How to watermark your ID before you send a copy

Give everyone who asks for your ID their own marked copy, so the landlord's copy and the bank's copy are never the same file. The mark is invisible, so every detail stays readable, and it carries a note of who you sent it to. If a copy ever turns up somewhere else, a free check shows you whose copy it was.

Mark your ID copyCheck a picture you found

Who asks for a copy of your ID?

Landlords and letting agencies, banks and lenders, new employers, visa offices, car rental desks, online services that verify your age. Each one stores your copy, and some pass it on to other companies. In September 2026, scans of more than 153 million driver's licenses taken from an ID verification company went up for sale online.

Why give each one its own copy?

Each copy carries its own note, so a copy found later points to exactly one place. The bank's copy says "bank", the agency's copy says "agency". Each new copy takes the same few clicks.

What should the note say?

Who, why and when, in a few words: "Oak Street Apartments, rental application, Oct 2026" or "First National Bank, loan file, Oct 2026". The note stays invisible, so nothing covers the details on your ID. Our guide on visible and invisible watermarks explains why that matters.

How do you mark it?

Take a photo of the page they asked for, or use a scan. iPhone photos work as they are, and pictures up to 20 MB are fine. On the home page, choose the picture, write who the copy is for and download the marked copy. Send that file. Keep the receipt code you get with it, or mark your copies while logged in to your account. Your first 3 pictures are free.

Will the marked copy still look like my ID?

Yes. The mark is spread so thinly through the picture that the copy looks just like the original. Your photo, your name and the numbers on the document stay as sharp as in the picture you started with.

How do you find out whose copy it was?

Save the picture you found and upload it to the free check on the home page. Add your receipt code, or log in, and the result shows "Image marked!" with your note under it, even after the copy has been compressed by email or a chat app, resized, screenshotted, cropped or turned black and white.

What happens to the picture of my ID?

It's marked, sent back to you and deleted straight away. For each copy, the service keeps a random code, the date and your note, encrypted. It's hosted in the European Union and covered by the GDPR, the EU's data protection law.