I save mine to photos as a screenshot to avoid it disappearing.
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Two screenshots actually, one for the completed form and another for the bar code thing.
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I began working with hi-end computer graphics in 1988 (Quantel Paintbox, if anyone remembers that, there were only four in the UK at the time and each cost upwards of £50K ), So I’m very receptive to digitisation of info, but nevertheless it seems to me that unless one can keep the pre-completed Word or PDF on the phone and update it as necessary, it’s simpler to print out a batch of pre-completed forms, write in the date and time and put it in your wallet or purse.
In addition, I think (albeit without statistical evidence) most gendarmes will respond more positively to a sheet of paper (if only because in France, printed documentation seems the basis for every official decision).
Lastly, a few months ago at Schipol, I saw a japanese-ish young man refused permission to board the plane because of a problem retrieving his boarding card from his state of the art expensive I-phone.
Digital’s great in many respects, but paper’s ‘belt and braces’.
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I disagree. I have been using e-tickets on the French railways, ferries and Eurotunnel for a long time. The technology is commonplace in France. Preparing my electronic attestation is a very quick procedure, all the fields except my date and place of birth populate at the touch of a key. As I’ve said above it’s simple to save the two pages as photos. The gendarmes have readers to read the bar code things, I’ve seen one being used, so they will not be worried about people with smartphones. Much easier than carrying around bits of paper.
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Except bits of paper don’t run out of battery, crash unexpectedly or throw a wobbly…
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Nor does my phone.
I have now printed off a batch of the forms 2 per sheet then ripped in half filled out with Name, address and location filled in - just tick the box, date, time & sign. Quick and easy and in reality I use 4-5 per week.
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Given all the potential problems, one noted in my previous post, I have to ask why is it easier than carrying a round ‘a piece of paper’. Anyway, what’s so wrong with paper? Despite several decades of fairly advanced digital literacy, I still prefer the tangible materiality - and surprising cheapness - of a beautifully bound, hardback book (usually obtained s/h from a North American university press - via Abebooks online if you’re curious).
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The choice is there. You and I can do as we please. It was you who criticised my choice. I just pointed out that your reasoning was flawed. I suppose you were just trying to be funny or something. My phone will be going with me next time I go out, presumably you will take your bit of paper, Everyone happy?
l guess you put your finger on the problem. Everyone is not happy, but rather increasingly irritable. Confinement blues.
Stay safe.
I think you’re taking all this a tad too personally, I don’t care what people do with their phone (as long as it doesn’t frighten the horses) but what you described seemed a lot of faff, that some - not me heaven forbid - might describe as ‘fetishising technology’.
Incidentally, you didn’t point out that my ‘reasoning was flawed’, you merely re-stated your preferences (which isn’t a very effective means of demolishing someone’s argument). OTH, you could have argued that if one goes out forgetting to take one’s attestation, then having a cellphone version would be very useful. And I could have responded, ‘True, but one can also forget one’s cellphone and I often do.’ However, I might also have added that *my sheet, not ‘bit’ of paper (it’s entire) carries on the reverse a useful handwritten shopping list (faster than trying to type it into your phone) and lastly, when I get back from shopping, I can use it to light the poele.
And I wouldn’t recommend trying to do that with your phone.
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If you think what I do is a lot of faff you really don’t understand the process.
Are you , by any chance, someone that’s recently been banned from here? Or maybe a close relative?
It might be just me, but it seems your timing, attitude and posts are very similar to someone with the same initials who has just been binned.
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No I’m on Facebook if you want to check up on me, complete with 92 friends.
I’m just surprised that anyone should make such a song and dance about using a smartphone to generate an Attestation. It really is simple.
Just to add some fuel to the argument, recently had a stressful experience at Geneva airport with daughter with e-ticket. The download had failed/vanished and no network signal around the security gates coming in from France. With time ticking and inly minutes to spare it involved much running up and down stairs, and several corridors to cross over into Switzerland to get signal and then back again. A back-up piece of paper would have helped.
Technology is great, but not foolproof.
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