How to carry your COVID-19 vaccine card on your iPhone or Android phone – CNET

You may need your vaccination card to enter restaurants, gyms and other venues across the country.

Have you received your COVID-19 booster yet? With omicron, will you need a fourth vaccine dose? With vaccine-makers preparing for an omicron-specific booster if the new COVID-19 variant is as serious as some fear, that piece of paper with your vaccine record could get crowded.

With many counties and cities requiring you to show your vaccine card and ID to get into restaurants, bars and theaters (or even your place of work), you'll need to carry a record of your COVID shots with you if you want to enter. You don't, however, necessarily have to keep the printed version in your wallet or purse. We recommend storing it in your phone instead to make your life easier by preventingloss or damage. You carry your phone everywhere, right?

Not sure where to start? We'll tell you all the ways you can store your vaccine card on your phone -- including methods to use if you have an Android phone or iPhone, or if your state has a specific app. Be aware that if you get a booster dose, you need to re-upload your vaccine card. For more details about the coronavirus, here's the latest onlong COVIDand what to know aboutmixing your COVID-19 booster shot. This story was recently updated.

Many states have apps that let their residents store a digital version of their vaccine cards on their phones, including California,Colorado, Hawaii,New Yorkand Oregon.

Colorado residents, for example, can download themyColorado app. It requires you to create an account, verify your identity and then add your digital driver's license to your phone. After you've done that, you can then add your myVaccine record to the app.

Louisiana'sLA Wallet apptakes a similar approach to Colorado's, allowing you to add your driver's license and proof of vaccination to your phone.

California's version requires you tofill out a form to verify your identity, after which you'll receive a text message or email with a link to a QR code you can save to your phone. When scanned, the code will offer proof of vaccination. The link will also include a digital copy of your vaccination record.

Illinois residents can useVaxVerifyto show proof. The app uses Experian for identity verification.

MyIR Mobileis another app used by several state health departments to provide a digital copy of your vaccination card. Currently, if you live in Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Dakota, Washington, West Virginia or Washington, DC, this is the app you'll use.

Delaware,New Mexico andMichigan are also using web portals for residents to access their vaccination status online.

New Yorkers have two app options, including the Excelsior Pass app and NYC Covid Safe.

We'll continue to keep an eye out for other states that have apps and features to store your COVID-19 vaccine card online.

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If your state doesn't have an iPhone or Android app to store your card, there are other ways to store it on your phone. The US doesn't have a single online system or app you can use to show proof of vaccination on your phone. Instead, what qualifies as proof varies by city, county and even business.

Some places may accept a picture of your vaccination card. It's a confusing mess, to put it mildly. I strongly urge you to take a few minutes to research what your city, county or state will accept as proof, as it can vary.

For example, concert producerAEG Presents will accepta "physical copy of a COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, a digital copy of such card or such other proof as is permitted locally."

Along with school mandates,hundreds of collegesare also requiring students and employees to be vaccinated.Seattle University, for example, requires students to be vaccinated to attend in-person classes via an online form that uploads photos of the front and back of the vaccination card.

When in doubt, look for information on the business's website, or call the local health department and ask for clarification. This is bound to save you time, headaches and being turned away at the door.

Yes. If you have aniPhone ($330 at Amazon), you can store your COVID-19 vaccination card on yourApple Walletto present whenever you need to show you're fully vaccinated. (You can keep a copy in theHealth app, too.) You can also keep your card handy on yourApple Watchwith the latest WatchOS update.

Over on Android, you can add yourvaccine card to the Google Pay app. I need to remind myself each time where my card is in Google Pay (you can find it by tapping the card area up at the top of the app), so I added a shortcut icon to my home screen to quickly find it.

Samsung now gives Galaxy phone owners the option to add proof of vaccination to Samsung Pay, its wallet app. By having direct access to your vaccination record, you won't have to fiddle around with creating photo albums and tapping through multiple screens before you're able to show it to a bouncer at your local watering hole.

Samsung Galaxy device users can store proof of vaccination in Samsung Pay by downloading the CommonHealth app.

To add your card to Samsung Pay, you'll need to download the CommonHealth app (Samsung's partner) from the Google Play Store. Follow the prompts in the app to verify your vaccination status. Once the app confirms you've indeed gotten the shots, you'll be prompted to download a Smart Health Card to Samsung Pay.

That card is what you'll then show to anyone requesting you show proof of vaccination.

The simplest way to have a digital record of your vaccine status is to snap a picture of your vaccination card and keep it on your phone. The CDC even recommendskeeping a picture of your card as a backup copy.

Taking a photo of your card -- front and back -- is the quickest and easiest way to store it on your phone.

Simply use the camera app on your phone to snap the photo. You can favorite the photo to quickly locate it or store it in a notes app, a folder or somewhere that's easy to remember so you don't have to endlessly scroll your camera roll to find it. Make sure you're in a well-lit area and get close enough to the card that its dates and details are legible. I also suggest putting the card on a dark surface, while remaining conscious of shadows of your arms or the phone on the card itself.

Here's an example of one way to save your vaccination card as a new photo album. On an iPhone, open the Photos app, select the Albums tab and then tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner followed by New Album. Give the album a name and then tap Save. Next, select the photos of your card to add them to the album.

On an Android phone, it depends on which app you're using, but the process should generally be the same. If you're using the Google Photos app, open the app and then select the picture of your vaccination card. Tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner, followed by the Add to Album button. Select +New album and give it a name such as "Vaccination Card" and tap the checkmark button when you're done.

The Notes app on the iPhone has a built-in scanner that makes it really easy to quickly scan your vaccination card and store a copy.

I've had a large number of readers reach out to me about this article, each one offering advice and guidance about storing a proof of vaccination card.

Some suggestions include well-known airport security service Clear. In fact, some concert and exhibition halls require that attendees use Clear to verify their vaccination status to attend a show. You can go to clearme.com/healthpass to download the app and get your card added.

VaxYesis another service that verifies your vaccination status and then adds your vaccination card to your Apple Wallet. I've read that you can add your card to the Google Pay app, but after signing up and going through the process myself, I don't see the option on a Pixel 5 running Android 12.

If your local municipality or employer used the CDC's Vaccine Administration Management System, thenyou can use the VAMS website to access your vaccination records. I had more than one reader reach out to me about using this system to show proof of vaccination, but without an account myself, I'm unable to go through the process of accessing a vaccination record.

Another suggestion I received from multiple readers is to use a scanner app on your phone and store a scanned copy of your vaccination card in something like your OneDrive personal vault or a password manager (almost all of them offer some sort of secure file storage) instead of storing the photo in Google Photos or Apple's iCloud photos. On an iPhone, you can use the scanner that'sbuilt into the Notes app. On Android,Google's Stack PDF scannerwill be enough to get the job done.

This story updates as the national vaccine conversation continues. For more information about the booster shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, make sure to read this. We have up-to-date details about the omicron variant.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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How to carry your COVID-19 vaccine card on your iPhone or Android phone - CNET