How to carry your vaccine card on your phone so you can leave it at home

• Restaurants, music venues, and other businesses are requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination.
• But toting around an important health document in paper form can be worrisome and inconvenient.
• Here are a few ways you can carry that proof on your smartphone like you would a boarding pass.

We're now at the proof-of-vaccination stage of this 18-month-long pandemic.

Restaurants, concert venues, airlines, and other businesses are requiring people to show proof that they are vaccinated before they can enter. The increased safety protocols coincide with the spread of the Delta variant, a more infectious strain of COVID-19.

But the prospect of carrying around a valuable piece of paper that doesn't fit neatly in your wallet can be daunting.

So here are some ways you can digitize your vaccine card and carry that proof on your phone - and leave your actual card at home, safely tucked away in a desk drawer alongside your passport.

Take a photo of it

Just make sure it doesn't get lost in your thousands-strong sea of a photo reel. Create a new album just for the photo so it's easy to access when you need it.

You could also use a photo widget app to create a button that lives on your home screen so your vaccine proof is even easier to pull up, as PC Mag pointed out.

It's worth noting that you should check to make sure that the place of business you're trying to enter will accept a digital copy over a physical one.

Scan it with the Notes app on your iPhone

The iPhone's Notes app can be a lifesaver when you need to scan something, and you can use it to scan your vaccine card too.

It's a similar route to simply snapping a photo of it, but by scanning it, there may be a better chance that it's both more legible and easier to access when you need it. You could also use Google Drive in the same way.

Apple's new iOS 15 update includes a Health app for iPhone users to carry a digital form of their vaccination proof. Providers can plug your health history, including your vaccination records, into the app.

You can add it to your Apple Wallet

Be wary when you're looking for apps to download that can help you prove you're vaccinated. But they go a step beyond just taking a photo or scanning your card - they verify your identity and your immunization status using state records.

Certain apps, like Vax Yes, are compliant with federal rules restricting the release of medical information, including vaccination status. The platform verifies your personal data and immunization status with state records and then gives you a QR code to scan when you enter a business that requires proof.

It's also compatible with Apple Wallet so you can toss it right into the app on your iPhone and carry it as you would a boarding pass. For Android users, you can add the digital vaccine card to Google Pay.

Clear - the biometric-centric airport security app - has a free vaccine feature called Health Pass and has partnered with organizations from the NBA and pharmacies like Rite Aid to OpenTable, the restaurant reservation app. You have to upload a government-issued form of ID and a selfie to use the app.

Some states have official vaccine passports

New Yorkers can use the "Excelsior Pass." The app verifies your identity and immunization and then displays a QR code for you to show. It's available on both Apple and Google's app stores.

California has a digital system that intakes your personal information, verifies it, and then also provides a QR code. The state also the MyIR platform as well, as do Arizona, North Dakota, West Virginia, Maryland, Washington DC, and Mississippi.

And Minnesota, New Jersey, and Utah use a similar app called Docket.