# Can my users verify without photographing a document?

Source: https://help.didit.me/documents-coverage/verify-without-a-document
Updated: 2026-11-12

An ID Verification step can verify by document capture, ID number lookup or a digital ID wallet. Choose per country, set the fallback and see how it is billed.

Yes.
An **ID Verification** step can verify a person in three ways: document capture (the default), an ID number lookup against an authoritative source, or a digital ID wallet.
You choose which ways each country may use in the step's country settings, and what happens when a lookup does not match or does not answer.
A workflow that sets nothing stays document capture only.

## The three ways

| Way | What the person does | How the result is labelled |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Document capture | Photographs a passport, ID card, driver's licence or residence permit | Documentary |
| ID number lookup | Types their national ID number and a few personal details, which are checked against a government or other authoritative source | Data match |
| Digital ID wallet | Signs in with a government or bank digital identity | Cryptographic |

The labels describe different evidence, not a ranking.
The person never sees the label, the price or the name of the source that was checked.
For the registries behind lookups, see [database validation](https://help.didit.me/documents-coverage/database-validation); for wallets, see [digital ID wallets](https://help.didit.me/documents-coverage/digital-id-wallets).

## Choose the ways per country

1. **Open the ID Verification step**

   In **Workflows**, open your workflow and select its **ID Verification** step.

2. **Open the Countries tab**

   Select a country. Under **Countries and allowed ID methods** you see which of the three ways exist there and switch each on or off. A country with no lookup or wallet shows that none is available yet, and a **Coming soon** label means it cannot be switched on.

3. **Set what happens when a way does not land**

   Choose the fallback switches below, then publish the workflow.

If the person has more than one way, they pick one on the first screen.
**Offer document capture only as the fallback** starts them with the wallet or the lookup and shows document capture only if that fails.

## When a lookup does not match or does not answer

Under **Fall back to document capture when...** each case is either a fallback to document capture or a decline:

| Case | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Partial match** | The source answered, but some details did not line up |
| **No match** | The source answered and has no record for these details |
| **No response from the provider** | Outage, timeout or error |

**Attempts before falling back** sets how many answered lookups the person gets (1 to 5, default 1).
A number that fails the format check never reaches the source, so the person is only asked to correct it and no attempt is used.
A source that does not answer never declines the person on its own: they are asked to try again, and after three unanswered tries your "no response" choice applies.
For a wallet, one switch covers a sign-in that is cancelled, times out or fails.

Falling back needs document capture switched on in that country with at least one document type accepted.
Without it, those people are declined.

## What is billed

- A lookup that the source answered is billed, whether it matched or not.
- A lookup that never answered is not billed, and neither is a number that fails the format check.
- If the person then falls back to a document, that is a second charge: the document check is $0.15.
- A wallet sign-in that is cancelled, expired or incomplete is not charged.

Prices for lookups and wallets differ by country and are not copied here. See [Didit pricing](https://didit.me/pricing) and the [per-country coverage table](https://docs.didit.me/core-technology/id-verification/verification-methods#coverage).

## See how someone was verified

In the session's ID verification result, the **Verification method** field reads **Document scan**, **ID lookup** or **Digital wallet**.
After a fallback it reads, for example, "ID lookup, then document scan", and **Fallback from** says which way did not land and why.
Through the API the same information arrives as `verification_method`, `fallback_from` and the assurance label (`documentary`, `data_match` or `cryptographic`).

## Related

- [Database validation](https://help.didit.me/documents-coverage/database-validation)
- [Digital ID wallets](https://help.didit.me/documents-coverage/digital-id-wallets)
- [ID verification methods in the Didit docs](https://docs.didit.me/core-technology/id-verification/verification-methods)