and Verify” approach, aimed at giving Aadhaar holders greater control over the use and sharing of their identity information.
Alongside the app's growing adoption, UIDAI is also expanding its offline verification ecosystem. More than 200 entities have been onboarded as Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs) since the initiative was rolled out in January. The framework enables organisations to conduct secure, consent-based and paperless Aadhaar verification without requiring real-time access to UIDAI's central database.
Through mechanisms such as QR code-based verification and secure digitally signed documents, OVSEs can verify identity information while limiting data sharing to what is necessary. The approach is intended to strengthen privacy, user consent and convenience in Aadhaar-based verification.
The expansion of the Aadhaar App and offline verification network is part of the government's broader Digital India agenda, with a focus on making public digital services more accessible, secure and resident-centric.