From November 18, 2025, Health Insurance introduces the dematerialized Vitale card on smartphones. 28 million insured individuals, in mainland France and overseas, can activate the free application. This includes those without France Identity, via video verification. The system is optional and secure, usable with equipped healthcare providers (QR code or NFC). Additionally, it coexists with the plastic card and promises expense tracking. Furthermore, it strengthens the fight against fraud.
As of today, 28 million insured individuals can use it
The generalization of the "Vitale card" application comes into effect on November 18, 2025. It opens access to 28 million insured individuals, both in mainland France and overseas. The target audience is simple to describe: anyone already holding a plastic Vitale card and an Android or iOS smartphone. The affiliation regime does not matter. The service is managed by Health Insurance and its spearhead, the National Health Insurance Fund.
The tool does not replace the green card. It complements it. The physical card remains perfectly valid and is still required in offices and pharmacies that are not yet equipped. Health Insurance reports 1.8 million activations since the beginning of 2024. The figure is modest given the potential opened, yet it indicates a real appetite for dematerialization.
This choice remains free: people without a compatible smartphone or reluctant to install a new application can continue. Those attached to the exclusive use of the plastic card can also continue to use it alone. The right to care is never conditioned on owning a phone.
What exactly does the application allow?
The free "Vitale card" app, distinct from Ameli (Ameli account), stores the open rights and the identity linked to the insured. It serves as a pass at the doctor, pharmacy, laboratory, hospital. The healthcare provider reads the information via a QR code or by NFC, then issues an electronic care sheet. This is done just like with the plastic card.
On the insured’s side, a section summarizes recent expenses, invoices, and reimbursements. The app displays the identity of the insured and their dependents, as well as the Social Security number. It also shows the regime and the CPAM of attachment. It does not expose any medical details: no diagnosis, no prescription, no test results.
Activation: two paths, one proof
The process unfolds in several steps that require a few minutes and minimal preparation. It is necessary to have the plastic Vitale card and a valid identity document. Additionally, an accessible email address is required, as well as, of course, the smartphone.
The "Vitale card" application is downloaded from the dedicated store. Upon opening, the user sets a secret code. They can activate biometrics if they wish. Two activation paths are then offered. The first, called France identity, concerns those with the new national chip card and a created digital identity. Identification is then done through this channel, and the e-card is activated.
The second path takes place within the application. It starts with verifying the Social Security number. A six-digit code is sent by email. The user then films their identity document, then their face following simple instructions. A human operator compares the video and the document. Validation occurs within 48 hours. At the end, the digital Vitale card becomes active and is presented to the healthcare provider with a screen gesture.
Among healthcare providers: where it already works
The generalization extends to the entire territory. It relies on a network of equipment that is progressing but remains heterogeneous depending on the regions. Health Insurance mentions, in pioneering areas, nearly 80% of pharmacists having already billed via the application. Nationally, about two-thirds of pharmacies are equipped. Additionally, one in five doctors has used this method for an electronic care sheet. In Île-de-France, the gaps are noticeable: one in eight doctors and one in two pharmacies.
Where the equipment is not yet in place, the physical card remains the reference solution.
Privacy and data: what safeguards?
The question arises as soon as the face is filmed. Indeed, identity proof requires video verification. The processing of images falls under Health Insurance, the data controller in the sense of the GDPR. The law regulates these uses, and the supervisory authority, the CNIL, ensures their compliance. Knowing that there are rights of access, rectification, erasure, and opposition empowers users.
Health Insurance emphasizes that the application does not contain medical data. The vault does not house any diagnosis or result. Once activated, the application is locked by the code set or by the phone’s biometrics. This does not promise zero risk, but it clarifies the balance between convenience and caution.
Displayed data, absent data
The application records the identity, the Social Security number, and the regime. It also notes the CPAM of attachment, the list of beneficiaries, and invoice summaries. It allows users to display their up-to-date rights. It offers a chronology of expenses and reimbursements. It does not show prescriptions, does not reveal treatments, does not expose test results. The core is not medical secrecy, but the proof of rights.
In case of a bug: useful reflexes and alternatives
The deployment of a large-scale service never spares glitches. Insured individuals describe installation difficulties and facial recognition failures. The most useful advice is often the simplest: check the brightness, clear the face, avoid backlighting. In case of repeated failure, restart the procedure later or choose the France identity path if available.
