Comment by the_mitsuhiko
10 days ago
> Unless their governments start issuing Android devices to all of their citizens, I don't understand how they can require use of this app for anything official.
Not sure who you mean by "they" but you already cannot use a lot of governmental services unless you have an Android or iOS device (at least in Austria). At least in practice that is almost impossible.
In Austria you can use a web browser + FIDO key as an alternative. It works nicely. https://ida.gv.at/de/hilfe/hilfe-zu-ida/authentifizierungsfa...
By "they" I meant EU member state governments.
> you already cannot use a lot of governmental services unless you have an Android or iOS device (at least in Austria).
That's terrible. They have official services that require an app and can't be used via a standard browser or even paper forms? What do elderly people without smartphones do?
I am in a similar situation, with very aggressive push for turning all banking and every government service into mobile applications only.
> What do elderly people without smartphones do?
They buy a smartphone and have their relatives set everything up for them. Not doing that isn't really an option because you can't even get your pension or planned (i.e. nonemergency) medical services anymore without going through the government mobile app.
If they don't have any relatives, they walk to the government building that used to solve these things for them using good old paper forms, and have officers there help them out. It's a completely braindead system that was envisioned by someone who has very little idea of how the common person lives.
Not that there are any channels to provide feedback, ironically enough. (Voting is a sham and has always been so here.)