The digital certificate issued by the National Currency and Stamp Factory is one of the best authentication alternatives that we can use today. However, this is by no means the only digital certificate available. All of the tips, tutorials, and instructions we can give you about iPhone digital certificates are applicable to the vast majority of certificate types.
We show you how to use the digital certificate in Safari from your iPhone or iPad in the easiest way. Thus, the digital certificate will accompany you everywhere. Do not miss it and thus access the public administration in the fastest and most efficient way.
Install the digital certificate on your iPhone
This is the first and most important of the steps, we must install the digital certificate on our iPhone or iPad, and for this, for obvious reasons, the first thing we had to do is download and export a certificate valid numeric. Do not worry, because if you haven’t done it yet or don’t know how to do it, we’ll explain it to you later, but if you want to know directly how to install the digital certificate on your iPhone or iPad so that you can use it through Safari, the best thing to do is to continue reading these lines.
In the header of this video, if you prefer, we leave you a video of our YouTube channel where we explain step by step how you can install the digital certificate both on your iPhone or iPad and on your Mac.
Now, from a PC or Mac, we have to take the .PFX file that represents the digital certificate with all its security keys and we have to transfer it to the iPhone. For this, we have several very interesting alternatives:
- Via iCloud Drive, OneDrive or Google Drive: This seems to me the easiest and fastest alternative. We just need to store the certificate in a location of one of these two cloud storage solutions. Then we go to the application Folders of our iPhone and we will look for the location of the digital certificate to be able to install it. If the location does not appear, click on the icon (…) in the upper right corner, choose the option Edit and enable any source of cloud storage not expressly disclosed to us.
- By sending it by email: This has been, until recent updates of other alternatives, the only viable option. To do this, we simply send the digital certificate to ourselves via Hotmail or Gmail, then access one of these mail servers via Safari (you won’t be able to do this from Mail or any other email management application). Once inside we will simply click on it to install it.
When we have selected said digital certificate, they will give us the possibility via a “pop-up” to install it on the iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch in use. I recommend you to install it only on iPhone or iPad to avoid any compatibility issues.
Once the installation has been accepted, we will have to move on to the application of Settings of the iPhone, immediately after we will enter the option General where will we find the profiles and we must click on the one we installed most recently. At that time it will ask us to enter our unlock code for the iPhone or iPad, to add a first layer of security.
As a second verification mechanism, it will ask us for the private key that we have determined for the digital certificate that we want to install. At that point, after entering it, we can already consider the digital certificate installed.
This has been the last step, we will have already installed our digital certificate and we can use it as and when we want. Of course, this also includes Safari, the most used web browser by iOS and iPadOS users in general.
How to install and download your digital certificate
If, on the other hand, you have not yet downloaded your digital certificate, you will not be able to install it on your iPhone or iPad, so before following the steps that we have explained to you above, you must take advantage of these instructions which will allow you easily download and use your digital certificate, even from a Mac.
The first thing we are going to have to remind you is that any web browser is not valid to obtain the digital certificate. For some time, finally, the FNMT makes it possible to obtain the digital certificate with Safari, only we will need to enter your download website and adjust the settings.
Once we have done the configuration, simply by accessing the FNMT website we can start the first step, the request for said digital certificate, either that of a natural person or that of a legal person according to our needs. We will click on the option Request a certificate, where we will have to enter the requested data with DNI or NIE, name and surname, and very important:
- An email where we will receive the verification code that we must provide when we prove our identity.
- The length of the key, where we will always choose the high quality option.
Once the request has been made, we will receive an email with the authorization code. We need to register this code, so I recommend a photograph.
Then we have to go to any seat of public administration that performs the task of identifying us for the digital certificate. Typically, this type of public entity works by appointment, so you need to make sure first.
Finally we will return to the FNMT website to use the certificate download option, we will only have to enter our DNI or NIE, our first surname and the same application code that was given to us sent by mail.
I recommend that you export the digital certificate to have a copy: Tools > Options > Advanced > View certificates > People, click on the certificate and choose “Export”. You must request the export option in “.pfx” format and assign a password, otherwise it will be invalid.
That’s all you need to know about the digital certificate on your iPhone or iPad through Safari.