How to check your Aadhaar authentication history

Aadhaar-based eKYC or authentication is being widely adopted for financial as well as non-financial services such as to open bank accounts or for e-signatures. 

It’s a good idea to periodically check the authentications happening on your Aadhaar. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website allows you to check Aadhaar authentication history. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to check it.

1. Where to find it: UIDAI has listed this facility under Aadhaar services on its home page or here. The website states that you can use this service to check 50 previous authentications. We found that the website shows authentication history of up to 6 months, though the number of authentications shown were fewer than 50. 

2. Enter your Aadhaar number: Once you reach the web page, you will be asked to input your Aadhaar number and a security code to obtain a one-time password (OTP) that you will get on your registered number. 

3. Choose history: The next page will have a drop-down list of different types of authentications. You can choose the type of authentication history you want to check. The different types of authentications are: demographic, biometric, OTP, biometric and OTP, demographic and OTP, and demographic and biometric. You will also be asked the time range for which you want the authentication history. You will need the OTP at this stage. 

4. Find the list: Once this information is given, the UIDAI portal will list the authentication history along with authentication modality, date, time, name of the Authentication User Agency or AUA (you can check the details of the AUA here, UIDAI response code, transaction ID, authentication response and UIDAI error code, if any. At this stage, though the list of your authentication history is in front of you, it does not necessarily make it clear when and where the authentication took place. 

6. Check details on email: If you have also registered your email with Aadhaar, you will also get an email after each authentication. You can use the response code from the UIDAI website to search through your email inbox to get more details about particular transactions. The email states whether or not the authentication was successful and specifies which device was used for that authentication. This could be an agency—a telecom service provider or a financial services company—or an app that used your Aadhaar authentication.

7. How to use the information? If you do not recognise a transaction, you can contact the AUA to find out why the authentication was conducted. You can also raise the issue with UIDAI by calling 1947 or by forwarding the email with suspicious transaction to help@uidai.gov.in.