Government’s first ever unified mobile app is now open for business across the country. But, as PublicTechnology reports, digital experts are hoping the technology will have lots more to come.
A government-wide app – offering access to services and information delivered across Whitehall departments – is, for the first time, now available to citizens throughout the UK.
But the GOV.UK App, which was developed by the Government Digital Service and was this week opened for widespread download via Apple and Google’s smartphone app stores, remains in public beta mode. This means that significant development work on the technology is ongoing. Upgrades, new functionality and other amendments are likely to follow in the weeks, months and years to come.
PublicTechnology runs through some of the planned and potential changes to look out for going forward.
Public awareness drive
While the app is openly available for download, the next couple of months are understood to be considered a quiet launch period, intended to gradually spread the word and gather feedback via market-watchers and early-adopters. A bigger and bolder launch aimed at the breadth of the population – and backed by a major comms campaign – is expected to follow in September.
Thereafter, ministers have yet to put a figure on exactly how many people are expected to sign up for the app. But, if it matches uptake of the NHS App or existing Whitehall systems like Government Gateway, the user base would reach into tens of millions.
GOV.UK Chat
The lower toolbar of the app currently displays two core options: ‘Home’; and ‘Settings’.
Users may also note that there appears to be space for two more. The first of these two will be the addition of the GOV.UK Chat function, set to be added in the autumn. The chatbot – which is underpinned by the same technology as ChatGPT – is designed to provide human-like conversational interactions with visitors to government’s online services. The system has already been tested with some users of business services, and is currently undergoing further testing and development before being extended to other types of service – such as benefits, personal tax, or transport.
Once the chat function is added to the app, the hope is that it will be able to direct users to content and services much faster than working through the program’s wide selection of menus – or using an external search engine.
GOV.UK Wallet
The other function that will be added to the main toolbar at the bottom of the app’s screen will be the GOV.UK Wallet, due to launch later this year.
First trailed in January, the wallet will operate much like similar technologies from Apple and Google, by providing a government-backed system where smartphone users can access, in a single place, a range of official documents issued in digital form. The first such document will be a Digital Veteran Card for former Armed Forces Personnel, which it is understood will initially be available to eligible holders via the GOV.UK One Login app.
Other imminent virtual versions of formal documents include digital driving licences, which are due to go into a pilot phase by the end of 2025. In the months and years beyond, government also intends to digitise the likes of National Insurance numbers, benefits details and, by 2027, the aim is to provide an electronic version of a citizens’ passport that can, initially, be used to prove identity.
What is not clear yet is whether GOV.UK Wallet will exist as its own discrete app – separate from the GOV.UK App and independently downloadable. It is understood that, once the wallet functionality is included in the app, government will keep a close eye on user behaviour and preferences and make a judgement based on these factors.
Going local
The app already invites users to enter their postcode – after which a link to their local authority’s website will be added to their homepage.
While the platform currently only points people from central to local government, the aim is to begin integrating some local services and making them accessible via the GOV.UK App.
At some point in the next year or so, it is understood that GDS hopes to begin piloting such integrations with a handful of councils – with the hope to then roll out more widely to authorities around the country. It is understood that the most common areas of service delivery shared by councils at almost tiers of local government – including parking services and refuse collection – are key target areas to be potentially embedded into the Whitehall-led app.
The hope is ultimately to help further remove the burden placed on the citizen to know which branch of the state is responsible for which services – and then navigate this landscape accordingly.
App-native services?
While users remain within the app, when the platform reaches the point of directing someone to a service or piece of information, in the vast majority of cases it is currently simply taking them to the mobile version of the relevant GOV.UK page – appearing more-or-less as it would on a browser.
There are no firm plans to begin creating ‘app-native’ versions of these services and pieces of online content. But it is understood that, if doing so could be demonstrated to provide a substantially different and better experience, compared with the current mobile versions, then GDS is open to doing so.
Such upgrades are more likely to be made for complex services which require interactions between citizen and state, and may result in a document or payment being issued. Instances where users are merely accessing static guidance or information will likely be just as well-served by a mobile webpage, it is understood.
Hot topics?
The app has launched with content grouped into 11 key topics – from which users can then configure “any combination” to be featured on their homepage.
These areas are: benefits; business; care; driving and transport; employment; health and disability; money and tax; parenting and guardianship; retirement; studying and training; and travel.
While government claims the details of these were informed by “major life events relevant to most of the population”, it is understood that these areas will be kept under review. During the app’s early weeks and months of widespread use, GDS will keep a close eye on how the technology is being engaged with – with a view to finessing future iterations to best ensure that the grouping and presentation of topics and service areas best reflects users’ needs.
