How To Lock, Unlock Aadhaar Card Biometric Details

The Aadhaar Biometric locking system enables users to lock and temporarily unlock their biometrics. "This is to protect privacy and confidentiality of resident's biometrics Data," the UIDAI said.

                                       
The applicability of Aadhaar is fast becoming mandatory across the board. There are many who are fearful about the possibility of misuse of information linked and stored in connection with Aadhaar. 

Recently, there have been reports that Aadhaar numbers and personal information of several million Indians may have been leaked from government portals. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had, however, reportedly said in response to an RTI query that the core biometric data of Aadhaar card holders have till date" not faced any cyber attack. 

For an Aadhaar user, UIDAI provides a mechanism to lock the biometric information and prevent any misuse. Biometric information refers to the iris, finger prints and facial photograph of which the fingerprint and iris data is to be used for authentication. In addition, Aadhaar stores the demographic information such as name, address, date of birth/age, gender, mobile number, email address. 

One can actually protect privacy and confidentiality of one's biometrics data. Once the Biometric is locked, the Aadhaar holder will not be able to use their Biometrics (fingerprints/iris) for authentications and neither can anyone else, thus preventing potential misuse. The process has been kept simple and once locked, it will temporarily get unlocked for only ten minutes. It automatically gets locked again. 


As per UIDAI, one is recommended to update the biometric data every 10 years. Also, in case one unfortunately has an accident or catches a disease leading to biometric changes, it is recommended to go for updating of the biometric information. 

How to lock/Unlock biometrics 
*Access the url : https://resident.uidai.gov.in/biometric-lock 

* Enter your Aadhaar number 
* Enter security code/captcha 
* Receive the OTP 
* Lock your Aadhaar 




The registered mobile number is essential to avail this service. The Aadhaar card carries the registered mobile number. If your mobile number is not registered with Aadhaar, one has to visit the nearest Enrolment Centre to submit a filled up form. 

Once the biometric are locked, its authentication also gets blocked. If there any benefits attached to the number such as bank transfers etc, they will however continue. Its use gets restricted and one may not be able to authenticate it on any biometric devise. To unblock, one has to again visit the same website and after entering the Aadhaar number, receive the OTP to unlock it. 

After locking biometrics if a UID is used for invoking any of the authentication services using a biometric modality (Fingerprint/Iris) a specific error code '330' indicating biometrics are locked will be displayed.