Get a health check by checking your phone?

Fitness and health mobile apps are booming. With pedometers, diet advice, sport training planning and more, the list is endless. Now, the French even have their social security details on their phones.

A digital version of the French social security card is about to be test-run in the Alpes-Maritimes and Rhône areas among volunteers.

In the beginning, it won’t completely replace the actual card, but rather be an added alternative. Provided in the form of a free app initially to volunteers, it should be rolled out nationwide in 2021. It will give access to both third-party information and other beneficiaries of the social security cover, just like the traditional card.

This new app is part of the move to increase digital healthcare services instigated by health minister Agnès Buzyn. She believes the digital version of the card will fulfil the need of patients to access their legal rights in all contexts and benefit from online services.