Integrate the MBKYC SDK into an Android app — install, initialize, register, and validate, including hardware support.
The Android SDK gives you Emirates ID reading and fingerprint capture through a clean Kotlin API. Hardware support is added by including the service packages for the readers and sensors you use.
Download the example app
A single-screen Jetpack Compose app — fill in the config block, build, and run on a device. Walks the full flow: register → pick a method (NFC / card reader / manual) → result.
Add the Nexus repository (Configure Nexus) and the dependencies. Include only the service packages whose hardware you support.
dependencies { implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:mbkyc-android:0.7.0") implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-common-android:0.4.0") // Hardware support — include only what you need (versioned independently) implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-smartcard-ccid-android:0.4.0") implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-smartcard-nfc-android:0.4.0") implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-fingerprint-morpho-android:0.4.0") implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-fingerprint-suprema-android:0.1.0") implementation("ae.gov.icp.mbkyc:service-fingerprint-zhiang-android:0.1.0")}
mbkyc-android transitively pulls rustls:rustls-platform-verifier — the native layer calls into it to verify TLS certificates against the Android trust store on every MBKYC.create. It’s an api dependency, so you don’t declare it yourself, but it is served from your mbkyc-maven Nexus repository (group rustls), not Maven Central or Google. Make sure your repository configuration lets the rustls group resolve from Nexus — see Configure Nexus. A missing rustls artifact surfaces at runtime as ClassNotFoundException: org.rustls.platformverifier.CertificateVerifier.
MBKYC.create() returns an MBKYCResult — call .getOrThrow() if you prefer exceptions. On Android you must pass a Context.
val mbkyc = MBKYC.create( context = applicationContext, baseUrl = "https://api.client.ae", apiKeyId = "key-id", // The API secret never enters the SDK. The signer receives the request signing // input; route it to the holder of the secret (normally your backend), sign it, // and return the signature. See Authentication. tokenSigner = TokenSignerHandler { signingInput -> myBackend.sign(signingInput) }, logConfig = LogConfig(logDir = File(filesDir, "logs")), timeoutMs = 30_000,).getOrThrow()
Pick the request for the document you’re verifying — see Validation methods for when to use each. Card-reading, NFC, and fingerprint capture come from the service AARs and USB-attach wiring described under Hardware support model below; no desktop service is needed.
A hardware integration can live inside your own app or in a separate companion app — whichever fits your deployment. Either way it must carry the same Android signing certificate as your app, because the connection between them is protected at the signature level. There’s nothing else to wire up: the SDK discovers the available readers and sensors and surfaces them through listSmartcardReaders() / listFingerprintReaders().
Android only shows the “Open App when this USB device is connected?” prompt for an activity. To opt in, your launcher activity declares one <intent-filter> for ACTION_USB_DEVICE_ATTACHED plus a <meta-data> pointing at a USB device filter resource. The <usb-device> entries should match the hardware you support (decimal VID/PIDs — Android rejects hex):
Build the Fingerprint via its constructor Fingerprint(readerId, recommendationHandler, captureTimeoutMs). On Android, MBKYC.create(context = ...) requires a non-null Context.
