Biometric KYC

Running Biometric KYC on Java

  1. Get your Smile ID Partner ID

  2. Get your API Key

  3. Create a Callback Endpoint

  4. Get your user's Selfie images

  5. Get the ID information from your users

  6. Submit the Job to Smile ID

  7. Interpret your results

Get your Partner ID

You can find your Partner ID in the menu list when logged into the portal.

Get your API Key

Your API Key is also in the developer section of the portal.

  • Click on the Generate New API Key button

  • Copy your api key (ensure you are in the right environment)

Create a Callback Endpoint

Responses from this product are asynchronous (based on various actions we carry out on the product) and are sent as soon as they are ready, you will need to setup a callback when submitting a job. You can read about creating a Callback URL here.

The size of the payload sent to your callback varies based on the size of image returned by the ID authority. We recommend your callback should accept payloads up to 1.5MB in size.

Get the User's Selfie

To successfully run Biometric KYC jobs you need to submit the user's selfie. There are two types of selfies that can be submitted

  • Selfie - a single colour-image selfie of user

  • (optional but required for proof of live) Liveness images - 8 colour images of user

The selfies can either be submitted as files (with the path to the image specified during submission) or as base64 encoded strings.

We recommend that you use our Web SDK to capture both of these types of images

Get the ID information from your users

To submit a Biometric KYC job you need the ID information of your user. Depending on the ID type you are attempting to query, the required information varies. For the comprehensive list of required information for each ID Type, check the Supported ID Types section of the docs.

Submit the Job to Smile ID


String partnerId = "<Put your partner ID here>";
String defaultCallback = "<Put your default callback url here>";
String apiKey = "<Put your API key here>";
String sidServer = "< 0 || 1 >";  // Use '0' for the sandbox server
// and '1' for production

WebApi connection = new WebApi(partnerId, apiKey, defaultCallback, sidServer);

// Create required tracking parameters
Map<String, Object> optionalInfo = new HashMap(); // map of optional
// parameters partner uses to track jobs. can be left empty
PartnerParams params = new PartnerParams(JobType.BIOMETRIC_KYC, "<unique ID for user>", "< unique job ID >", optionalInfo);

// Create image list
List<ImageDetails> imageDetails = new ArrayList<>();

// ImageType.SELFIE - Selfie image jpg (if you have the full path of
// the selfie)
// ImageType.SELFIE_BASE64 - Selfie image jpg base64 encoded (if you
// have the base64image string of the selfie)
// ImageType.LIVENESS - Liveness image jpg (if you have the full path
// of the liveness image)
// ImageType.LIVENESS_BASE64 - Liveness image jpg base64 encoded (if
//  you have the base64image string of the liveness image)
ImageDetail selfie = new ImageDetail(ImageType.SELFIE, null, "< full path to selfie >");
// if using BASE64 image type, pass the string to image and set
// filename to null
// ImageDetail selfie = new ImageDetail(ImageType.SELFIE_BASE64, "<base64 encoded image>", null);


ImageDetail liveness = new ImageDetail(ImageType.LIVENESS, null, "< full path to liveness image> ");
imageDetails.add(selfie);
imageDetails.add(liveness); // Not required if you don't required
// proof of life (note photo of photo check will still be performed
// on the uploaded selfie)

// Create ID number info
IdInfo idInfo = new IdInfo("< firstName >", "< middleName >", "< lastName >", "< 2 letter country code >", "< id type >", "< valid id number >", "< date of birth " +
        "yyyy-mm-dd >", "< phone number >");

// Options for the job
boolean returnJobStatus = false; // Set to true if you want to get
// the job result in sync (in addition to the result been sent to
// your callback). If set to false, result is sent to callback url only
boolean returnHistory = false; // Set to true to receive all of the
// updates you would otherwise have received in your callback as
// opposed to only the final result. You must set return_job_status
// to true to use this flag.
boolean returnImageLinks = false; // Set to true to receive links to
// the selfie and the photo it was compared to. You must set
// return_job_status to true to use this flag.
String callBackUrl = "< optional callback url to use for this job only >";
Options options = new Options(returnHistory, returnImageLinks, returnJobStatus, callBackUrl);

JobStatusResponse response = connection.submitJob(params, imageDetails, idInfo, options);

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