Gemalto CACs and Desktop Readers

Overview

We are currently investigating an issue with the Smart Card Utility Desktop Reader and smart cards manufactured by Gemalto. We have identified the issue is with the Apple extension that the iOS uses to access the Gemalto Smart Card. We are working with Apple to resolve the issue. This issue does not affect the other readers from Twocanoes Software. iOS does not access those cards with Apple’s extension and have been verified to work with Gemalto cards.

Identifying Your Card

To identify if your CAC was made by Gemalto you must check the laser etched code along the edge of the card. An example image of this code is posted below. If your code begins with Gemalto, the following article applies to you.

Current Status

Twocanoes escalated the issue with Apple and the problem has been solved with the release of iOS 16.2. All other smart card readers from Twocanoes are not affected by this issue.

Resolving the Issue

If you have a GEMALTO card and wish to use the Desktop reader, all you need to do is update you iPhone/iPad to iOS 16.2.