UMANG face authentication

How to activate a UAN on the UMANG app

यूएएन सक्रिय कैसे करें

Last reviewed: 11 November 2026

A Universal Account Number has to be activated before most official EPFO digital services will work: the member portal password, KYC, the passbook, a transfer and an online claim. The portal route for that activation is closed. The live member-portal notice directs members to the UMANG app. The ministry description is PIB Release ID 2120326 (9 April 2025). The steps below are that official method. They are completed in UMANG, not on this page. If the number itself has been forgotten, retrieve it first on Know Your UAN.

The portal route is closed

The Unified Member Portal states that the facility for UAN activation through the portal has been discontinued, and that the facility for direct UAN allotment through the portal has also been discontinued. In both cases the notice points to UMANG, then to EPFO services, then to “UAN Allotment and Activation” under “UAN Services Through Face Auth”. The assistance number printed with that notice is 14470.

That is a change from the earlier portal flow. PIB Release ID 2075422, in 2024, described activation with an Aadhaar OTP on the website, an authorisation PIN and a password sent by SMS. Articles that still list those clicks are describing a method EPFO has stopped. Do not create an account on a lookalike page that still offers them. Know Your UAN remains listed among portal services, and so do death-claim filing services. Those are retrieval and claim services, not a substitute for face authentication when a UAN still has to be generated or activated.

What you need

The face-authentication path needs a small set of things, all of them handled inside the official apps:

Install UMANG and AadhaarFaceRD from the official Google Play store or the Apple App Store, not from a link in a text message. The EPFO department page on UMANG is web.umang.gov.in. A phone number that is not the one registered with Aadhaar will not receive the OTP, and entering someone else’s Aadhaar is not a workaround.

Steps to generate a new UAN

Use this sequence when no UAN has been allotted yet. PIB Release ID 2120326 is the source for each step.

There is no fee at any of those steps. PIB Release ID 2136592 (16 June 2025) says EPFO services including KYC and claims are free, and it warns members not to pay cybercafés or unauthorised agents. A shop that offers to “generate UAN” for a charge is selling access to a free official app.

Steps to activate an existing UAN

Many members were allotted a UAN by an employer and never activated it. The same PIB note says those members activate through UMANG. The path is the same face-authentication service, not a leftover “Activate UAN” button on the website. After the match, the existing number is activated and the e-UAN card can be downloaded. If you are not sure the number exists, use Know Your UAN on the member portal before starting a fresh allotment, so a second UAN is not created by mistake. Two UANs are repaired later by de-linking a wrong member ID, which is slower than preventing the duplicate.

Employers still seed joining details against the UAN. Activation does not remove the need for the employer to file the monthly contribution. It removes the block on the member’s own login, KYC and claims.

What you receive

Three things follow a successful match, in the words of PIB Release ID 2120326. The UAN is sent by SMS. The e-UAN card can be downloaded from UMANG or the member portal. The UAN is auto-activated on the member portal. A temporary or system-set credential may be part of the first portal sign-in, depending on what the live portal shows that day. Treat whatever the official screen says as the instruction, and change the password on that same site as soon as you are in. Do not forward the SMS to a helper.

The SMS is also a useful record of the twelve digits. Keep it until the e-UAN card is saved. It is not something to type into a website that is not EPFO or UMANG.

After activation: first official login and KYC

Activation unlocks the services. It does not complete them. Sign in at the Unified Member Portal and set a password you can remember without writing it next to the UAN. Then seed KYC. From April 2025, employer approval for seeding a bank account with the UAN has been removed, according to PIB Release ID 2136592. Aadhaar, PAN and the bank account are still required for a claim to be paid. The menu path is the one on the live portal. The write-up is on UAN KYC, and the login cautions are on UAN login.

Immediate access listed in the April 2025 note includes passbook viewing, KYC updates and claim submission. Open the passbook once, on the official passbook host, so you can see whether contributions have started. File an e-nomination on the member portal. The portal notice says nomination is mandatory under the EPF Scheme, 2026, and that it can be filed and updated during service.

If face authentication fails

A red outline means the capture has not succeeded yet. Move to even light, hold the phone steady, and clean the lens. Confirm AadhaarFaceRD is installed and updated. If the OTP does not arrive, the usual cause is that the mobile number is not the one linked with Aadhaar. Update that linkage through the official Aadhaar channel first. Updating it inside a random website will not change the Aadhaar database.

If the apps are correct and the capture still fails, call 14470. Do not switch to a paid agent because the first attempt failed. Do not read an OTP out to a caller who claims to be from EPFO. The passbook login page says EPFO never calls members or pensioners to ask them to deposit money, and it says members should not share Aadhaar, PAN, bank details or an OTP.

After the number works, the money questions are separate. The wage ceiling, the 12% split and the declared interest rate are on the calculator. Whether a withdrawal is allowed is on the checklist. Neither of those tools asks for the UAN you just activated.