> 5 sec
verification time
5
Methods to verify
age
100%
In-house technology
The global age gatekeeper solving industry’s six biggest challenges
Child safety acts and new AI laws are pushing age verification into the spotlight, especially with OFCOM commanding 'use of proportionate age verification methods'. Businesses face penalties and service bans if they fail to comply. Here are top 6 reasons why age verification industries are struggling.
Stronger checks for minors mean unnecessary friction for adults
- Age verification mandates require businesses in industries like iGaming (UK Online Safety Act) and alcohol retail (Challenge 25) to restrict underage access. Yet when vendors enforce multiple redundant checks, adults face intrusive friction, driving drop-offs and churn instead of safe compliance.
Data breaches making sensitive user information vulnerable to leaks
- Under regulations like the EU’s GDPR and California’s CCPA, safeguarding personal data is non-negotiable. However, many vendors rely on third-party verification layers, creating supply chain vulnerabilities where sensitive PII circulates across systems, exposing firms to data breaches.
Vendors offer one rigid flow and no step-up flexibility
- Most legacy solutions force users through fixed, document-heavy workflows or mandatory liveness checks regardless of risk context. Without adaptive, risk-based step-up verification, platforms see unnecessary friction, higher abandonment rates, and non-compliance with regulations.
Biased training data skews age estimation on diverse faces
- Facial age estimation models often fail due to limited training on diverse skin tones, textures, and cultural features. This bias reduces accuracy, leading to unfair rejections and compliance gaps. There is an excess fascination with using white-only or picture-perfect faces for training models.
Lack of 'proportionate' age verification methods using documents only
- OFCOM recommends that businesses adopt appropriate and proportionate age verification methods that abide with privacy-preserving mechanisms to verify age. This means that companies should not require high friction and high-vulnerability document assessment for verification.
High false acceptances from weak deepfake detection
- Vendors with inadequate AI training data or outdated liveness models struggle to detect spoofing attempts such as deepfakes, makeup masking, or prosthetic accessories. This results in high false acceptance rates, exposing businesses to regulatory non-compliance, fraud risk, and child safety breaches.
Five trusted ways to verify age, globally and fairly with Shufti’s in house age verification software
Ensure compliance and protect your business with Shufti, an industry-leading, advanced age verification software. From online age verification methods to seamless age verification API integration, we make safeguarding minors simple and reliable.
Checks age through Databases
Estimates age through AI
Age proofed by digital identity
Verifies age from documents
Re-verification through FastID
Leverage telecom, financial, and government databases across 50+ countries to instantly confirm age with unmatched accuracy. Ideal for high-volume, compliant onboarding where speed and scale matter.
- Multi-source cross-checks using government, telecom, and financial data
- Real-time validation with up to 99% adult coverage in key markets
- No document uploads required, just instant, seamless verification
Leverage telecom, financial, and government databases across 50+ countries to instantly confirm age with unmatched accuracy. Ideal for high-volume, compliant onboarding where speed and scale matter.
- Multi-source cross-checks using government, telecom, and financial data
- Real-time validation with up to 99% adult coverage in key markets
- No document uploads required, just instant, seamless verification
Analyzes 100+ facial vectors to estimate age from a selfie, enabling seamless compliance.
- High-precision landmark mapping of eyes, jawline, and skin texture.
- Customizable thresholds to meet age limits by region or policy.
- Real-time cross-checks against declared age or ID for compliance control.
Authenticate users through government or bank-issued credentials, no uploads, no delays, just instant, high-assurance validation across countries.
- 12-second verification via bank login or national ID (e.g., Aadhaar, BankID).
- Open Banking support with top institutions like Barclays, HSBC, Monzo.
- Zero fake identities through verified, regulated data sources.
Extract and verify age from government-issued IDs in under a minute, with support for global regulations and 200+ countries.
- 98% accuracy with 110+ checks for forgery, expiry, and authenticity.
- <40-second verification with multi-language, non-Latin script support.
- Fully compliant with Challenge 21, COPPA, GDPR, AVMSD & more.
Confirm age instantly at every high-risk transaction. It is frictionless for verified users, yet strict enough to block proxy use, fraud, and underage bypass.
- Safe and secure re-verification at each purchase, even for returning users
- Stops misuse by ensuring only the original, verified user can access age-restricted services.
- Future-proof architecture supports ZKP proofs, selective disclosure, and eIDAS 2.0
Navigate the unique verification challenges of every jurisdiction and country. Access valid ID proofs from over 247 countries and territories.
Explore Country-Specific IDsKeeping trust simple in a complex, evolving world
When businesses require user age verification, it often means a higher user churn because not everyone is comfortable submitting their documents. With Shufti’s waterfall approach, you can have your users verify their age in multiple ways, depending upon the level of assurance you require.
