It's important to know what myID is and what it involves, especially for those living in or planning to live in Australia. However, the official website can be a little difficult to understand, so this article aims to help.
What is myID?
MyID, formerly myGovID, is a digital ID system managed by the Australian Government. It has three levels of account strength: basic, standard, and strong. Once set up, it allows you to access government online services easily without multiple passwords or usernames. The basic level doesn't need verification but only gives access to limited services. The standard level requires two forms of current ID and provides access to most services.
Finally, the strong level grants access to all online services and requires two forms of ID and a face verification check. You can only use myID online, but it allows for quick identity verification using fingerprint and facial recognition if enabled.
What to Watch Out For
Being a government app, you can rest assured you’re not being scammed. However, that doesn’t mean other’s won’t try to impersonate myID to scam you. It is recommend to keep an eye out for real scammers. Especially since myID has undergone a name change (from myGovID to myID). ATO also recommends to not click any links or downloadable content outside of the app. This will help you avoid some of the many scam attacks that do go on. You must access myID through the apple app store, google play store, or any other means approved by the ATO to ensure the app’s functionality.
Although myID appears impressive to observers, actual users have a different view. It has a 2.6-star rating on the Play Store from 1.5k reviews and an even lower 1.6-star rating on the App Store from 367 reviews.
It seems that when user’s run into issues using the app, the entire experience becomes incredibly tedious to fix. Many users say the app is non-functional, redundant, a waste of taxpayer money, and at best, a joke.
Is It For You?
If you use many online government services, myID could be beneficial. But if you prefer pen and paper, this app might not suit you.
After setting up your account security, online verifications will be faster.
Additionally, Australia are in the legislation process for a ban on social media for kids under 16. When this happens, myID could be used to confirm users' ages to their legal documents. Right now, only government apps need basic, strong or standard accounts. But the government might make social media require standard strength accounts to follow the new ban. For parents, this would be good as it makes kids safer online, but for under-16s, it would make using social media much harder under the ban.