ID.meReviews 35,679

I learned a lot about my cell phone in attempting to get the license photos (front & back) registered and saved, then I learned that getting a selfie with the company's great modern equipment, was a horror show for me--my selfies (after a 2-mo bout with Covid, loss of hair, and wrinkling of skin), were attempted a dozen times and rejected as not matching my license photo. The required intervention of a live person (yes!) did the trick but was still not a 1-2-3. For those who still look like their license photos and are fluent in cell phone features, this should be a breeze.

We've been adding user Id's, email addresses, and passwords for years. The additional steps of uploading photo IDs, more than one, is overkill. I literally spent hours on the task of getting an ID.me before I relented and went to the video method (which was not encouraged on the how-to screen). I had given up one previous time, a few years ago, and foolishly thought it must be easier now. Nope. For anyone who will have limited use for getting to a federal site, ID.me is not worth the trouble.

Spent 1 hour trying to sign in to my account, after being redirected to at least 3 different sites to verify my authenticity and IMPROVE the security of the process only to finally reach a message that my sign in had had an ERROR in the system and to try again later! Not going to happen, all I wanted to do is refill some prescriptions, finally used the old method of calling in my refills that took 5 minutes. Internet has potential to improve things but in the hands of the Government and the VA the vet is forgotten as the user, most are not tech savvy and this is forgotten by the contractors and the selection of contractors. The end user is forgotten and ignored! VA app and sites must be user friendly and intuitive.!

This sounded scary but it was actually pretty straightforward. The process is a little complicated. It involved starting on the computer, switching to the phone to take pictures, and then back to the computer to finish up. I had never done a task that involved the phone and computer together like that.

I got confused a couple of times. Firstly I scanned my driving license expecting to have to upload that, not realising that the IRS app works the phone and walks you through taking the pictures. Then the phone wanted me to go back to the original browser and I didn't immediately pick up that meant going back to the computer.

But the instructions are detailed and easy to follow. The letter tells you what you need to have ready, the letter, your 1040, and your driving license or other ID. If you have that stuff lined up and read all the instructions as you go through, it's simple and really doesn't take long. I made my life a little harder by not paying enough attention to the instructions.