If validation is delayed, accept the delay: human control ensures the system’s solidity. Nothing prevents using the physical card in the meantime. Additionally, it is possible to redo the Vitale card online in case of loss. In case of a prolonged failure, the usual channels remain open: counters, telephone reception, messages via Ameli for an online Vitale card request. The logic to remember is that of dual access.
Why now: digital uses and fighting fraud
Health should not lag behind digital uses. The French say they are ready to download the application, up to seven out of ten according to the CNAM. The smartphone has become the everyday document holder. It concentrates identity, payment, transport ticket, soon complementary insurance. Putting the Vitale card in the phone means welding the proof of rights to the already learned gesture. Indeed, this applies to other services.
It is also a strategy to fight against fraud. Strong authentication, the phone’s material anchoring, and human verification should reduce rights usurpation. The promise is pragmatic. It is worth more by the addition of barriers than by the perfection of each.
On the healthcare providers’ side: software, readers, billing
In offices and pharmacies, the reader becomes an updated reader. It reads a QR code or communicates via NFC. The reading of rights is automated. Errors become rarer. Electronic billing accelerates. Where the equipment is not yet in place, nothing prevents continuing as before with the physical card. Business software is updated. Terminals are renewed. The transition takes place in waves, in a measured way.
Prepare, activate, present: the gesture at the office
Before starting, check your phone. Then, gather your card and identity document. Finally, prepare a valid email address. Download the application. Set a code. Choose your activation path. Wait if human verification is required. Then present your screen to the healthcare provider. The guiding thread is captured in a few verbs that match the real experience: prepare, activate, present.
For those less comfortable with digital, assist without forcing. Remind them that the green card continues to work. Offer an appointment at the counter if necessary. The goal is to broaden access, not to erect a new barrier.
Key figures as of 11-18-2025
The eligible population reaches 28 million insured individuals. Known activations amount to 1.8 million since 2024. By equipping two-thirds of pharmacies and one in five doctors, the network progresses. In Île-de-France, the gap persists with one in two pharmacies and one in eight doctors equipped. Account validation occurs within 48 hours. Installation bugs exist and call for continuous improvements.
These data paint a snapshot. They will evolve, sometimes quickly. Let’s remember the essential: the generalization is now effective across the entire territory.
Promise of use and safeguards
It is pointless to ignore digital inequalities. A fraction of the population remains distant from smartphones or mobile internet. The social state is measured by its ability to leave no one behind. Maintaining the physical card and the support of counters play a decisive role here.
Vigilance on data is not theoretical. Safeguards exist. Rights exist. They are requested and exercised. The CNIL keeps a watchful eye. The GDPR sets the rules of the game. Health Insurance bears the responsibility for processing. This foundation does not protect against all flaws, but it provides remedies and obligations.
Next step: complementary health insurance in the app and simplified third-party payment
The next step aims to integrate complementary health insurance into the application to simplify third-party payment. The rapprochement with My Health Space should streamline uses. The agenda aims for modernization without harshness. In the future, the case could become a full-fledged health wallet. The compass must remain: ergonomics, inclusion, technical sobriety, transparency on data, efficiency at the counter.
Health Insurance displays an ambition in tune with uses. It relies on the reflex of the phone always in the pocket. It promises to reduce card forgetfulness, update rights continuously, accelerate circuits. It will also need to listen to user feedback, correct difficulties, measure effects. It is at this price that the Vitale card, dematerialized but very real, will find its place in the routine of a country attached to its Social Security.
The essential to remember
The "Vitale card" application is free, optional, operational wherever professionals are equipped. It displays rights, capitalizes proofs, accelerates reimbursements. It does not expose medical secrets. It locks access by code or biometrics. It coexists with the green card and extends it. It installs in a few steps, with sometimes a waiting time linked to human verification.
At the end of this journey, a conclusion is clear. Dematerialization is neither a fad nor an injunction. It is a proposal. It embraces mobile life, fits in one hand, invites itself to the pharmacy counter. It demands in return guarantees and examples. Because an innovation is only as valuable as the use and the care taken to make it common.