WAGGA businesses are among the first in NSW to trial the combined vaccine status and COVID safe check-in system ahead of its public release.
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Signing in via scanning the QR code with a phone will remain the same, only Service NSW is undergoing trials to add an individual's COVID vaccination status to the "checked in" confirmation page.
On Sunday, the NSW government announced that select businesses across four regional centers would be provided access to Service NSW's upgraded app to trial the new feature.
The participating businesses are providing access to their staff, and will provide feedback to the government to inform a decision on whether to roll out the feature to the general public.
Local businesses were provided information on how to integrate the trial app onto their devices temporarily, and staff members given access can utilise the feature across any business they enter.
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Wagga RSL chief executive Andrew Bell said while using the feature is easy once it is integrated onto a device, setting up the prototype was difficult for his staff.
"There's about a 10-step program you have to go through, because it's not added to the real Service NSW app," Mr Bell said.
"We're using an app called Testflight which installs the prototype and allows us to access the new feature.
"It is quite a difficult process to install it onto our phones so we're glad we didn't broaden it to a lot of our members because I'm sure we would have spent a lot of time sorting out problems."
Mr Bell said that the reaction from his staff has been "generally positive" after navigating the installation of the temporary app.
"Once they get past the problems of installing it as it is fairly complex, it works beautifully," Mr Bell said.
"I used it last night when I went to Woolies and well, it just works."
Mr Bell hopes the feature will be made available to the public by next week.
"We'll be doing a bit of work with Service NSW at the end of the week and giving our opinions on it, but I can't see any flaws in it at the moment," he said.
The Sportsmens Hotel is also trialing the government's prototype, with manager Joe Kirk sharing a similar experience.
"It took a little bit to set up and I think a lot of patrons that go to pubs are going to find it a little bit difficult to set up, but once it's put on the phone, it's pretty bloody easy," Mr Kirk said.
"It's so much easier than checking in, giving them your green tick then going back into your phone to find your check in because it's a 'one, two' step."
Mr Kirk has seen many customers use printed vaccine confirmation certifications, however believes that will change as customers are asked to confirm their status repeatedly over the coming weeks.
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