Why Age Verification Is Broken — And How We Plan to Fix It

If you have ever tried to integrate age verification into a web application, you will know the pain. The options available today fall into two camps: expensive, enterprise-grade KYC platforms that require users to upload government-issued ID, or crude self-declaration checkboxes that offer no real protection at all.

Neither is good enough. The first creates enormous friction — conversion rates drop by 30–60% when users are asked to photograph their passport. The second is security theatre that satisfies no regulator and protects no one.

The privacy problem

Beyond friction, there is a deeper issue: data. When a user uploads their driving licence to verify their age, that data has to go somewhere. It gets stored, processed, and in many cases retained indefinitely. This creates liability for the platform, risk for the user, and a honeypot for attackers.

The Online Safety Act in the UK, the EU's Digital Services Act, and a growing number of US state laws are all pushing platforms to implement age assurance — but none of them require you to collect and store identity documents. They require you to verify age. Those are very different things.

What we are building

AgeCheck API is designed around a simple principle: verify age, not identity. Our system returns a boolean — verified or not — without retaining any personal data on our end. The platform gets the signal it needs. The user keeps their privacy.

We are launching on 1 July 2026. If you are building a platform that needs age verification, join the waitlist to get early access.