How To Navigate The MySejahtera App To Travel Into Malaysia, For Singaporeans

Land borders between Singapore and Malaysia are finally open again - brilliant news for drivers who wish to drive their own vehicles across the border. While we are still riding on the adrenaline of extended road trip options after more than two years of pandemic-related restrictions, pre-planning and accompanying admin can be rather stressful - we wouldn't want a scenario where drivers need to make a U-turn at the checkpoint due to insufficient documents! There were even instances where some Singaporeans decided to delay travel plans into Malaysia until documentation processes are made more “fuss free”.

One of the more “complex” documentations some Singaporeans drivers encountered during the planning phase was the navigation of the MySejahtera contact tracing app, which is Malaysia’s equivalent to Singapore’s TraceTogether app. We aim to bring you through a step-by-step process, including charting down any difficulties faced in order to ensure smooth operations through Malaysia’s immigration. *This research was conducted on an iPhone, with iOS 15.4.1 installed.

Access the MySejahtera contact tracing app via the iOS App Store or Google Play Store. There are two options to register - via your mobile phone or email. We opted for the mobile phone route, which will issue an OTP that expires in 5 minutes. *Note that we were prompted to undertake the reCAPTCHA test in almost every step of the registration to verify that we are not a robot, so seek help from a friend if you are having trouble with “photohunt”!

This is where one of the confusions might occur. We will be prompted to key in an address in Malaysia, along with a state, which might not be valid for those making day trips. Some users have explored entering a Singaporean address, but keyed in Johor as the state. This has not been clarified by the authorities at time of writing, but we reckon that this suggestion sounds the most viable.

This step involves choosing a password, which needs to have a minimum of 6 characters, and a maximum of 25 characters. Once you have keyed in a password, you will be guided to a page that states “Success”. You will be notified either via SMS or email, once your account has been activated.

Before you continue to explore the MySejahtera app, log in to Notarise to get your vaccine certificate. Download it to your phone in PDF format. If you are finding another way to download your cert to your phone, ensure that it is less than 2MB, as you will be required to upload the cert with size not exceeding 2MB on the MySejahtera app.

During this process, do take note of details such as your vaccination dates and serial number of your vaccine(s) as they will be required when completing your status in the MySejahtera app.

You can start attempting to open the MySejahtera app again and log in. At time of research, this step worked even though no confirmations were sent. We logged in via the mobile phone route, and were guided to a “Status” page next, followed by a “Questions” page. The first question involves asking if you live with anyone aged 65 and above, or if they have any of the stated health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancer or are immunocompromised. The second question requires you to check into your place of residence, so do turn on your location tracker at least only while using the app.

With your vaccine certificate from Notarise now downloaded / accessible from your phone, click the “Traveller” icon within the MySejahtera app, and then click “Overseas Vaccination Details”.

You will then be guided out of the app, into a browser that states “Helpdesk”. Over here, choose one of the options, whether you are reporting for yourself, or on behalf of someone else.

You will then be led to the “Please select which dose needs to be updated” page. This involves vaccination-related details, which can be gathered from Singapore’s Notarise website. *Our staff had 1 booster shot, and was prompted to fill in details such as type of vaccine, vaccination date as well as serial number of your vaccination of the booster shot. Once submitted, you will need to wait for 5 days for the result of your application. Once you receive a favourable response, it is still highly recommended to print a physical copy (or two!) of your vaccination certificate when crossing the border.

*Update: even if the Covid status on your MySejahtera app is not updated yet, you will still be able to enter Malaysia if you show the physical copy of your vaccination status that you downloaded.

We wish you all the best and safe travels!

Credits: Gerald Yuen