When does the Swiss E-ID start?

There is no fixed date. The Federal Office of Justice announced on 30 June 2026 that the introduction, previously planned for the second half of 2026 and later reported as 1 December 2026, is postponed because of security concerns linked to AI, such as malware on devices and deepfakes. Media reports point to 2027, while the trust infrastructure itself is expected to start in the first half of 2027.

Who can get the Swiss E-ID?

According to the official programme site, it is available to Swiss citizens and persons with residence permits in Switzerland. The law ties it to a valid Swiss identity card, Swiss passport or a foreign national identity document issued by Switzerland. It is free, and the state issues it.

swiyu is the name of the Swiss state wallet app. It holds the E-ID and other electronic credentials on your own smartphone, and it is developed by the federal administration. A public beta has been available since 2025, and a sandbox wallet lets authorities and companies test the trust infrastructure.

Can I use the Swiss E-ID as an EU wallet?

Not automatically. Switzerland is not part of the EU or the EEA, and there is no full interoperability yet. The E-ID law allows the Federal Council to conclude international agreements on mutual recognition, in particular with the EU, but none was in force at the time of writing.

Digital ID in Switzerland: E-ID, swiyu, SwissID and AGOV

Today in Switzerland you log in to public services with AGOV, the authorities’ login, or with the privately run SwissID, and the state E-ID is not yet issued. Voters approved it in September 2025, the state wallet is called swiyu, and the launch was postponed in June 2026 without a fixed date.

At a glance

Item	Status
National eID	State E-ID approved by referendum in September 2025; not yet issued, launch postponed
Mobile or app solution	swiyu wallet (public beta and sandbox); AGOV app; SwissID app
Bank-based ID	Banks use their own e-banking logins; not part of the state E-ID
EU relationship	Not in the EU or EEA; no full interoperability; recognition would need an agreement
Wallet, October 2026	swiyu with public sandbox; E-ID launch postponed, trust infrastructure expected in the first half of 2027
Responsible body	Federal Office of Justice (programme and trust infrastructure), fedpol (E-ID issuance), Federal Office of Information Technology

The national system

Switzerland has no national eID card in everyday use. Until the state E-ID arrives, there are two main logins. AGOV is the authentication service of the Swiss authorities. According to the federal administration, it started with two pilot cantons, Zurich and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, in January 2024 and is meant to be linked with the E-ID later. Several cantons have moved their accounts to it. You can use an app with face or fingerprint check or a security key instead of an SMS code. SwissID is a privately operated login that many private services still use.

The state E-ID follows a different model. After a first law was rejected in a 2021 referendum, a new E-ID law passed Parliament in December 2024. The state issues the E-ID, the Federal Office of Police (fedpol) is responsible for issuing it, and it is free and voluntary. Data stays on the holder’s phone, and the system is built on a decentralised, open-source infrastructure.

How to get it and use it

The official E-ID site states that the E-ID will be available to Swiss citizens and people with residence permits in Switzerland, and the law ties it to a valid Swiss identity card, passport or a foreign national identity document issued by Switzerland. You will order it through the swiyu app. Because the launch is postponed, you cannot yet obtain it.

What you can do now is try the swiyu app and its test credentials in the public sandbox, and set up AGOV for cantonal and federal services. To understand how assurance levels apply to such logins, read our guide to levels of assurance.

swiyu, the referendum and the delay

The referendum of 28 September 2025 was close: 50.4 per cent voted yes, with turnout of about 50 per cent. After the vote the Federal Council planned a start on 1 December 2026 and added data-protection safeguards: only authorised providers may ask for the AHV number, providers must register data requests in a public register, users receive warnings if too much is requested, and violators can be excluded.

On 30 June 2026 the Federal Office of Justice then announced that the E-ID introduction is postponed. It cited AI developments that make extra safeguards necessary, for example against malware on the device and for better deepfake detection, and said that the trust infrastructure is expected to run from the first half of 2027, independently of the E-ID. An exact E-ID date will follow once security assessments are complete. The swiyu technology builds on open standards of the same family as the EU wallet, including the OpenID for Verifiable Presentations protocol.

Relationship to the EU and use abroad

Switzerland is neither an EU nor an EEA member, so the EU wallet regulation does not apply to it directly. Commentators describe the two systems as technically similar but not fully interoperable, and the E-ID law lets the Federal Council conclude international agreements on recognition. Until such an agreement exists, do not count on using the Swiss E-ID for EU services; see our guide on cross-border eID and the EU Digital Identity Wallet for the EU side. Neighbours with their own models include Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein, whose eID.li can also be obtained by Swiss persons in Vaduz.

Switzerland also has a small place in OpenID history: in 2008 a Swiss provider named Clavid offered OpenID logins, as told on our page about the Swiss OpenID provider Clavid in 2008.

Privacy in brief

The design principle is that credentials sit on your phone and that services see only the attributes they are entitled to ask for. Check each request in the app, decline anything excessive, and report suspected misuse to the Federal Office of Justice.