Another year has come and gone, and what an eventful year it was. 2022 was an exciting year for Freja and we are happy to have the opportunity to present you with another end-of-year retrospective.
There are many stories to share such as the growth of services available through Freja, the Freja digital ID card, our amazing partnerships and collaborations, the events we organised, and the events we took part in and so on and so forth.
What we are most proud of, however, is our fight to bring equality to Sweden when it comes to equal access to e-services – 10% of Swedes cannot access all e-services in Sweden for one reason or another. In October we launched our ‘Alla ska med’ campaign with the aim of ending this digital discrimination and codifying the right for everyone to have access to all e-services into law.
Now that we have the overview out of the way, let’s get into some details.
Growth and Development
We are constantly growing the number of e-services available through Freja, especially more and more government e-services that are coming online. What is cool is that you can use Freja not just for login at most of these e-services, but to complete almost anything online.
When it comes to physical identification, more and more places also accept the digital ID card in Freja as a valid means of identification. The number of physical locations where you can use Freja officially has grown to more than 7000 across Sweden.
As we have been increasing the opportunities for you to use your digital ID card in Freja, we have also been working on increasing its security – the most crucial factor in ensuring its more widespread acceptance.
Listening to Your Feedback
This year we also tried to incorporate your invaluable feedback when it comes to how you use Freja. We made several quality-of-life improvements that you have been asking for:
- We added the option to change your picture in Freja;
- We added the reset PIN feature for those of you who are a bit forgetful;
- We have made it possible to renew your Freja account without going through the registration process again;
These are just some of the things developed in Freja this year based on your feedback on top of other improvements to Freja: UI improvements across the board, UX improvements especially to the registration flow, many bug fixes and under-the-hood optimization to ensure the stability and smooth running of the service.
Thank you for your feedback, we assure you that we read every single one of your comments and we value them greatly – it reinforces our resolve to keep making Freja the best that it can be for you.
We have lots of exciting ideas for 2023 and we can’t wait to share them with you.
Freja Partnerships
This is also the year in which we launched our first partnerships in Freja. These represent unique opportunities to bring you even more value through Freja.
Our partnership with Säkerhetskollen allows you to easily inform yourself about ongoing scams and security risks, while with Billo you gain access to the most inclusive digital mailbox in Sweden. Here is a list of our current partners that can be found in ‘Explore’.
Säkerhetskollen – Your Security Centre
Säkerhetskollen is an initiative from Stöldskyddsföreningen (SSF) to alert people and to provide them the advice and knowledge needed to protect themselves against the growing amount of digital crime. We have partnered up so as to provide you with the safest online experience possible.
By going into ‘Explore’ and finding ‘Säkerhetskollen’ among our partners, you will be able to:
- Stay informed about the latest scams and online fraud;
- Learn how to best protect yourself online;
- Be able to get in touch with them immediately via chat or email should you need help;
Billo – the New Digital Mailbox on the Market
Billo is the new, state-approved digital mailbox on the Swedish market also available with Freja.
Since receiving mail from companies and authorities is the norm in Sweden, many Swedes who cannot have the most used e-ID in Sweden (around 10% of the population) find themselves excluded from this.
We believe Billo is awesome for two main reasons. Firstly, it prioritises inclusivity so that everyone can benefit from receiving their mail digitally. Secondly, it’s a viable alternative digital mailbox that challenges the existing monopoly. Giving everybody the power of choice can only be a good thing in the long term for building a healthy digital society.
Refunder – Earn Money as You Shop
Refunder is a shopping platform that allows you to earn money as you shop! Truly the best way to shop. Refunder constantly has offers from more than 1000 online stores, and you can create your account and log in with Freja.
The way that Refunder works is that as you shop, you share a part of the commission that Refunder from the store. When you have earned at least 100SEK in this way, you can easily transfer the money to your bank account.
Trijo – Trustworthy Crypto Exchange
For the crypto enthusiasts out there, Trijo is a Swedish crypto exchange that only deals with trustworthy coin such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.
Direkten – Weekly Offers through Freja
Our partnership with Direkten is the first of its kind that involves our ‘physical’ partners i.e. one of our partners that accepts the digital ID card in Freja.
By going into the dedicated section for physical partners in the Freja app, you will be able to check out the latest offers from Direkten, find the nearest store or get in touch with them.
This is just the beginning, as we are working on bringing in more dedicated partners into Freja to bring more value to you!
Security and Redundancy
Security still is the core principle of Freja and our guiding star. Everything that we do is with the idea that your online experience be as safe as possible. Therefore, we are extremely proud to say that this has not gone unnoticed.
Freja is the Security Company of the Year
Freja was named the Security Company of the Year at Tech Awards Sweden 2022, an award established and given out by TechSverige and IDG, an organisation for industries and employers.
The awards ceremony was held on 22 March this year in Stockholm with the finalists representing companies, organisations and individuals participating in six different categories.
Unfortunate Geopolitical Circumstances
When talking about security, it is unfortunately impossible not to mention the current geopolitical circumstances in the world, especially in Europe. Sweden’s ongoing accession to NATO puts the country in a delicate position when it comes to cyber-security.
Turbulent times have always yielded an increase in hacking attacks, fraud, phishing emails, DDOS attacks against critical digital infrastructure etc. The aim is to prey on the fear and uncertainty of the general public, to sow confusion and chaos, as well as to cause harm by crippling the digital services of a country.
One of our stronger messages this year has been for everyone to raise awareness, protect themselves and their family from phishing attacks and to be aware of the dangers posed by cyber-security threats. We have also been reinforcing the message that having Freja even as an alternative e-ID would ensure that should something happen, you would still be able to access the most critical public e-services.
To touch further upon the ongoing (as of December 2022) war in Ukraine, we did everything in our power to help arriving refugees in Sweden. We quickly added support for the Ukrainian passport in Freja so that people could have an e-ID. We also collaborated with Familjens Jurist to offer pro bono legal advice and support for Ukrainian refugees coming to Sweden.
Alla Ska med – Giving a Voice to the Ignored
For those of you who have been following us for a while, you know that we have been fighting for inclusion, bridging the digital divide and reducing digital discrimination. With Sweden being as digitised as it is, not having the most widely used e-ID in Sweden might as well mean that you are segregated from society.
This number of people is not insignificant – it’s around 10% of Swedes, and even though you are probably not affected personally, chances are you know someone who is. It could be your friend, parent, relative. So, what can be done?
‘Alla ska med’ Campaign
In the autumn of 2022, we launched our ‘Alla ska med’ campaign. The main aim was to collect signatures for a petition with the question:
‘Should services that require an e-ID offer all state-approved alternatives so that those who lack a certain e-ID can still participate in society?’
We were joined in our fight by many organisations in Sweden, especially those representing people with disabilities, people with special needs etc.
On the morning of December 5, the Minister of Civil Affairs Mr. Erik Slottner received the petition and collected signatures for the ‘Alla ska med’ campaign. The rest is now in the hands of the Swedish government, so we are hoping that soon every Swedish citizen will be able to benefit from unrestricted access to e-services.
Thank You for Being with Freja – See You in 2023
With another exciting year behind us, we want to offer you the most sincere thanks for choosing Freja, using it to log in to e-services, proving your identity with your digital ID card, checking out our newest services, sharing your identity online with others.
We also want to thank you for the massive amounts of feedback and comments that you send us, either via the Freja app, on social media and all other channels that we have open. Even though we might not reply to each and every one, they are all equally appreciated and serve as a constant reminder as to why we are doing this.
Happy new year from Freja, and see you back in 2023!
