As the economy opens up and we are going to be going to places that require us to show proof of vaccination against COVID, here’s a way to keep that proof on your iPhone as a photo that is easy to find quickly when needed.
Step 1: Save your receipt as a photo
There are two ways to save your COVID vaccination receipt as a photo on your iPhone.
Option A: Take a photo of the paper receipt
Place the paper receipt you received on a table in natural light and take a photo with the camera. Natural light works better than having lights on in the room because there won’t be shadows. Crop the photo so it has just the receipt.
Option B: Create a photo by screen capturing an electronic receipt
If your receipt was emailed to you, open the receipt on your phone. Capture the screen by pressing the lock and volume up buttons together (depending on what phone model you have it may be a slightly different set of buttons to press). Tap on the screen image that appears in the lower left corner of the screen. Use the crop handles to crop out the top and bottom of the screen capture so you just have the receipt. Tap Done and select to save the image to your Photos.
Step 2: Add a caption so the photo is easy to find
View the photo you created in Step 1. Swipe up in the middle of the photo. At the bottom you can add a caption to the photo. Use something like “COVID vaccine receipt” (without the quotes). Tap Done.
Step 3: Hide the photo so it is not easily seen or synced
You want to keep this photo private and not synced to a cloud photo site like Google Photos or easily seen on your screen when looking at photos with friends. Tap on the sharing icon at the bottom of the screen when viewing the photo. Scroll down and tap on Hide. It will tell you that the photo is being moved to the Hidden album on your phone. This keeps it out of the regular list of photos but it is still viewable when needed.
Step 4: Use Photo Search to quickly find the receipt photo
When you have to provide proof of vaccination, open the Photos app and tap on the search icon at the bottom of the screen. Type in COVID and the receipt should be quickly shown in the list of photo search results. Tap on the photo to open it on the screen and show it to the person requesting proof of your vaccination status.
Optional: Save receipts of family members as well
If you have permission from family members such as elderly relatives who don’t have or carry phones, you can use the procedure above to save their vaccination receipt as well. Add a name to the caption so you can tell which photo is for which person.
Dave Paradi has over twenty-two years of experience delivering customized training workshops to help business professionals improve their presentations. He has written ten books and over 600 articles on the topic of effective presentations and his ideas have appeared in publications around the world. His focus is on helping corporate professionals visually communicate the messages in their data so they don’t overwhelm and confuse executives. Dave is one of fewer than ten people in North America recognized by Microsoft with the Most Valuable Professional Award for his contributions to the Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams communities. His articles and videos on virtual presenting have been viewed over 4.8 million times and liked over 17,000 times on YouTube.