GOV.UK ID Check

Government Digital Service

About this app

GOV.UK ID Check is a secure way to confirm your identity when you sign in to a government service with GOV.UK One Login. It works by matching your face to your photo ID.

Before you start
You can use any of the following types of photo ID:
• UK photocard driving licence
• UK passport
• non-UK passport with a biometric chip
• UK biometric residence permit (BRP)
• UK biometric residence card (BRC)
• UK Frontier Worker permit (FWP)

You can use an expired BRP, BRC or FWP up to 18 months after its expiry date.

You will also need:
• a well-lit area where you can take a good quality photograph
• an Android phone running Android version 10 or higher

How it works
If your photo ID is a driving licence you will:
• take a photo of your driving licence
• scan your face using your phone

If your photo ID is a passport, BRP, BRC or FWP you will:
• take a photo of your photo ID
• scan the biometric chip in your photo ID using your phone
• scan your face using your phone

What happens next
The app only helps confirm your identity. You will return to the website of the government service you were accessing to view the results of your identity check.

Privacy and security
Your personal information will not be stored in the app, or on the phone when you finish using it. We collect your data securely and delete it when it is no longer needed.

Ratings and reviews

Unsurprisingly poorly designed. Stuck in a never ending loop of clicking a button to link the app to the website, which opens a new window with the same button and so on for ever. Website long winded and unhelpful describing pages to go to rather than linking. Classic piece of government work.

No matter what I do it says it cannot verify me - tried passport & driving licence but at the end of the process it just says it could not verify my identity. Called HMRC and they said all details they have on me are correct - update after days of trying to get an answer they admitted a discrepancy that was their issue on my account that is causing their systems to not talk to each other & so until they fix it I will be unable to verify! No time frame or any details given!

The combination of using the website and the start of the new digital ID system that nobody wants aka this app, has turned out to be a nightmare! it cannot confirm my identity even though I tried my passport first nor will it allow you to try taking another photo. This then leads you to be rejected and point you to the post office where it charges you more money!!!!! Useless if you ask me. What happened to the good old days when none of this nonsense was around?

What’s new

We’ve made design and accessibility improvements to make it easier to use the app. We also made technical updates to the performance analytics we collect.