Verify Ontario

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 (@richard680news) 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

The Government of Ontario’s COVID-19 proof of vaccination app will be called, fittingly enough, ‘Verify Ontario.’

Mike Crawley, CBC News‘ Queen’s Park reporter, tweeted on Wednesday night that a colleague had discovered the name via a web page.

NEW: “Verify Ontario” will be the name of the app that businesses use from Oct 22 to scan your QR code proof of COVID19 vaccination. (There’s been no announcement from the government about the name. One of my colleagues found the web page.) #COVID19Ontario https://t.co/zsZk9Q95M9

— Mike Crawley (@CBCQueensPark) October 7, 2021

However, the government has still not publicly commented on the name nearly one day later.

Set to launch on October 22nd, the Verify Ontario app will allow Ontarians to store a QR code containing proof of their vaccination. Businesses that require this, such as dine-in restaurants, movie theatres and convention centres, can then scan the QR code.

This system went into effect on September 22nd, with the province stating that it would take one month from then to get the official QR code app up and running.

For now, Ontarians can use the province’s official vaccination receipt tool to show to businesses. You can also use that same portal to book a vaccine appointment if you haven’t yet done so.