Everything you need know about IDnow
Last updated: May 2, 2026
IDnow is a European identity verification platform that uses AI-powered OCR and biometric analysis to verify a person's identity against a government-issued document. Founded in Germany and operating under EU data protection standards, all processing takes place in high-security data centres located within the European Union.
On Dotfile, IDnow powers the Automated ID Document Check an OCR-based scan that extracts and validates data from a physical identity document.
Which documents are supported by IDnow IDV?
IDnow supports identity documents from over 195 countries, following the ICAO 9303 international standard for machine-readable travel documents.
What is NOT accepted by IDnow
🚫 Non-government Documents
🚫 Expired Documents
🚫 Photocopies and Screen captures
🚫 Unsupported specimens
Non-Latin script support
IDNow integration with Dotfile does not currently support non-Latin alphabet documents. Documents in Arabic, Vietnamese, or other non-Latin scripts without a Latin translation are routed to manual review. This is a known limitation that is going to be addressed by Dotfile. Check with your Dotfile Solutions Consultant before onboarding clients with predominantly non-Latin script documents.
How is IDnow IDV billed?
IDnow charges per completed identification. Billing is tied to whether IDnow has performed its analysis and returned a final decision not to whether the outcome was positive. Sessions that are initiated but not completed by the user do not generate a charge.
Important: new session required for each retry
Unlike Veriff which allows up to 9 resubmission attempts within a single billed session IDnow treats each identification attempt as a discrete session. If a user fails and you want to give them another opportunity to verify, a new session must be created, which will be billed independently if it reaches a final decision.
What counts as a billable IDnow identification?
The key principle is simple: if IDnow has returned a final status, the session is billable. Final statuses are those from which the identification process cannot continue the user cannot retry within the same session regardless of the outcome.
Compliance note on Fraud Suspicion
A Fraud Suspicion result is a conclusive finding, not a request for resubmission. Do not create a new session automatically. The case must be escalated to your compliance team for investigation before any further onboarding action is taken. IDnow's result package will include the specific fraud indicators detected.
Common failure reasons for FAILED status
