ID Austria is set to be relaunched in the summer after setbacks with the design being labelled too “complicated” and use cases “partially not being understood”. The State Secretary for Digitalisation, Alexander Pröll said, “we want and will make ID Austria more user-friendly and simpler, and explain the use cases and benefits in a way that everyone can understand”. Despite the Digital Office saving face, the use of the app by 3.9 million people has been marred by performance issues, unnecessary fees, and failed password logins.
ID Austria currently serves 3.9 million people according to Pröll and facilitates around 400 different procedures. Although the ID card is voluntary, the Digital Office predicts adoption will rise to 9 million users by 2030.
The development and prior testing of the app has been questioned by vigilant users. After a long time waiting for its release, a relaunch of the Digital Office app was called for in the summer of 2024 with many of its hosted services being “web view applications” which can only display information from oesterreich.gv.at.
Der Standard, a Dutch publication, reported that user passwords were failing to be recognised at sign-in, and passwords are shared by post rather than sent digitally. RSa defended sharing passwords via secure mail, which must be accepted in person and verified at the post office.
Whilst users have access to the app during conversion of some technical components for the registration service, voting card application and certificate service, these changes are not yet visible.
The app’s name also refers to a digital authentication system, whilst “digital ID cards and registration certificates can be found in a separate app called eAusausweis”.
