Facial age estimation (face scan)
Also called: face scan, selfie check, video selfie.
What it collects
A selfie photo or a short video of your face. Software estimates an age from the image; it does not match you against a database of known faces. Some deployments run entirely on your device (k-ID for Discord, Twitch and Tumblr; Telegram's bot); others upload the image to the vendor's servers (Yoti, Persona, Google).
Vendors publish accuracy as a mean absolute error in years and a rate of adults wrongly estimated as under a threshold; those figures are on the vendor pages with their sources. Whether the image is deleted, and when, is a per-deployment fact quoted on each service page.
What Ofcom says
Listed in Ofcom's January 2025 guidance as a method capable of being highly effective. Ofcom's July 2026 report found it was the most widely offered method in its 32-service sample and accounted for 68% of completed checks on the pornography services it analysed. Ofcom
Listed as capable of being highly effective Offered by about 91% of the services in Ofcom's July 2026 sample (read from the report's chart; approximate).
Services in the index that offer it
| Service | Provider | Retention, as published |
|---|---|---|
| Bluesky | Epic Kids Web Services (Yoti) |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| ChatGPT | Persona |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| Discord | k-ID |
“k-ID does NOT store the information that you provide to prove your age. All we store is the result of the verification process.” Quoted from k-id.com, dated 10 July 2026; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: On-device; images never uploaded. |
| Grindr | Grindr in-house with FaceTec liveness |
“permanently deleted once age assurance is complete. Grindr will not retain the documents or videos you provide.” Quoted from grindr.com, dated 31 August 2026; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the service. Period as stated: after check; keeps method and pass/fail. |
| Kick | k-ID |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| OnlyFans | Yoti (reported) |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| PlayStation | Yoti |
“Yoti deletes your facial geometry data as soon as your verification is complete. PlayStation never collects, stores, or otherwise processes your facial geometry data.” Quoted from playstation.com, dated 1 June 2026; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: immediately. |
| Persona |
“Persona deletes all of your personal information including any images within 3 days.” Quoted from help.withpersona.com; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: 3 days (Persona help, 2026); July 2025 press reported 7 days. | |
| Roblox | Persona |
“Images and video used for Facial Age Estimation are deleted immediately after they've been securely processed.” Quoted from about.roblox.com, dated 7 January 2026; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the service and the vendor. Period as stated: immediately (Roblox statement); Persona reported to delete biometric data within 30 days for Roblox. |
| Spotify | Yoti |
“After the age assurance process is complete, Yoti will delete all the user's data.” Quoted from spotify.com; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: after check. |
| Telegram | Telegram in-house (official bot) |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| Tinder and Hinge | Match Group in-house; FaceTec liveness |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| Tumblr | k-ID |
“Facial scan data never leaves your device.” Quoted from changes.tumblr.com, dated 6 May 2026; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: on-device. |
| Twitch | k-ID |
“Twitch and k-ID do not store your face scan video selfies. The video selfie is analyzed entirely on your device and will never leave it.” Quoted from k-id.com, dated September 2025; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the vendor. Period as stated: on-device. |
| X and Grok | Persona |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| Xbox | Yoti |
No published retention period found (checked 6 September 2026). |
| YouTube and Google Account | Google (Private ID selfie) |
“then deleted” Quoted from support.google.com; checked 6 September 2026. Held by the service. Period as stated: after check. |
Vendors offering it
k-ID, Persona, Yoti, Epic Kids Web Services, Google, Ondato, Veratad, VerifyMy, OneID.