Citizen manual
The DigiFIR citizen app is a mobile app for Android and iPhone that lets you file a complaint with the police, follow what the police do with it, and check whether a police document is genuine. The citizen web portal does the same in a browser.
You file a complaint. Only a police officer can register an FIR from it. Every step the police take on your complaint shows in the app.
What you need
- An Android phone or an iPhone with the DigiFIR app, or a computer with a modern browser for the portal.
- A DigiLocker or Meri Pehchaan account, or a visit to a police station to confirm who you are.
- A mobile number that can receive an SMS code.
- An internet connection to sign in and to sign your complaint. You can write a complaint offline.
The app works in ten languages: English, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Punjabi and Malayalam.
NOTE
Aadhaar is never required, and you never type your Aadhaar number into DigiFIR. If you sign with Aadhaar eSign, you type it on the eSign provider's own page.
Set up the app
- Open the app and choose your language.
- Read the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy, tick I have read and agree, and continue.
- Prove who you are in one of two ways:
- Tap Continue with DigiLocker. DigiLocker's page opens in your phone's browser. Sign in there and allow DigiFIR to read your name, date of birth, gender and address. You return to the app by itself.
- Or tap Get a code for the police station. The app shows an 8-character code and a QR code, valid for 72 hours. Take it to the police station with any photo identity document (Aadhaar, voter ID, passport or driving licence). The officer at the front desk checks it and confirms. The app signs you in as soon as the officer confirms.
- Set an app PIN: type six digits, then Enter it again, then Confirm PIN. Easy PINs such as
123456or111111are refused.
Your phone now holds your own digital key. It signs everything you do in the app, so nobody can file in your name from another phone.
File a complaint
Tap File on the Home screen. A complaint takes about 5 minutes and is saved as you go, so you can stop and continue later.
- Complainant details. Your name and details come from your verified identity. Verify your mobile number with the 6-digit SMS code. Add an email if you want one, and choose the language for updates under Get updates in.
- Complainant address. Type your PIN code to fill in the address, or use your current location.
- Did this happen to you? Choose Yes, I am the victim, or No, I am filing for someone else and give the victim's name, your relation to them, and their details.
- Place of occurrence. Search for the place or pick it on the map, and add a landmark or directions. If the place is outside the station's area, the app says the police can register a Zero FIR and send it to the station with jurisdiction.
- Date & time of occurrence. Give the date and time, or a period from one time to another. If you are reporting late, say why.
- Brief facts of the incident. Type what happened, or tap the microphone and speak. Add photos, videos, files or a voice narration if you have them. They are encrypted on your phone before they are sent.
- Accused details. Choose Yes, I know who did it and describe them, or No, or I'm not sure.
- Summary. Check every section. Tap Edit beside a section to change it.
WARNING
Giving false information to the police is punishable under Section 217 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
- Tap Submit complaint. In Submit this complaint?, tick both statements: that you checked the summary, and that the information is true and correct. Then tap Confirm & submit.
The app shows its progress: fingerprinting on your device, sending it securely, getting your complaint number, sent to the police station.
After you submit
The Complaint received screen shows your complaint number, for example CMP-RJ-JAI-PS07-2026-004416, and what happens next. From here you can:
- Download verifiable copy of your receipt;
- Track status;
- Print receipt;
- go Back to home.
If you had no connection, the complaint shows Waiting to send and goes automatically when you are back online.
Sign your complaint within three days
Under BNSS section 173(1)(ii), a complaint given electronically is taken on record once you sign it within three days. Your phone's key signs the statement when you submit, which shows it came from you. The law also needs a signature by one of these two ways. The receipt and the Track screen show a Sign your complaint card with the last day.
- Sign with Aadhaar eSign. The card first shows what you will sign: the complaint number, the police station, when it was received and the statement's fingerprint. Tap Continue to eSign. The eSign provider's page opens in your browser. Type your Aadhaar number or VID and the OTP there. You come back to the app, which shows Signed once the signature is recorded on the ledger.
- Or sign at the police station. Go to the station with your complaint number. An officer records your signature on the statement.
IMPORTANT
The police cannot register an FIR until the complaint is signed. A signature after the three days is still recorded, but marked late.
