App Profile: ReadID Me

Maksym Andronenkov

Rating: 5/5

My passport was somehow dislodged between an article of clothing and as a result, went through a full high speed wash and an entire cycle of the dryer. I thought there was no way for my passport to be functional and although I let it dry fully and the passport physically is intact, I read horror stories of the chip not working and being denied boarding in certain cases (not sure what the extent of the truth there is to this). Either way, I didn’t want to risk it and the only way would be to go to the airport and ask them to test it before an international flight (seems too close for comfort), or to have an app like this! After scanning my chip, I verified that everything works and the app is so smooth. Thank you developers for a peace of mind and saving me a trip to the airport!

Tommy Lu

Rating: 4/5

Finally an iOS compatible app that actually reads a US passport. It’s tricky when you scan the RFID chip since you have to position the top of the phone exactly around the center of the passport’s back cover. Also, make sure the passport booklet is open, otherwise the cover’s material will block the signal. It’s a security feature built into the passport. I do hope my data can be downloaded into a text file, instead of view only. Also, I tried on two genuine passports. One was issued about 4 years ago, and it shows data authentic and country signer as “SUCCEEDED found a chain to a trust anchor”. The other passport was issued about 3 months ago, and it shows as authenticity not validated, due to the country signer as FAILED. I know for a fact both passports are real, why is the new passport won’t pass authenticity check? Is it because the passport is too new, and the RSA encryption is different? I’m not aware of a security update to US passports in the past 4 years. Can someone explain? Thanks!

cuKabul

Rating: 5/5

It works. Just need to play around until you find the sweet spot where the chip matches your reader. Beware you might need to rotate your phone to be able to match. After I saw my data on the app, honestly I felt vulnerable. I read the privacy statement on the developer website and they claim they don’t store the data, which is great. Overall this is a cool app. I can see a lot of use for it for various projects. The world is moving towards contactless tech so this app has potentials. Please don’t store the data though haha :)