Digital rollout of French health cards expanded: how to get one

Residents across France are now able to download a digital version of their carte Vitale health card, as a smartphone app was rolled out nationwide yesterday (November 17).

It is the final step in a years-long process to digitise the health cards, however there are no plans to end physical versions, which are still to be accepted at all pharmacies and doctor surgeries. 

Indeed, not all medical facilities are currently equipped to accept digital versions of the card. Recent figures show that whilst some 60% of pharmacies have scanned a digital version of the card, only around 20% of GPs have. 

The latest rollout means that all residents with a carte Vitale can obtain a digital version of the card – up to 28 million additional users overall. 

The digital app, simply called ‘carte vitale’, is available on smartphones (via the Apple App store or Google Play on Android devices) and is free to download.

Finally available to all 

The app has been on trial since 2023, gradually expanding the number of available departments through successive rollouts. Earlier this year, authorities said they aimed to make the app available to all before the end of 2025.

Before Tuesday, it was being trialled in 46 departments across six French regions, however some citizens outside of these areas were also able to obtain the digital version.

This was because in March 2025, it was linked to the France Identité scheme, an app that digitises several physical official documents including driving licences. However France Identité is only available to French nationals with a modern biometric, post-2021 national ID card. 

This therefore meant that in most areas foreign residents – and citizens who had older ID cards – were unable to digitise their carte Vitale as they could not use France Identité.

While there are plans to expand the rollout of France Identité, including to non-citizens, as of November 2025 no progress has been made on this front.

How does the app work for people with residency cards? 

After downloading the app you will be required to enter a code sent to the email address linked to your online Ameli health account.

You will also need to input data from your carte Vitale (or scan the physical card with your smartphone), scan your physical residency card with your phone camera, and then carry out a facial recognition scan using the app.

Alternatively at this step you can connect via France Identité, if you are French and fulfil the requirements outlined above, to skip the scan. 

You then need to set up a pin code to access the digital version of the card through your phone. 

Full confirmation that the app is set up can take 48 hours to arrive. 

There are reports of users facing technical bugs, especially when trying to scan residency cards and undergo the facial recognition step.

Our team tried to use the app this morning (November 19) and received an error message saying: "The service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

However, when one of The Connexion team downloaded the app earlier this year (during the trial period) the process was found to be quick and efficient. 

You can read about this experience here. 

Have you downloaded the app and used it? Let us know your experience via feedback@connexionfrance.com