“…Yoti said the partnership would ultimately mean that Scottish residents could use its biometric app to verify their identities to businesses, to prove they are of age to buy restricted goods, to access government services, to confirm their identities online, and to access websites without the need for a password. “

The Scottish Government has become the latest major government authority to partner with Yoti, the provider of an eponymous mobile ID app.

The partnership comes by way of ‘the Improvement Service’, an organization whose mandate is to improve local government services in Scotland. As part of a three-year Memorandum of Understanding between the Improvement Service and the Scottish Government, the former has established partnerships with not only Yoti but three other technology partners, including IT consultancy TCS, cloud solutions provider Brightsolid, and blockchain specialist Wallet.Services.

In a statement announcing the partnerships, the Improvement Service explained that Yoti had been contracted “to undertake a pathfinder initiative looking at the potential of YOTI’s free app to let Scottish residents prove their age and entitlement, online and in person.”

Elaborating further in its own announcement, Yoti said the partnership would ultimately mean that Scottish residents could use its biometric app to verify their identities to businesses, to prove they are of age to buy restricted goods, to access government services, to confirm their identities online, and to access websites without the need for a password. “They will be able to leave valuable ID documents like their passport, driving licence, and other existing forms of identity safe at home, and prove who they are using Yoti,” the company said.

News of the partnership comes after Yoti integrated the UK government-approved CitizenCard proof of age system into its app this past May, and after the British dependency of Jersey announced it would use Yoti for digital citizen ID in March.