Home/Use cases/Remote identity verification
The capture step of video KYC, done in the browser.
Your customer holds up their ID, reads a code, and is recorded on their phone or laptop with nothing to install. AddPipe frames the shot, times the take, stamps it with server-side metadata, and delivers a high-resolution mp4 to your verification pipeline and to storage in the country your regulator requires.
Up to 4K on desktop; native resolution on phones. SOC 2 Type I. No app, no AddPipe account for the customer.
payload: app_31877 · pushed to your bucket, mumbai-1
Countdown, framing guides, a session code to read, delivery. The code is generated by your app; AddPipe records it being spoken.
The capture layer for identity verification at
What the recording has to be, for verification to work.
A KYC clip is short, high-stakes and mostly recorded on a phone by someone doing it for the first time. Each of those shapes the recorder.
01Legible
The face has to match the document, and the document has to be readable.
- Up to 4K from desktop webcams on PRO; native camera resolution from phones through the legacy mobile recorder, with no cap.
- A face-positioning outline so the customer frames themselves before the take. Your UI can add a document zone beside it.
- Phone rotation metadata applied, so a portrait clip arrives portrait, snapshot included.
02Guided
Most customers do this once. The recorder has to make the right take the easy one.
- A countdown before recording starts, so the ID is up and the face is in frame.
- Show the instruction or the session code above the camera with the teleprompter or your own UI.
- A time limit with
mrtand a review and re-record step, or none, as your flow requires.
03Attributable
Later, someone has to be able to say when this was recorded, from what, and for which application.
- Server-side timestamps; IP, user agent, camera and device names stored with the file.
- Your application or customer ID in
payload, returned in the signed webhook and REST API. - The original file kept beside the mp4 if your policy needs the untouched capture. See legal and compliance.
04Resident
Identity data often can't leave the country.
- Ingest in the EU or US, pinned per environment, with an EU silo for EU customers.
- Push straight to your own bucket in-country, and enable Do not store so nothing remains on AddPipe after processing.
- PII controls to collect only what your record needs; lifecycle rules to delete on schedule.
05Reliable
A failed capture is an abandoned onboarding.
- Streams as it records; reconnects on a dropped connection and falls back to the other zone.
- Ten years of browser and device workarounds in the recording client, tested on real phones.
- 200k+ recordings a day per region in production.
Where AddPipe sits in onboarding.
Capture
The AddPipe recorder in your KYC step, with your instructions, the session code and the framing guide.
Stamp and convert
Timestamp and metadata written as the media lands; the clip converted to a high-resolution mp4 with snapshot.
Store in-country
Pushed to the bucket and jurisdiction your regulator requires, with nothing left on AddPipe if you choose.
Verify
The webhook hands the file and its metadata to your face-match, document OCR and liveness checks, or to an agent.
What AddPipe does, and what stays yours.
Verification vendors differ in how they check. AddPipe is the part that's the same in all of them.
PipeCapture, stamp, deliver
- Browser recording on phones and desktops, no app
- Framing guide, countdown, prompt, time limit, re-record
- Reliability: streaming, reconnection, device handling
- High-resolution mp4, correct orientation, snapshot, original kept
- Server-side timestamps, device and network metadata, your IDs
- Storage where you say; retention, deletion and PII controls
- Signed webhooks and REST API
YouVerification and decision
- Generating the session code and checking it was spoken
- Face match against the document photo
- Document OCR, authenticity and expiry checks
- Liveness and anti-spoofing analysis
- Agent review, approval and the audit trail in your system
AddPipe doesn't verify identity. It makes sure the recording your verification needs is clear, complete, attributable and stored where it must be.
Features KYC teams use.
Your UI, not ours
Hide the native controls and drive capture from your onboarding screens through the JS control API, with events for every state.
Whitelisted hosts
Restrict the recorder to your onboarding domains so the embed can't be reused elsewhere.
Background blurring
Blur the customer's surroundings while keeping the face and document sharp, for privacy in home recordings.
Live device selector
Front or rear camera, and any external device, chosen from a list that updates as they connect. Disconnected devices stay visible.
Environments per market
Separate region, storage target, retention and webhooks per country or product line.
Logs for the audit
getUserMedia, storage and webhook logs per recording, so a failed capture has a cause and a successful one has a trail.
Questions identity teams ask.
Does the customer need an app?
No. Capture runs in the phone's or laptop's browser on your onboarding page, with no download and no AddPipe account.
Does AddPipe verify the ID or check liveness?
No. AddPipe records and delivers the clip with its metadata. Face matching, document checks and liveness analysis are done by your verification stack on the recording. That separation is deliberate: the capture layer stays neutral and works with whatever verification you use.
Is the resolution enough to read a document?
Desktop webcams record up to 4K on PRO. On phones, the legacy mobile recorder captures at the camera's native resolution with no cap; the main inline recorder is limited by the plan's resolution ceiling. Test with your target devices on the trial.
Can we keep recordings in our own country?
Yes, by pushing to your own storage there and enabling Do not store, so AddPipe retains nothing after processing. AddPipe's own regions are EU and US. See the note above and the security and privacy page.
How is the recording tied to the application?
Pass your application or customer ID in payload. It's stored with the recording and returned in every signed webhook and REST call.
What if the capture fails or the connection drops?
The client retries the initial connection, reconnects mid-recording and falls back between zones. If a take is unusable, your flow can ask for another. Every attempt is logged.
What documents can be shown?
Anything the customer can hold to the camera: passports, national ID cards, driver's licences. Which are acceptable, and how they're checked, is your policy.
Is there a security report we can review?
Yes, the SOC 2 Type I report. Request it here.
What if I need help integrating?
Contact us and an engineer will reply. For work beyond AddPipe, our custom development partners can help.
Something else? Email us.
Record yourself holding your ID. Check the metadata.
Do it on a phone, on the trial, and see what your verification step would receive. 14 days, no card required.