On Tuesday, Health Minister Christian Dubé confirmed that Quebec's vaccine passport system will officially take effect on September 1.

If you're wondering how it will work, it will be a combination of two mobile phone apps and the QR code you can download as proof of vaccination. Paper proof of vaccination will work as another option.

Tell me about these apps

One of the apps will be for citizens and the other app will be for businesses and service providers.

The app for average individuals is a wallet-style app where you can store your QR code so it's easily accessible. You can actually store multiple QR codes on this app. As an example, this is useful so that families can keep all their QR codes together.

The app for businesses and service providers is a QR code reader app they can use to scan patrons' QR codes.

After the reader app scans a customer's QR code, the customer's name pops up with a green checkmark or red warning symbol, depending on whether the person should be granted access to the establishment.

The reader app doesn't display any other information about the customer. Alexander Dahl, whose company partnered with the government to create these apps, told MTL Blog that none of the customer's data is stored on the reader app. All data is encoded in the QR code and the apps do not connect to the internet.

Where, when and how can I download the apps?

MTL Blog

Dubé explained that both apps will be available to download on the Apple App Store starting at 8 a.m. on August 25.

The apps will be also available on the Google Play app store within a day or two, according to Dubé.

The app meant for merchants is called VaxiCode Vérif and the app meant for citizens is called VaxiCode.

How can I download my QR code?

MTL Blog

If you got a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the government should have sent you an email with a link to download your proof of vaccination QR code.

Regardless, you can download your QR code at any time using the self-service portal on Quebec.ca.