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.
Often yes
Verification secured with Persona usually runs in a web browser, so a laptop or desktop with a webcam works for a lot of verification flows. You may need to approve the camera in the browser; see camera turned off by the browser.
It depends on what the business chose
Some businesses would rather you finished on a phone, and a few only offer that. Usually it comes down to image quality: a phone camera tends to capture a document and a face more cleanly than a laptop webcam, and a phone can use sensors a computer does not have. Persona gives the business the choice so it can match what it needs to what its users can actually do.
If the flow you were sent to will not continue on a computer, that is the setting the business picked rather than something wrong with your machine. Most flows that prefer a phone will offer to move you across; see device handoff.
What is trickier on a computer
- Photographing your ID: holding a card up to a laptop webcam is harder than a phone. Set the card flat and move the laptop to line up the camera, or use the desktop upload option if the flow offers one. See no smartphone?.
- A webcam has no flash, so light the room well. See low-light photos.
- Some flows need NFC or a phone sensor for passports. See passport chip not detected.