Apple Health app now supports vaccination QR codes from several provinces

With the release of iOS 15.0.1, Albertans can reportedly add their COVID-19 vaccination QR codes to the Apple Health app on their iPhones.

According iPhone in Canada, Alberta’s vaccination QR codes support the ‘SMART Health Card’ spec, which is why they work with the Health app. Unfortunately, they don’t work with the Apple Wallet app yet.

Further, Twitter users noted that both Saskatchewan and B.C. QR codes also work, while commenters on the iPhone in Canada article note Quebec’s QR code doesn’t.

For those in Ontario, the government’s vaccine verification app won’t arrive until October 22nd. However, other online services allow Ontario residents to turn their digital vaccination receipt into a QR code that can be saved to Apple Wallet. Alternatively, some people have created shortcuts to the digital vaccination receipt on their phone’s home screen for easy access.

Apple previously said that the feature would be available in an “upcoming software update,” which was presumed to be iOS 15.1. That’s still partially the case — support for the SMART Health Card spec in Apple Wallet will probably arrive with that update.

Update 10/02/2021 at 3:09pm: As pointed out by @yaygya on Twitter, the iOS 15.1 beta also doesn’t let you add the vaccination QR code to Apple Wallet. That could mean the feature is destined for a future update, or it’s bugged in the beta software.

@Jon_Lamont I’m on the iOS 15.1 beta and I can add my vaccine record to Health, but not Wallet. pic.twitter.com/NbPK4nLJul

— ͏ (@yaygya) October 2, 2021

To add a vaccine QR code to the Apple Health app, iPhone users just need to point their camera at the official QR code provided by the government. A yellow ‘Health’ button should appear in the Camera app — tapping it will walk users through the steps to add the code to Health.

Image credit: Apple

Source: iPhone in Canada