Draft:AGOV

AGOV is a passwordless authentication service for digital public services in Switzerland. It is provided by the Federal Chancellery of Switzerland and is a project of Digital Public Services Switzerland (DPSS), the coordinating organisation for digital government shared by the Swiss Confederation and the cantons. AGOV can be used for services of the federal, cantonal and municipal authorities and, where an appropriate legal basis exists, by other organisations.

The service entered production on 11 January 2024 in the cantons of Zurich and Appenzell Ausserrhoden, initially including access to electronic tax services. By June 2026, the Federal Chancellery reported approximately two million AGOV accounts, more than 1,000 connected applications and 26 directly connected relying parties, including 14 cantons and the federal administration.

The name AGOV is derived from the words authentication and government. According to the Federal Chancellery, the name was chosen to be usable without translation in Switzerland's national languages and in English.

History

AGOV was developed as part of efforts by the Confederation and cantons to establish common infrastructure for digital public services. A proof of concept was presented in August 2023, allowing cantons to test a prototype before the production service was introduced.

The production service was launched on 11 January 2024 with Zurich and Appenzell Ausserrhoden as the first two cantons. In both cantons, AGOV could initially be used for services including electronic tax returns.

AGOV was also designed to replace CH-LOGIN, an authentication system previously used for numerous applications of the federal administration. Unlike CH-LOGIN, AGOV is intended for use across the federal, cantonal and municipal levels of government. In September 2025, the Federal Tax Administration introduced AGOV to its ePortal and announced a migration of existing CH-LOGIN users, with the previous login scheduled to be phased out for the portal by the end of October 2026.

AGOV has also replaced some cantonal authentication services. In June 2025, for example, Basel-Landschaft replaced the SwissID login for its cantonal online account with AGOV.

Operation

AGOV authenticates natural persons to connected services. It does not itself determine what a person is authorised to do within a particular government application; roles, representation rights and access permissions remain the responsibility of the relying application or its access-management system.

An AGOV account represents one natural person, although a person may maintain more than one AGOV account. The service does not map legal entities or organisational affiliations to an individual. A person may therefore use AGOV while acting privately, professionally or on behalf of an organisation, while the connected application determines whether the person has the necessary authority to perform a particular action.

Connected applications may integrate AGOV directly or through an existing identity and access management system. AGOV supports the federation protocols OpenID Connect (OIDC) and SAML 2.0.

Authentication factors

AGOV does not use a conventional username-and-password login. Its authentication factors include the AGOV access app on a mobile device and compatible physical FIDO2 security keys. Multiple authentication factors can be registered to an account.

The cryptographic credentials used by AGOV must be hardware-bound and non-exportable. As a result, synchronised passkeys that can be transferred between devices through services such as iCloud or Google are not accepted as AGOV authentication factors. The Federal Chancellery states that supported credentials are stored in protected hardware such as a smartphone security element or a FIDO2 security key.

A connected authority can additionally require an identity verification. Account creation, authentication and verification of a person's official identity are therefore separate processes in AGOV; the level of identity verification required depends on the service being accessed.

Adoption

The number of AGOV accounts increased substantially after the service entered production. By December 2025, more than one million accounts had been created and AGOV was being used by twelve cantons, according to reporting by the Swiss technology publication Netzwoche.

In June 2026, the Federal Chancellery reported approximately two million accounts and more than 1,000 connected applications. It counted 26 directly connected relying parties: 14 cantons, eleven other organisations and the federal administration. Municipalities and other cantonal entities connected through a canton are not counted separately in those figures. The Chancellery also reported that approximately eight million AGOV logins had been performed during 2025.

Security

AGOV uses cryptographic, hardware-bound authentication factors rather than passwords. Its mobile authentication credentials are stored in protected hardware on the user's device, while physical FIDO2 keys provide an alternative that does not require a smartphone.

On 8 December 2025, an existing non-public bug bounty programme for AGOV was opened to outside security researchers. The programme is conducted as part of the Swiss federal bug bounty programme. Netzwoche reported that its scope includes token exchange, encryption, application programming interfaces, server infrastructure and mobile components.

Swiss e-ID

AGOV and the planned Swiss state e-ID perform different functions. The e-ID is intended to provide an electronic proof of identity, while AGOV acts as the authentication service through which a user logs in to a connected application.

The Federal Chancellery plans for the e-ID to become an additional authentication factor in AGOV once the e-ID becomes available. The AGOV access app and FIDO2 security keys are intended to remain available as alternatives. An e-ID linked to an AGOV account can also provide the verified identity information required by services that demand identity proof.

The e-ID had originally been expected to become available in 2026. In June 2026, however, the federal authorities postponed its introduction, citing further work required to address data-protection and security issues, including challenges resulting from developments in artificial intelligence. No revised introduction date was announced. The underlying trust infrastructure was still expected to become operational in the first half of 2027.

Governance and legal basis

AGOV is managed by the Digital Transformation and ICT Steering Sector of the Federal Chancellery as a standard service of the federal administration. Digital Public Services Switzerland provides the federal–cantonal framework in which the project is developed and coordinated.

The general legal framework for making the service available across different levels of government is provided by the Swiss Federal Act on the Use of Electronic Means to Carry Out Official Tasks (EMOTA; German abbreviation EMBAG). According to the Federal Chancellery, AGOV is mandatory for e-government authentication in the central federal administration and recommended for other Swiss public authorities. Other organisations may connect services where use of AGOV is permitted by EMOTA or by specific legislation.

Funding

According to the Federal Chancellery, the development and introduction of AGOV cost approximately CHF 16 million, about two-thirds of which was financed through the Digital Public Services Switzerland agenda. Annual operating costs were stated in 2026 to be approximately CHF 5 million, shared equally between the Confederation and participating cantons. The cantonal share is distributed according to population.

See also

• E-government
• Electronic identification
• Authentication
• Digital identity

External links

• Official website
• Digital Public Services Switzerland

Category:E-government Category:Authentication methods Category:2024 establishments in Switzerland