New Delhi

TheAadhaar app has crossed the significant milestone of 5 crore downloads, reflecting the growing adoption of convenient and digital-first Aadhaar services among residents, according to a statement issued by IT Ministry on Thursday.

The milestone marks a significant expansion of the Aadhaar app's role as a digital interface between residents and UIDAI, enabling Aadhaar number holders to access a growing range of services from their smartphones, including mobile number update, address update, email update, biometric lock/unlock and e-Aadhaar download.

The app has seen strong and sustained usage since its launch. While more than 60 lakh people updated their mobile number using the Aadhaar app, over 15 lakh address updates and more than 23 lakh email updates were done through the Aadhaar app.

The growing adoption of these services reflects the increasing preference among residents for availing Aadhaar-related services digitally, without the need to visit an Aadhaar centre, the statement said.

The Aadhaar app is designed around the principle of “Show, Share and Verify”, giving Aadhaar number holders greater control over how their Aadhaar information is used while enabling convenient identity verification.

Alongside the growth of the Aadhaar app, UIDAI continues to expand the ecosystem for secure and convenient offline verification. UIDAI has now onboarded more than 200 entities as Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSEs), since its roll out in January, according to the statement.

This milestone marks a major advancement in enabling secure, consent-based, and paperless verification through Aadhaar offline mechanism -- empowering both service providers and people, alike. The onboarding of these OVSE partners reflects growing confidence in Aadhaar-enabled, privacy-first digital verification frameworks that prioritise user control while ensuring ease of access, the statement said.

By leveraging Aadhaar offline verification methods such as QR code-based verification and secure digitally signed documents, these entities will now be able to verify identity information without requiring real-time connectivity to UIDAI’s central database. This approach brings a strong resident-centric focus, ensuring that Aadhaar number holders can share only the minimum necessary data, thereby enhancing privacy.