Use cases and flows
On this page, you find some use cases and flows to better understand how Personalausweis works.
Use cases
Personalausweis is designed to suit a variety of use cases for identity verification. Discover how integrating with Personalausweis through Signicat can benefit your online service with the following use cases:
Identification and onboarding
When a new user wants to use your services, Personalausweis allows you to perform a complete identity verification online.
Picture a scenario where an end-user wants to apply for a credit card with a bank that offers identity verification through Personalausweis. The end-user can onboard remotely without having to enter any personal details manually or visit the branch office in person.
Login of recurring users
After you perform full online identification of an end-user, you can use Personalausweis to log in the end-user the next time they want to access your services. You can achieve this by matching the end-user unique identifier with the value you stored during the first onboarding. In practice, you should use the pseudonym function of Personalausweis, since there is no national identity number in Germany. Learn more about the pseudonym in the Attributes reference page.
Address verification
Personalausweis returns the address information of your end-users. As part of the authentication process, you can request and retrieve the postal address.
Age verification
With Personalausweis you can verify the age of your end-users by checking their date of birth. This allows you to adhere to age restriction policies when a user wants to log in to your online services.
Personalausweis flows
Holders of a German identity card are required to install the AusweisApp application if they want to authenticate online. AusweisApp is available for download both on desktop and mobile phones.
AusweisApp provides multi-factor authentication in combination with card reader capabilities. The card reader can either be a USB-connected device or an NFC-enabled smartphone. These features of the AusweisApp allow for a combination of possible authentication flows.
User journey
A typical authentication flow consists of the following steps (for both mobile and computer):
- On your website/application, the end-user clicks on a button (or is directed) to authenticate with Personalausweis.
- The end-user opens the AusweisApp on their device.
- The AusweisApp displays the name of the provider, the name of your organisation and the attributes requested for authentication.
- If the end-user consents, they select "Proceed to PIN entry".
- The end-user places the identity card on the card reader.
- The end-user enters the 6-digit PIN code.
- Now, the AusweisApp reads the data from the card and transmits it to your application.
- Once verified, the end-user is redirected to your defined target page.
In the AusweisApp, the identity provider name appears as "Signicat GmbH". This is because Signicat is the accredited organisation responsible for authentication. We recommend informing your end-users beforehand.
By default, the "Transactional information" field in the AusweisApp displays the name of your organisation, as registered in the Dashboard. To change the name in the AusweisApp, you need to contact us by creating a support ticket in the Signicat Dashboard.
Available flows
Note that end-users may follow different flows when authenticating online:
- Desktop only: Requires USB-connected reader and AusweisApp on desktop.
- Desktop with NFC-enabled smartphone as paired reader: AusweisApp needs to be installed on both devices.
- NFC-enabled smartphone only: AusweisApp needs to be installed on smartphone.
See below for examples of the computer and mobile flows.
Authentication with AusweisApp on a computer
The end-user has two options when authenticating with Personalausweis from a computer, either in combination with a USB-connected card reader or with an NFC-enabled mobile phone.
This example shows the desktop application in combination with an NFC-enabled mobile phone as a card reader:
Authentication with AusweisApp on a computer
Note that using the Personalausweis from a computer in combination with an NFC-enabled mobile phone requires that the phone and the app are paired. This setting can be configured in the AusweisApp.
Authentication with AusweisApp on mobile
Below are the steps involved in an authentication with Personalausweis on a mobile:
