How IDPhoto.now works
We check a photograph against what the issuing authority publishes, tell you everything we found and everything we could not check, and prepare what you need to submit. We do not change your photograph, we do not submit anything for you, and we cannot promise how an authority will decide. This page is the whole process, including the parts that are not flattering to us.
The six steps
Pick the route, not just the document
A US passport photo has two different rule sets, depending on how you apply. Paper forms DS-11 and DS-82 are governed by a page that publishes print geometry and no file specification. Online renewal is governed by a different page that publishes a file specification and no geometry at all. Choosing the wrong one is the most common way to get a correct-looking photo rejected, so it is the first question we ask.
- US passport (paper form) — We check your photo against the State Department’s published paper-application rules and give you a print-ready 2×2 inch layout. We do not retouch your photo, we do not submit anything to the State Department, and we cannot promise how they will decide.
- US passport (renew online) — We check your photo against the State Department’s published online-renewal rules and hand back your original file untouched, with instructions for their crop tool. We do not crop, convert or edit the file, because State asks for the original. We do not submit anything on your behalf.
Add your photo
No account, no password, no email address at this point. The order lives in a cookie on your browser until you choose to attach an email to it. Upload the original file from your camera roll — not a screenshot, not an export from an editing app, not something that has been through a messaging app, because all three strip or change information we would otherwise check for you.
We check it, before any payment
The checks run on upload and cost nothing. Software reads the real format of the file from its header, its size, whether it is a colour photograph, the overall lighting and whether any area is blown to pure white or crushed to pure black, the focus, three separate measurements of the background, the capture date recorded in the file, and whether the file says it was last saved by editing software.
It does not measure your head size, your head tilt, whether you are centred, or how many people are in the frame. Those are not automated yet, and the report says so in those words rather than showing you a tick we have not earned.
You read exactly what we found
Every rule gets one of four results, and the difference between them matters:
- Pass — measured, and inside what the authority publishes.
- Fail — measured, and outside it. You are told the number we measured and what to change.
- Needs review — close enough to a limit that a person should decide.
- Not checked — we did not check it, with the reason. Sometimes that is because the authority publishes no threshold; sometimes because only a person can judge it. It is never a quiet pass.
Each rule shows the authority's own wording next to it and a link to the page it came from, so you can read the sentence we measured you against rather than take our word for it.
You pay, once
$9.90 — one payment for one person and one document. No subscription, and no account needed to buy. You enter an email at the payment step so we can send you the result; taxes are calculated at checkout and shown before you pay.
Payments are in test mode. No order can be paid for real yet. Everything up to this point works today; the payment step is connected to a test environment and cannot charge a card.
A trained reviewer looks at your photo, then your files are ready
Every paid order is looked at by a person. They measure the things software does not — head size, tilt, centring — and judge the things software should not: your expression, your eyes, glasses, head coverings, clothing. They either approve the photo or tell you exactly what to change. When they approve it, your files are ready to download without a watermark.
We do not publish a turnaround time. We will publish one when we have measured a real one, and not before.
When a check fails
Failing is the normal case, not the exception, and nothing about it costs you money.
- Something critical fails — the file will not open, it is black and white, it is a format we cannot read. We say the photo cannot be used and we do not take payment for it. You upload another one, free, as many times as you need.
- Something non-critical fails — a shadow on the background, lighting at the edge of what works. You choose: upload a different photo for free, or go ahead and let a reviewer look at this one and tell you precisely what to change.
- Something needs review — it is close to a limit. A person decides, and you get their reasoning rather than a number.
- Something could not be checked — for example a HEIC file, whose pixels we cannot open, or a photo with no capture date in it. We tell you what we could not check and why, and where it matters we ask you for a different file rather than guessing.
What happens after you pay
- Your order goes to a reviewer. We email you when they are done — the address you gave at the payment step is used for that and for your receipt.
- If the reviewer asks for a different photo, that is included. Uploading again under a paid order costs nothing. You paid for a correct photo, not for one attempt at one.
- If they approve it, you download your files directly. For a paper application that is a print-ready 2 x 2 inch layout and a 4 x 6 inch sheet to take to a print booth; for online renewal it is your original file, unchanged, plus a walkthrough of State's own crop tool.
- We keep an order's photographs for 30 days after payment, and for 24 hours if the order is never paid for, after which they are deleted. You can ask us to delete them sooner at delete your photos and data. What we store and where is set out in the privacy policy.
What we do not do
We do not edit your photograph
No retouching, no filters, no relighting, no background replacement, no AI generation or enhancement, no upscaling. This is not a stylistic preference. The State Department's paper page says: "Submit the original, unchanged photo. Do not change your photo using computer software, phone apps or filters, or artificial intelligence", and both its passport pages add: "We check all photos to ensure you are not using artificial intelligence tools." (paper form(opens in a new tab) · online renewal(opens in a new tab))
For online renewal we hand back your uploaded file byte for byte, because State crops it in their own application and the file they want is the one your camera produced. For a paper application we scale the photo uniformly and set the 2 x 2 inch frame around it for printing, which changes its size on paper and nothing about how you look — and you always keep the untouched original as well.
We do not submit anything to any authority
You file your own application. For online renewal the State Department is explicit that only you can: "You must complete your own online application. You cannot use a third-party service or have someone submit the application on your behalf", and the only authorised site is opr.travel.state.gov. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for any government body.
We do not guarantee that your photo will be accepted
Nobody outside the issuing authority can. For online renewal, State checks your photo automatically at upload and then has an employee review it after your application arrives. For a paper application, the decision is made when you apply.
What we can say is narrower and true: we measure what we can measure, we show you every result and every gap, a trained person checks the rest, and a retake under a paid order costs you nothing. Any service promising acceptance is promising something it does not control.
Before you start anything
If you only want to know whether a photo you already have is close, the photo checker runs the same automated checks for nothing and without an account. The standards page lists every requirement version we check against, the date a human last read the authority's page, and every parameter that authority does not publish. Pricing sets out what is free and what is not.