Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 9 : The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Wednesday launched new Aadhaar face authentication tools that will allow banks, fintech companies and other financial sector players to integrate face-based Aadhaar authentication directly into their mobile applications, making it easier to meet multi-factor authentication requirements.
The Aadhaar Face Authentication Software Development Kit (SDK) and Sandbox were launched at the Global Fintech Fest 2026, according to a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology PIB release.
“The Aadhaar Face Authentication SDK brings UIDAI’s Face Authentication capability directly into native Android and iOS applications. It eliminates the need for users to switch between applications, enabling a smoother, single-app authentication experience,” the release said.
The development is particularly relevant for banks, insurance companies, fintech firms and brokerage platforms as it reduces their dependence on a separate application for carrying out Aadhaar-based face authentication.
Earlier, users required a background application called FaceRD for a similar authentication process, making the onboarding journey dependent on the availability of the additional app.
“With this launch, it reduces the need for multiple apps for Aadhaar Face Authentication,” the ministry release said.
The SDK includes artificial intelligence and machine learning-based liveness and anti-spoofing features and supports secure handling and encryption of authentication data. UIDAI said it is designed to work across consumer smartphones.
Alongside the SDK, UIDAI launched an Aadhaar Face Authentication Sandbox, which will allow organisations to test and validate their authentication systems before rolling them out to customers.
“The Sandbox enables developers and quality assurance teams to test key stages, including user provisioning and consent, face capture, liveness checks, authentication, error handling, and response validation-- without requiring external biometric hardware,” the release said.
It can also be used to test failure situations, including network interruptions, timeouts, invalid digital signatures and attempts to spoof the face authentication system.
UIDAI said the SDK and Sandbox address a long-standing demand from the banking and fintech ecosystem for a more seamless way to onboard and authenticate customers within their own applications.
UIDAI’s Aadhaar Face Authentication system, launched in 2021, has so far processed more than 500 crore transactions and has been adopted by nearly 200 entities, including banks, non-banking financial companies, government departments, telecom operators and brokerage firms.
The authority also unveiled a “Playbook on ease of Onboarding” to guide banking, financial services and insurance entities seeking to join the UIDAI authentication ecosystem for identity verification of customers, employees and other business partners.