ComplyAge
A sealed dossier stamped PRIVATE on a rusted desk.

Privacy-first age verification

Government ID verification

The strongest proof of age: a real document, read and matched to the person holding it.

The visitor photographs a government-issued identity document in the verification window. OCR extracts the date of birth and document details, and a live selfie is matched against the document photo. It is accepted in every enforcement zone, including strict zones such as Texas (HB 1181) and Louisiana (Act 440), and it produces the most durable reusable verification.

How it works

Capture happens in the browser with framing guidance; the document image is sent over TLS for OCR, which reads the machine-readable zone or printed fields for the date of birth, expiry and document type. A live selfie with a liveness prompt is then matched to the document portrait. All three must agree — a readable document, a matching face, a date of birth that clears the minimum age — for the check to pass.

Documents accepted

Passports, national identity cards and driving licences with a portrait and a printed date of birth. Expired documents are refused. Where a document has no machine-readable zone, the printed fields are read and confidence thresholds apply; low-confidence reads are sent to another method rather than guessed.

What is stored

The reusable verification record holds the outcome, the method and the time — no document image, no number. The captured images are sealed into an encrypted audit archive that exists only to answer a valid legal request, and is retained no longer than that purpose requires.

Where it counts

Everywhere. Every zone in the ComplyAge catalogue accepts government ID, and it is one of the two methods offered in strict zones. Regulators that name specific techniques — Ofcom's photo-ID matching, Texas's government-issued identification — describe this method.

What the visitor sees

  1. Choose the document

    Passport, ID card or driving licence. The window explains which faces to photograph.

  2. Photograph the document

    Front (and back where relevant) with on-screen framing. Glare and blur are detected before upload so retakes happen instantly.

  3. Take a selfie

    A live selfie with a liveness prompt; the face is matched to the document portrait.

  4. Get the result

    Pass, or a clear reason and an alternative method. A pass is stored as a reusable verification.

Frequently asked questions

Do you keep a copy of my ID?
Not with your reusable record. Images are sealed into an encrypted audit archive for lawful legal response only, and deleted when retention ends. Nobody browses it.
Which documents can I use?
Any government-issued passport, national ID card or driving licence with a photo and a printed date of birth. It must be in date.
What if the document cannot be read?
The window asks for a retake with framing tips; if OCR still cannot read it with confidence, the visitor is offered another method instead of a guess.
Is my ID shared with the site I'm visiting?
No. The partner site receives a verification status, never the document, the number or the images.