# Age check in an app or game

Source: https://help.didit.me/end-users/age-checks-in-apps
Updated: 2026-11-09

An app or game that uses Didit estimates your age from a selfie. It asks for an ID only when the estimate is too close to its minimum age, a choice it makes.

An app, game or website that uses Didit for age checks usually starts with a
**selfie**, and estimates your age from it without any ID. If the estimate is
too close to the minimum age the business set, the business can have you
**verify with an ID** instead. Only that business can change your result or
offer another way to prove your age.

Didit is the technology behind the check, not the company you're signing up with. The business chose the minimum age, which steps you see and what happens with the result. See [I was asked to verify my identity with Didit](https://help.didit.me/end-users/asked-to-verify).

## Why a selfie

Age estimation works out an approximate age from a picture of your face, so most people pass with a selfie alone and never show a document. While it runs, your face appears **blurred** on screen: that's a signal the image is being analyzed for age only, not to identify you.

## Why you were asked for an ID after the selfie

Many businesses set up their age check in two stages:

1. **The selfie.** If you are clearly above the minimum age, you pass. If you are clearly below it, the check ends there.
2. **An ID document, only for close cases.** If the estimate falls in a band near the minimum age, or the estimate isn't confident enough, the flow moves on to ID verification. The date of birth on your document is checked against the minimum age for the country that issued it, and the photo on the document is compared with the selfie you already took.

The business decides whether that second stage exists and how wide the band is. Being asked for an ID doesn't mean you failed: it means the selfie alone wasn't enough to decide.

## You're an adult but the check says you're too young

An age estimate within a year or two of the minimum age can fall on either side of it. Before you try again:

- Face a window or a light source, rather than having it behind you.
- Remove hats, sunglasses and anything covering your face.
- Hold still and follow the on-screen instructions.

If it still fails, contact the support team of the app or game. Ask whether they offer verifying with an ID document instead. Didit can't change the result, review it for you or send you a new attempt: see [my verification failed - what now](https://help.didit.me/end-users/verification-failed).

## The option you need isn't in the app

Which ways of proving your age an app offers, and where they appear, is that app's choice. If you can't find the age check, or the option you expected (a selfie, or an ID) isn't offered, ask the app's support. Didit can't add an option to their app or turn one on for you.

## The page shows another verification company

Didit is one of several companies that run age checks. If the page names a different verification provider, that check isn't run by Didit, and Didit can't see it or help with it. Contact the app or website that sent you there.

## Who sees your face

- **The business that asked for the check** receives the result. It can see the images in its account, including your selfie and any document you photographed.
- **Didit** processes them on that business's behalf. They are encrypted, processed in the EU by default, and kept for as long as the business decides.

To ask for your data to be deleted, contact the business. See [what happens to my data](https://help.didit.me/end-users/your-data).

## Related

- [My verification failed - what now](https://help.didit.me/end-users/verification-failed)
- [What happens to my data](https://help.didit.me/end-users/your-data)
- [Didit can't access your account, money, or verification](https://help.didit.me/end-users/who-can-help-with-your-account)
- For the businesses that set it up: [age estimation](https://docs.didit.me/core-technology/age-estimation/overview)