6 Aug 2025: There’s great news for crores of people associated with the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). Creating and activating a Universal Account Number (UAN) has now become much easier than before. From August 1, 2025, you can now generate and activate your UAN by scanning your face using the UMANG app.
This new method has been introduced to eliminate errors and ensure that employees don’t face any hassle. The UAN is a unique number for your PF (Provident Fund) account. Without it, you cannot withdraw your PF money, check your balance, or update your personal information.
EPFO Introduces Three New Services
EPFO has launched three new features on the UMANG app:
- If you need a new UAN, you can generate it and activate it immediately.
- If your UAN has already been generated but is not active, you can activate it.
- If your UAN is already active, you can use it through facial recognition.
To access these services, all you need is your Aadhaar card and the UMANG app. The app can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store. You can complete this entire process yourself using your smartphone, without any external help.
If your company wants to generate a UAN for you, it can also use this app. You can even download your UAN card as a PDF.
How to Use This Facility
The process of generating a UAN is very simple. First, open the UMANG app and click on the “UAN Allotment and Activation” option.
Then, enter your Aadhaar number and the mobile number linked to it.
To give consent, check the box and click on “Send OTP.”
An OTP will be sent to your phone—enter it and verify.
If required, download the Aadhaar Face RD (Face Recognition) app.
Next, choose the facial recognition option. The app will open the camera and scan your face.
Once scanned, the border of the screen will turn green.
If your face matches the Aadhaar data, the system will immediately generate a new UAN and send it to your mobile via SMS.
A Big Relief for Employees
This new facility is a major relief for employees. Earlier, to generate a UAN, companies had to send your data to EPFO. Many times, errors in name, mobile number, or other details would cause problems later.
Now, these issues will be eliminated with facial recognition.
Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said this is a big digital leap for employees.
In 2024–25, 1.27 crore UANs were generated, but only 35% of them were activated.
With this new technology, more people will now be able to activate their UANs easily.
This will save time and make PF-related services more accessible and reliable.
Summary :
EPFO’s latest feature simplifies access to services—making UAN activation and PF management easier, bringing faster claims, better tracking, and enhanced transparency for account holders.