EU Login

The Setup That Never Ends

Opening the app for the first time is not a one-step process. It asks for your EU Login credentials. Then it asks for a PIN. Then it asks you to scan a QR code from the web portal. The QR code scanner fails. Error 5305 appears. The app tells you that you scanned the wrong QR code. You go back to the web portal. You select a different authentication method. You try again. The scanner works this time. You set up your face recognition. The app says registration is complete. You close it. You open it again. It asks for your PIN. You enter it. It says "error". You try again. It works. This is not a one-time setup. It happens every time there is an update. The update does not download like a normal app. It asks you to confirm your identity again. You go through the entire process again. The app is designed for security. It achieves frustration instead.

The offline QR code scanner is supposed to be a fallback. No internet? No problem. Generate a unique code offline. The theory is solid. The practice is broken. The offline scanner does not work with multiple accounts. If you have two EU Login accounts on the same device, the offline QR code scanner gets confused. It does not know which account to associate the code with. The app does not ask. It just fails. The error message is generic. "Something went wrong." That is all. The user is left guessing. The offline feature is a marketing claim, not a functional one.

The QR Code That Kills Your Workflow

The QR code scanner is the app's most critical feature. It is also the most broken. Error 5305 is the most common complaint. The app tells you that you scanned the authentication QR code instead of the enrolment QR code. The difference is not obvious. The web portal has two options: "Password + QR Code" and "Password". The app expects the "Password" option. It does not tell you that. It just shows error 5305. The user goes back to the portal. They try the other option. It works. But the damage is done. The user has wasted five minutes. They are frustrated. They blame the app. The app blames the user. No one wins.

The multiple accounts feature is supposed to fix this. Version 2.1.0 added support for multiple EU Login accounts on a single device. The app creates a separate zone for each account. That sounds useful. In practice, it creates more confusion. The QR code scanner does not know which account you are scanning for. It assumes the active account. If you have two accounts, you have to switch between them manually. The switch is not obvious. It is hidden in a menu. The user forgets to switch. They scan the code for Account A while Account B is active. The app fails. The error message is generic. The user thinks the QR code is broken. They try again. They fail again. They give up. The multiple accounts feature is a solution to a problem that did not exist. It creates a new problem that is worse.

The Performance That Gets Worse with Every Update

The app performs well on first install. The PIN entry is responsive. The face recognition works. The QR code scanner works. Then the updates come. Version 2.0.0 was 27 MB. Version 2.1.0 was 11 MB. Version 2.2.0 is 11 MB. The size dropped, but the performance did not improve. The app crashes more often now. The PIN window becomes unresponsive. The face recognition fails. The app asks for a password instead of a PIN. The user enters the password. The app says "error". The user restarts the app. It works. This happens every few days. The app is not reliable. It is a gamble. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it does not. The user cannot predict when it will fail. They just have to try and hope.

The visual presentation improved in version 2.1.0. The app looks cleaner. The buttons are bigger. The colours are more consistent. That is the only improvement. The bugs are still there. The crashes are still there. The error 5305 is still there. The developer fixed "several issues that caused the application to crash". That is what the changelog says. It does not specify which issues. It does not say if error 5305 is fixed. It is not. The app still crashes. The user still gets error 5305. The update is a placebo. It makes the user feel like something changed. Nothing changed.

The Permission That Should Not Be Required

The app requests access to your camera. That is needed for the QR code scanner. It also requests access to your storage. That is not needed. The app does not save anything to your device. It does not create files. It does not store PDFs. The storage permission is suspicious. The app does not explain why it needs it. The Play Store data safety section says the app "does not collect any data". That is a lie. The app requests storage permission. That is data collection. The app also collects personal info, app info, and device IDs. The data safety section says data is encrypted in transit. That is good. But the storage permission is unnecessary. The user has to grant it to use the app. There is no option to deny it. The app forces the user to accept. That is not a choice. That is coercion. The user wants to access EU services. They have to install this app. They have to grant the permission. They have no alternative. The app is a gatekeeper. It controls access to EU services. It demands permissions it does not need. The user is trapped.