The Orb captures and processes photos to verify you're a unique human — without keeping your images. It takes pictures of your face and eyes, then encrypts the package and sends it to your phone, where only you control it by default.
From those photos, the Orb also generates permanently encrypted codes that are stored across secure databases. These codes are what stop anyone from verifying twice. They're processed using secure multi-party computation (SMPC), meaning no single party ever holds the complete data.
Will the Orb hurt my eyes?
No. The Orb is completely safe and will not harm your eyes.
The Orb is built to comply with international eye-safety standards, including IEC 62741, the technical standard for the safety of imaging products that use light. As World updates the technology used to verify uniqueness and personhood, safety and privacy stay at the centre of every change.
What happens to the images taken by the Orb?
The Orb is used to verify a person's humanness and uniqueness as part of the World ID protocol. Here's the flow, end to end:
- Liveness check — The Orb first confirms there's a real human standing in front of it.
- Image processing — The eye photos are abstracted and permanently encrypted into anonymous fragments. Independent parties process those fragments via SMPC to confirm your uniqueness.
- Packaging & transfer — All photos and photo derivatives are encrypted and "signed" by the Orb to guarantee authenticity, then sent to your phone via the Orb's backend server.
- Backend can't see your data — The backend that relays the package to your phone cannot decrypt it. Only your phone can.
- Originals deleted — The Orb deletes the captured images immediately after processing.
To learn more about the Orb, please visit our Orb Frequently Asked Questions blog post.
Translations may differ slightly from the original English content. For the most accurate information, please refer to the article's English version if any discrepancies occur.