Shufti dissects the regulators mindset to make you win at compliance
Age verification is what identity verification was 10 years ago. It is every industry’s top priority as global regulators mandate strict age verification laws and compliance requirements, from EU’s DSA to COPPA and Challenge 25. Your company might be adopting the best strategy in global markets, but still not scaling due to compliance issues. Shufti adapts to regional regulations like COPPA, DSA, ARCOM, and Challenge 21 and challenge 25.
Zero knowledge proofs for zero-doubt privacy protection
Your customers only need to prove they are above age, not how old they are. Shufti’s algorithm is designed to meet with GDPR laws that ensure a privacy-first mechanism. Verify your users meet age thresholds, without revealing their actual age. Additionally, with Shufti’s full in-house technology, Your user's personal data never leaves our premises or goes to another vendor.
Waterfall age verification approach that adapts to users
Shufti uses a progressive verification model where the system starts with low-friction biometric signals like typing speed to estimate age. Only if confidence is low does it escalate to face analysis, and finally, to document checks, ensuring compliance without unnecessary friction. Once used, the data is not stored; it is deleted instantly.
Don’t lose even your 1%, Shufti helps retain all your customers
Imagine your company has one million customers, and less than 1% can’t verify themselves due to a rigid UI/UX design that is un-accommodating to poor lighting, slow internet, or outdated devices. But that 1% is not small. That’s nearly 100,000 users getting wrongly flagged by your current vendor. Shufti solves this problem by delivering robust verification that works reliably even in imperfect conditions.
All Legit faces count- Shufti is made for All Skin Tones and features
What’s tougher, spotting minors using tricks or letting real adults in despite changing looks? Shufti applies smart age and security buffers to handle both. Our AI is trained on diverse skin tones, facial features, and regional aesthetics, ensuring accurate, inclusive verification without letting minors slip through or adults get locked out.
Shufti's Innovation Room
Age Verification solution built for the AI-Native & Digital-first users
Think age verification is still about showing an ID? Today’s minors are tech-savvy, AI-aware, and quicker than ever at bypassing weak age gates. At the same time, adults want the least amount of friction at the age gates. Shufti offers convenience to both.
Facial land mapping for 100% spoof detection
Analyzes over 100+ facial vectors (eyes, nose, jawline, skin texture) using landmark detection to deliver high-fidelity age prediction.
Failsafe fallback methods that catch what others miss
Even if a user fails facial or eIDV checks, our system steps down to documents, not out of the flow. Auto-escalates users to alternate verification paths such as document based verification
Re-verification with FastID - an in- house revolutionary technology
Shufti is ideal for ecosystems with frequent logins or gated content as it helps with customer retention by ensuring that you get repeat customers.
Recognized as a leader
Achieving critical compliances to ensure your peace of mind.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Age Estimation and Age Verification?
Age Estimation uses a selfie to provide a privacy-first age range (e.g., 16-17) without storing personal data. Age Verification is a high-assurance method that uses a government-issued ID and a face match to confirm an exact age (e.g., 18+), providing an auditable compliance record.
How does this help with online safety regulations like the UK's OSA?
Our platform is designed to help you comply with global regulations. You can create granular policies (e.g., <13, 13-15) and use the right level of assurance for each age band, from low-friction estimation for teens to high-assurance ID checks for adults.
What are "silent checks" in age verification?
Silent checks are background verifications that happen instantly without requiring any action from the user beyond providing their initial details (like name and DOB). We cross-reference this information against trusted databases to confirm their age with zero friction.
Can we customize the age thresholds?
Yes. Our no-code policy editor gives you full control. You can define custom age bands (e.g., 18+, 21+, 16-17), set different rules for different countries, and decide when to use estimation versus a full ID check, all without needing to write new code.
How do you balance user privacy with regulatory compliance in age verification?
Shufti offers multiple assurance levels, from anonymous, privacy-first estimation to auditable ID verification. This ensures you only collect what’s necessary for compliance, keeping user data minimal while meeting legal obligations.
What happens if a user fails or abandons the age verification flow?
Our system can be configured with fallback paths, like retry options, alternate verification methods, or safe content gating. This reduces drop-offs while ensuring underage users don’t gain access.
Can businesses apply different age verification rules for different types of content or transactions?
Yes. Shufti offers you to tailor to the risk level, e.g., lighter checks for age-gated marketing content, stronger ID checks for gambling or alcohol sales. This flexibility ensures compliance without creating unnecessary friction.
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Age verification and estimation
Online platforms now face unprecedented pressure to prove users’ ages. From preventing minors viewing explicit content to ensuring lawful delivery of age‑restricted goods, regulators on every continent tightened the rules in 2024‑25. Here are the top age verification laws for this year.
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