World is private by design.

Your data is encrypted and stored on your device.

“Personal Custody” means that the information generated at the Orb when you verify your World ID (photos, metadata and derived data, including the iris code shares) is held on your device. Unless you decide to share it, no one else has your Orb data but you. Personal Custody of your data also enables the use of Face Auth for high-security applications. With Face Auth, you can use your mobile device camera to verify that you are the same person who received your World ID. This works locally on your device, without any personal data leaving your phone. And just as importantly, the entire Personal Custody system has been designed to keep your data secure even if your phone gets compromised.

The Orb can accurately tell you apart from everyone else without having to store any personal information about you — not even your name.

The Orb checks that you are a unique human and that you have not signed up before. Since no two people have the same iris pattern, it does this by capturing and processing photos of your unique iris pattern to generate an iris code.

Once it is generated, the protocol can check that you have not previously created a verified World ID. Because it is just a long number (a string), it tells nothing about you, just that you are a unique human.

Moreover, the iris code is not kept or retained by the network. Instead, the iris code is further processed through an advanced anonymizing technology (read about Anonymized Multi-Party Computation) to ensure that no personal data is stored.

World App includes a self-custodial wallet which is similar to a physical wallet. With a self-custodial wallet, no one else can move your money or transact on your behalf - because you’re in complete control.

Prove that you are a real and unique person, without revealing who you are.

World ID is private by design, offering you unmatched control over your information. Once you verify your World ID, you can use it to prove that you are a real and unique human without revealing who you are.

This is made possible by a cryptographic technology called Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs), which can prove both that your World ID is real and that you have never done the action you are trying to do before – all without ever revealing who you are.

With World ID, we rethink internet identity. It does not matter who you are, just that you are a unique human (proof of human). This will become increasingly relevant with the rise of artificial intelligence and more sophisticated bots that behave like humans.