Universal proof of human

As AI advances, we need a scalable, inclusive way to tell the difference between humans and bots. World ID is a simple, secure tool to prove you are a unique human without sharing your personal information. 

You can use your verified World ID as a private, reusable “proof of human” to access things only humans should, like dating apps, video games, or social media communities. World ID is designed to be anonymous — no need to enter your name, birthdate, address, or any other identifying information to use it.

World ID is built on an open source, decentralized and permissionless protocol, which means no one owns it and everyone can build ways to connect and interact with it. The goal is for World ID to become an essential layer of trust for the Internet, empowering humans to thrive in the age of AI.

To verify your World ID, follow these three steps:

Step 1: Download World App from the App Store or Google Play in countries where it is available.

Step 2: Follow the prompts to find a World Space or Orb location where you can verify you are a real and unique human.

Step 3: Access your verified World ID in World App and use it in a wide variety of everyday applications without revealing your identity.

More Orbs are being made available globally. Please continue to check World App regularly for updates on where you can find an Orb near you.

Proof of human verification powered by the Orb only involves one type of data: images of your eyes and face. It does not require your name, email, gender or anything else.

The iris images are used to verify unique humanness, while the images of your face are used for Face Auth, a security feature that ensures only the person who verified their World ID at an Orb can use it.

Here’s what happens, step by step, after you sign up for World App:

1. The Orb takes high-resolution images of your irises and face.

2. The Orb uses these images to confirm your humanness and converts the iris image into a unique code which is then split into randomized multi-party compute (MPC) fragments.

3. The Orb sends the images and MPC fragments to your device (your personal custody package), before permanently deleting them.

4. Your device sends the fragments to the AMPC service to confirm you have never verified before.

5. Your World ID is verified.

Much of the process and code related to verifying unique humanness, including AMPC and what happens on the Orb, is open sourced for anyone to view and audit here.

No, you only need to verify your World ID at an Orb once. 

To use your verified World ID, you simply open World App on your phone when an app or website asks you to prove you're human:

1. If available, you'll see a "Sign in with World ID" option

2. Tap it, and World App opens automatically on your mobile device; or, if you are on desktop, you’ll be prompted to show a QR code to World App

3. Review the request and approve it with a simple tap

Some apps may request that you complete a Face Auth confirmation; this is an added security measure that happens locally on your phone to ensure only the person who was verified at the Orb can access the World ID on the device.

No. World ID is designed to be anonymous. When you use World ID, for instance, to prove you are a unique human with a third-party service, your World ID is not revealed to that third party. Through a cryptographic technology called zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), you only reveal that you have a valid World ID. Additionally, your World ID is not connected to your self-custodial World Wallet — both have separate cryptographic keys that serve different purposes.

Once verified, your World ID can be used across hundreds of applications and services that integrate with the World protocol. Whether you're looking to:

- Game with real humans

- Date real humans

- Shop with real humans

- Participate in verified polls with real humans
Each time, the process is the same: a simple, instant one-time proof generated through your phone.

World ID allows you to sign in and authenticate into web and mobile applications to anonymously prove that you are a unique human and not a bot or AI system. By signing in to apps and services using World ID, you do not need to disclose any personal information such as your name, phone number or email address. The application or service will only know you are a unique human; additionally, your actions are not trackable through World ID. Today, using World ID is available through integrations with Razer, Match Group, Okta Auth0, and others. 

You can also claim certain products and services with World ID, particularly where a third party wants to ensure that the product or service is only claimed once per human. By using World ID, you are signaling that you are only claiming once and cannot claim multiple times. 

Future uses: The World SDK is open source and available for anyone to build on World. Future uses will continue to emerge as more developers use World ID as a proof of human layer of authentication.

World ID Credentials allow an individual to add an encrypted copy of information from their government-issued identity document (starting with NFC-enabled passports and national IDs) as a credential under World ID to prove things about themselves without sharing the underlying information with any third party. 

With an ID credential stored on their device, individuals can prove attributes — beyond that they are a real and unique human — without revealing any information from their ID or sharing more identity information than is needed. For example, a World ID holder could prove they meet an age requirement for a dating app without sharing their birthdate or their identity. 

No. If you use your World ID, you never reveal the images or data processed at the Orb. World ID is designed to enable anonymous actions. Third parties cannot link different actions taken with someone’s World ID through World ID data. It is not connected to your self-custodial World Wallet. Anyone can use a verified World ID as their “proof of human” without providing information such as names, email addresses, phone numbers or social profiles.

World ID offers you unmatched control over your information, including Personal Custody.

“Personal Custody" means all information generated at the Orb when you verify your World ID (photos, metadata and derived data, including the unique code) is held only on your device. And neither World Foundation, Tools For Humanity nor any third-party company can decrypt the encrypted files when they are passing through their servers to arrive at your phone. The system has been designed to keep your data secure even in the case your phone gets compromised.

When a person uses their World ID, there are a number of privacy safeguards in place to ensure that the individual remains anonymous.

First, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) prove that a person is a unique human without sharing personal information with the third party requesting the proof. ZKPs also protect the use of World ID from being tracked across applications or tied to any biometric data. 

World ID uses an open source protocol known as Semaphore to ensure that World ID data itself cannot be tied to a person’s identity nor when they share their “proof of human” with other applications. 

Learn more about ZKPs

Read the Private by Design whitepaper

Read a technical deep dive on privacy

You can easily back up your account by selecting iCloud (iOS) or Google Drive (Android) backup within World App. 

Read a step-by-step guide

If you can't find the answers to your questions and are still having trouble with a specific issue, you can contact the Support Team through World App > Settings > Support > Contact Support. Leave as much detail as you can and provide screenshots to help describe your issue. 

Read step-by-step guide

World ID is built on an open source, permissionless protocol that anyone can build or integrate with new or existing applications and online services. All the developer docs are freely available to the public. Importantly, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) used when presenting your World ID prevent any third-party developers — including government applications — from knowing which World ID is yours or tracking an individual across applications.