More details about Ontario’s vaccine certificate verification app have arrived ahead of the imminent October 22nd launch.
Dubbed ‘Verify Ontario,’ the app will allow fully vaccinated Ontarians to quickly verify their vaccination status via a QR code when entering businesses and other establishments. According to details reported by Richard Southern on Twitter and via CityNews, the Verify Ontario app will also accept QR codes from B.C., Quebec and the Yukon. It’s unclear if more provinces will be supported in the future.
By accepting QR codes from other provinces, it should make travel easier for vaccinated residents.
NEW – Details on the upcoming "Varify Ontario” app:
– It will accept QR codes from British Columbia, Quebec and the Yukon
– It does not ask for any personally identifiable information, or location
– It will collect 'anonymized' data using google analytics
— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) October 13, 2021
Further, CityNews reports that the Ontario government says the app won’t collect personally identifiable information. The app also won’t collect users’ location data or save information that links people to specific locations, visitors or businesses. It will display verified proofs of vaccination for 30 seconds, then delete them.
Unfortunately, the Ford government also confirmed it would collect “anonymized” data using Google Analytics. That will reportedly include the number of completed scans, date and time of scans and the number of negative, positive and invalid scans. The tracking will use randomly generated numbers created when users first install the app.
Finally, the government also detailed what would happen when someone scans a Verify Ontario QR code. First, the app will show one of three results: a green checkmark for verified, a yellow warning if there’s a problem, or a red ‘X’ if the proof isn’t valid.
For yellow warnings, the government recommends cleaning the camera lens or adjusting the angle to make sure reflections aren’t interfering with the camera’s ability to read the code. For the red ‘X,’ the government says it may mean the users only has one of two vaccinations, or that there is missing, invalid or incorrect information in the QR code.
Source: Richard Southern, CityNews
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