How Our Age Detection and Face Photo Checks Work

Why do I need to upload a photo showing my face?

To help keep our community safe, users joining OkCupid may be asked to upload at least one profile photo that clearly shows their face as part of our age assurance process. This helps us make sure that you meet our minimum age requirements in accordance with our Terms.

Why This Matters?

In some countries, additional safeguards apply to services intended for adults. To help prevent underage access, we may use appropriate age assurance methods to prevent minors from accessing our services.

How does the age check work?

We use automated technology to confirm that at least one of your profile photos is a solo photo of you and to detect your face. When we detect a face photo, we’ll scan the photo to  assess the likelihood that you’re over the age of 18.

If the tool detects that you are most likely underage, we may restrict access and refer the photo to a trained moderator for manual review, which may lead to us asking for additional verification (like an ID check) to confirm your age. 

Where does my data go after the age check?

As we use Match Group’s own technology, data sharing is limited, with all output data stored securely on our AWS servers.

The results of your age check may be used to train select machine learning models that power our trust and safety tools, as well as to test and audit such models and tools.

What will you keep when the age check is complete?

Upon completion of the check, your scanned photo is stored for 3 months. The hashed photo and age score (likelihood that your photo depicts someone under 18) are kept for 1 year. Otherwise, your account photos are processed as part of your profile in the normal course, and moderation records are retained in accordance with our Privacy Policy. For more information about how and why we moderate, please check out our article on Profiling and automated decision-making at OkCupid.

Age assurance appeals

If your account is banned for being underage and you believe this was a mistake, you can appeal the decision here.

If you're a resident of Australia and would like an alternative to submitting a government-issued ID when appealing an age-related ban, please contact us to request an additional review of your account by a moderator in lieu of providing your ID.