Help
Almost everything that goes wrong is light, distance or a reflection. These are the fixes, in the order they usually work.
The camera will not open
- Your browser asks before letting a page use the camera, and it remembers a refusal. Look for the camera icon in the address bar and allow it for this page, then reload.
- On a phone, close any other app that might be holding the camera. On a laptop, check the privacy settings for the browser itself.
- Browsers only hand over a camera over a secure connection. If the address does not start with https, the camera will never open.
It keeps saying the document cannot be read
- Fill the frame. Most refusals are a document held too far away: the print has to be big enough to read.
- Kill the reflection. A window or a ceiling light bouncing off a laminated card wipes out whatever is under it. Tilt the card slightly, or turn away from the light.
- Put it on a dark, flat surface rather than holding it, and keep your fingers off the printed side.
- If your ID has writing on the back, photograph the back too. The code strip is often the most reliable thing on the document.
It cannot see my face moving
- Turn your head slowly, and further than feels necessary. A small movement looks the same as sitting still.
- Light on your face, not behind it. Sitting with a window behind you makes you a silhouette.
- Be the only person in the picture, and take off sunglasses and a hat.
My proof of address was refused
- The address has to be written on the document the same way the company gave it to us. Abbreviations do not count: if they gave us Street and the bill says St, it will not match, and there is nothing we can do about it from here.
- It has to be dated within the last 90 days, and it has to be in your own name.
- A PDF straight from your bank works better than a photograph of a screen.
- If your address is genuinely written differently, ask the company that sent you here to correct it on their side, then try again.
It says someone will check it
- Something was readable but not clear cut, so a person looks at it rather than a rule deciding. You do not need to do anything, and you will hear from the company that asked, not from us.
My link has expired
- Links are deliberately short lived, because a link that lives for weeks is a link that can be forwarded. Ask the company that sent it for a new one. Anything you already finished is kept.
Can I switch to my phone part way through?
- Yes. The first page of your check has a QR code. Scan it, carry on there, and finish on either device: both are looking at the same check.
Still stuck? Reply to whoever sent you the link. They opened the check and they can start a new one or check you another way. Pangolin KYC cannot identify you from an email, which is the point of it.