This guide is for individuals going through a Persona-powered identity verification flow. While we’ve included helpful tips, the verification was set up by the business, service, or organization that asked you to verify. They use Persona as a tool, and they ultimately decide what’s required and can assist with your specific situation, if you’re having trouble.
Why both sides
On most cards, the front carries your photo and details, and the back carries the barcode or machine readable strip. They are two different sources of information, so a verification flow that asks for both needs both. Photographing the front twice will not move you on.
A passport is the usual exception. Most passport steps only ask for the photo page.
Make sure you are showing the right side
The back is the side with the barcode, the black magnetic strip, or the block of machine readable text. It often has small print, a signature panel, or a list of restrictions. If the side you are holding up has your photo on it, that is the front.
Some cards look almost blank on the back. That is normal, and it is still the side to photograph.
Photographing the back
The back is harder than the front, because a barcode needs more detail than a face does:
- Get closer. Fill the frame with the card. A barcode photographed from too far away has too little detail to read.
- Keep it flat and straight on. A tilted card stretches the barcode. Lay the card down and hold the phone parallel above it.
- Kill the glare. A shiny black barcode panel reflects overhead lights badly. Move to one side, or use even indirect light instead of a single bright lamp.
- Use a dark matte surface underneath, and take the card out of any sleeve or wallet window.
- Wipe the lens and wait for focus. A slightly soft photo often passes for a face and fails for a barcode.
Why isn’t the barcode being captured clearly? goes into the barcode specifically, and How to take a photo the scan can read covers capture in general.
If your card has no barcode at all
Some IDs, especially older ones and some issued outside the United States, have nothing on the back to scan. See No barcode shows up on my ID. If the flow will not accept the card without one, the business that asked you to verify can tell you what else they take.
If the barcode is worn or damaged
A scratched, faded, or cracked barcode may not read however good the photo is. See My ID or passport is damaged, and use a different document if you have one.