Track your complaint
Open My complaints and tap a complaint. The Track screen shows each step with its date, and a push notification tells you when something changes.
| You see | What it means |
|---|---|
| Waiting to send | The complaint is on your phone and will be sent when you are online |
| Not sent, needs a fix | The police system did not accept it. Tap Fix and resend, or Discard |
| Received | The station has your complaint and will decide on it |
| Preliminary enquiry | For an offence punishable with 3 years or more but less than 7, the police may first check within 14 days whether there is a case (BNSS s.173(3)) |
| Enquiry closed | The enquiry ended without an FIR |
| Non-cognizable report | The police recorded an NCR and referred you to the magistrate (BNSS s.174) |
| FIR registered | The police registered an FIR. You are entitled to a free copy (BNSS s.173(2)). |
| Under review | The FIR is registered, and a magistrate is checking whether it repeats another FIR |
| With magistrate | The same incident may already be on record. Your complaint was kept in full and sent to a magistrate, who decides. It was not rejected. |
| Under investigation | An investigating officer is working on the case. The police must send you a progress update within 90 days (BNSS s.193(3)(ii)). |
| Closure report filed | The police reported that the case should be closed. A magistrate decides. |
| Chargesheet filed | The police filed a chargesheet with the court |
| In court | The magistrate took cognizance and the case is in court |
| Case closed | The case is disposed |
| Linked to a case | The magistrate decided your complaint is about an incident already registered |
| Quashed | The High Court quashed the FIR |
Check whether a police document is genuine
Use this to check an FIR copy, a receipt or another police document, for example if someone shows you a document and demands money.
- Tap Verify FIR on the Home screen.
- In Is this police document real?, choose Paste text or Upload file.
- Tap Check document.
The app computes the document's fingerprint on your phone and sends only the fingerprint, never the document.
| Answer | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Genuine | The document is on the ledger exactly as issued. The app shows its number, station, date and current status. |
| Complaint on record, no FIR yet | It is a complaint receipt; no FIR has been registered for it |
| With a magistrate | The complaint was kept for a magistrate |
| No police station issued this | The fingerprint is not on the ledger. Do not pay anyone on the strength of this document, and call the cyber fraud helpline 1930. |
Help and helplines
The Help tab has call buttons for 112 (emergency), 181 (women) and 1930 (cyber fraud). The app opens your phone's dialler with the number filled in; it never calls by itself.
App lock
The app asks for your PIN every time it starts and after you have been away for the auto-lock time (1, 5 or 15 minutes; 5 by default). You can turn on fingerprint unlock in Profile. After five wrong PINs the phone is signed out, and you prove who you are again. App lock has the details.
Delete your account
Open Profile, tap Delete account and confirm. Your profile and sign-in are deleted.
NOTE
Complaints you have filed are not deleted. They stay with the police as legal records. If complaints are still waiting to be sent, the app tells you before you delete.
Using the web portal
The portal does what the app does: sign in, file, sign, track and verify. A complaint filed on the web is the same complaint and appears in the app too. The differences:
- There is no app PIN. The session ends when you log out or after 30 minutes without activity.
- Your browser keeps your key. On a shared computer, such as a Common Service Centre, always log out. The backend refuses a browser key that has not been used for 30 minutes.
- Updates appear while the portal is open; there are no push notifications.
Privacy
- Your statement, your details and the people you name are kept in the private records of the police of your state. The shared ledger holds only a fingerprint of them.
- Attachments are encrypted on your phone before upload.
- What the app keeps on your phone is encrypted and kept out of Google Drive and iCloud backups.
- If you give an accused person's Aadhaar number, only its last four digits leave your phone.
Try it without a backend
The app runs in demo mode when it is not connected to a backend. Continue with DigiLocker signs in a demo citizen at once, the mobile code is 123456, and a stand-in police station acts on a signed complaint after a few seconds. Nothing reaches the police. Demo and test data has more.
Sources: digiFIR-citizen-app on the migration branch: README.md, docs/02-run-the-app.md, docs/04-identity.md, docs/11-web-portal.md, docs/app-lock.md, assets/i18n/en.json, lib/screens/home/widgets/helplines.dart.