AusweisApp
Ranked 7 of 7 digital IDs by recommenders
Free, open-source German eID app that is available on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD and works with NFC on modern phones. Caveat: aligning the card with the phone can be fiddly.
Free, open-source German eID app that is available on Windows, Linux and FreeBSD and works with NFC on modern phones. Caveat: aligning the card with the phone can be fiddly.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 7
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 78%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
Other digital IDs people recommend
The four most recommended other digital IDs, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BankID | 25 | 28 | 47% | 9 | — | — |
| EU Digital Identity Wallet | 13 | 20 | 39% | 8 | — | — |
| DigiD | 11 | 9 | 55% | 7 | — | — |
| MitID | 11 | 21 | 34% | 4 | — | — |
| AusweisAppThis page | 7 | 2 | 78% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
7 of the 9 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“This is the way to do it if you're gonna have a digital ID.”
“The AusweisApp is Open Source and available on Windows, Linux and even FreeBSD too.”
“is designed exclusively for Android and Apple mobile devices”
“This feature is generally useful because I live outside of the EU”
“it's not entirely user-friendly since aligning the card with your phone seems to be prickly”
“once you are registered its actually easy to use”
“Works with NFC and AusweisApp on reasonably modern phones.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.