Help

If your question is not answered here, write to support@idphoto.now.

Your photo

How big can my file be?

You can upload files up to 25 MB. That is our limit. If the issuing authority publishes its own file size limits, the report checks your file against them. For US online passport renewal that is 54 KB to 10 MB.

What if you cannot open my file?

Then the report says so, and you can upload another photo. If your phone lets you choose the format, save the photo as a JPEG.

What do you do to my photo?

We frame the photo on your face and bring it to the dimensions the document requires. Both use only pixels that are already in your photo. Where the authority does not ban edited photos, we may also replace the background with the plain colour the document asks for, and if we did, the report says so. For Polish, Spanish, French and Argentine documents we may also turn the whole photo to level a tilted head. For those, Mexican passports and the Colombian online passport we may change its overall brightness once when the lighting fails the check. When it passes, we may instead raise its contrast once if, in the area from your hairline to your chin and from ear to ear, the range from dark to light is below the 50% that the ICAO portrait standard recommends. For the same documents we may reduce a colour cast from the light once for the whole photo, only when the wall behind you and the nearly white parts below your chin, such as a collar, show the same cast. The report says so when we did. When the check asks you to look at shine on the skin of your face, your report offers to soften it. We do so only if you ask for it and confirm that the authority may reject such a photo. While the order is open and its photos are stored, you can undo each of these corrections from your report, and we then make the photo again without it. We do not add borders, enlarge a photo that is too small, or change your features or the shape of your face. If the photo cannot be framed, for example because your face is too close to an edge, the report says why.

Where the authority bans edited photos, as for paper US passport applications, US visas and Canadian, German and Australian passports, we replace the background or correct the brightness or contrast only if you ask for it. Your report offers a new background when the check finds a problem with the background, and a brightness correction when the lighting of the photo you uploaded fails the check. If the lighting passes, it offers a contrast correction instead when, in the area from your hairline to your chin and from ear to ear, the range from dark to light is below the 50% that the ICAO portrait standard recommends. It quotes the authority’s own words, and you confirm that the authority may reject such a photo. The report then says that you asked for it. GOV.UK also bans edited photos for a paper UK passport application, and there we replace the background only if you ask for it. We may correct the brightness or the contrast once without asking, because HM Passport Office tells its examiners to accept that change, and you can undo it from your report. For a Mexican passport, where no colour is published for a photo you bring, the new background is white, the colour of the photo the SRE takes in its own offices. For US online renewal you get your original file back unchanged, because the State Department crops the photo inside its own application.

Is there a watermark on my photo?

Only on the free preview, which shows your finished photo at the document’s size. The files you download after paying have no watermark.

Your report

What do the results in the report mean?

Each rule in the report gets one of four results.

Result	What it means
Looks right	We measured it and it meets the published requirement.
Needs fixing	We measured it and it does not. The report tells you what to change.
Needs a closer look	The measurement is close to a limit, or the file alone cannot settle it. Look at it yourself before you pay.
Not checked	We did not check this rule. The report gives the reason.

Why are some rules not checked?

Some rules have no published number to measure against. Open eyes, a closed mouth, glasses, a head covering and clothing are answered by an image model that looks at the finished photo or, when none could be made and we find one face clear enough to judge, at your head and shoulders cut from your photo. When it gives no answer, those rows stay not checked, as does head height when it could not be measured on your photo. Look at those rows yourself before you pay. What only you can know, you confirm with a tick before paying: the age of the photo when the file has no capture date, a head covering and your clothing.

The report also states how many of the automatic checks ran. The rules and their sources are on the standards we check against.

Do you measure the face?

Yes. We find your face, count the faces in the picture and frame the photo on it. Head tilt, centring and eye position are judged on the finished photo, by the authority’s own number or, where it publishes none, by a named standard, and the report names which one. Head height is measured on the finished photo too, from the top of your hair to your chin. If a rule could not be measured, the report says so.

What stops me from paying?

A result of "Needs fixing", for example a shadow on the background, a file we cannot open or a photo that cannot be framed. Payment also waits for the confirmations we ask for, such as your clothing or the age of the photo. We ask only when the image model or the file data cannot settle the point. "Needs a closer look" and "Not checked" on their own do not block payment. Upload a different photo and the check runs again, free of charge.

Does a person look at my photo?

Not unless you ask our support to, and any such view is logged. The check, the approval and the delivery are automatic.

Can you guarantee my photo will be accepted?

No. The issuing authority decides, and it can refuse a photo for reasons no file check can see. The report tells you which rules passed and which were not checked, so you know what you are relying on before you pay.

After you have paid

What do I download?

For a printed photo: your original file, the photo cropped to print size (for a US passport 2 x 2 in, 600 x 600 px at 300 PPI), and print sheets in two sizes, 4 x 6 in and 10 x 15 cm.

For US online renewal: your original file, unchanged, together with the report and a walkthrough of the upload step in the State Department application.

How fast is delivery?

Your files are ready on the order page as soon as the payment is confirmed. There is nothing else to wait for.

Can I change the photo after paying?

Yes. Upload another photo under the same order as often as you need, at no extra cost. A photo that passes the check is approved automatically. The file you had approved before stays downloadable until the new one takes its place.

Can I get my money back?

You can ask for a refund within 30 days of the transaction. The conditions are in the refund policy.

Getting back to your order

How do I open my order on another device?

An order belongs to the browser that created it, through a cookie. Another phone, another browser or a private window will not show it.

On the order page, find the section Open this order on another device and enter your email address. When email delivery is available, we send a link that works once and expires after an hour. When it is not, the page says that no email was sent. You can ask for a new link at any time.

Do I need an account?

No. You can check a photo and pay without one. If you want one place for your orders, sign in with an email link. Every order you have opened from an emailed link is listed there.

Is my order reference enough to open the order?

No. The reference, the code that starts with ord_, is not a password. A payment number or the email address on the order does not open it either, because all of these show up in inboxes and on bank statements.

You get back in through the original browser, a link sent to your email address, or your account. If none of these works, write to support@idphoto.now.

Your photo and your data

How long do you keep my photo?

24 hours if the order was never paid. 30 days after payment, so you can come back for your files.

You can delete your photos sooner from the order page. Deletion removes the image files for good. The order record stays, without any photo in it. How it works is described on delete your photos and data.

Is my photo used to train anything?

No. We do not train models on customer photos, we do not build a face database, and we do not keep face templates. The face measurement counts faces and records positions as numbers. Details are in the privacy policy.

Does my photo still contain my location?

It can. Your original file comes back to you unchanged, so anything the camera wrote into it stays there, including GPS coordinates. We record only that location data is present and never read the coordinates. To avoid it, turn off location for the camera app before you take the photo.

Still stuck

Write to support@idphoto.now and include your order reference. Please do not attach your photo. The reason is on the contact page.