Do’s and Don’ts – Tips for Selfie Verification

How will I know that I have to submit a selfie for verification?

A popup will show on the APP requesting you to prove your identity with a selfie as soon as you are requested for one.

Please read the instructions on this screen before clicking “TAKE A SELFIE” to move on to the next screen.

How often, and when, will I be asked to submit a selfie for verification?

You will have to go through selfie authentication once in every 7 days however for the scenarios mentioned below, you will receive selfie authentication twice every 7 days for the next 30 days. In case we don’t see any suspicious behaviour for the next 30 days from your account, you will be moved back to standard single authentication every 7 days. 

For the following scenarios, you will be subjected to additional verification:- 

  1. If we get a complaint against you by a rider that a different driver came for pickup.
  2. If you have submitted too many inconclusive selfies(please refer to What could cause an ‘inconclusive’ result?”)
  3. If you submit a selfie after 1 hour but before the 3 hour deadline.(please refer to How quickly do I need to submit my selfie?
  4. If you have been identified in the last 30 days as mismatched but have been on-roaded by the UK city team.

The selfie request will never come whilst you are in trip with Ola (for safety reasons), but we intentionally randomize the requests to make them unpredictable 

How quickly do I need to submit my selfie?

It is recommended that you should submit the selfie as soon as possible however aim to do it within 1 hour

but do it safely(please refer to “How do I ensure that I take my selfie in a safe way?”) and ensure that the image uploaded meets the clear image criteria( as highlighted under “tips to safely take clear selfie”)

You have 3 hours before you are temporarily suspended and will need to appeal to be put back on road.

But if you take 1-3 hours you will be flagged for increased selfie checks for 30 days

How do I ensure that I take my selfies in a safe way?

  1. Ensure that there are no riders in your car whenever going through the authentication process.
  2. Pull over somewhere safe and legally allowed before you start the authentication process.
What are the requirements for taking a selfie for verification purposes?
  1. App Permissions – The app will ask for device permissions that are required in order to take selfie photos. You will fail the identification check if you refuse the authorization.
  2. Tips to safely take a clear selfie.
    1. Please make sure that your car is safely parked before taking a selfie.
    2. There is sufficient light.
    3. It’s not a good idea to have a blurry selfie.
    4. Your face can be seen plainly.Avoid any headgear, mask or sunglasses.
    5. You are not clicking a picture of a photograph of yourself or of someone else.
    6. There are no multiple faces on the selfie.

What does the “Take selfie screen” look like?


If the APP detects that you are driving, it will display a notification to park your vehicle securely before snapping the selfie, as previously stated. Only when you are not moving will you be able to capture a picture.Once safely parked, position your face within the circle and take a selfie.

What is automated verification and manual verification?

You must choose one of the following modes for verification on the review selfie image screen..

  1. Automated – This method makes use of facial recognition technology to perform the verification and share the results automatically.
    -This will take no longer than 3 minutes, but is usually much faster

(please note that if the technology is not able to confidently complete the verification, it will pass it on for manual processing to check before you get your result)

  1. Manual – This mode sends the image to a human for verification, which will be done manually.
    -This can take up to 3 minutes.

It is required to select one of the verification procedures before submitting the selfie. If you believe that the photograph you took does not meet the image quality requirements, you can snap another selfie and submit it again.

You will receive a notice stating that your selfie verification is in progress as soon as it is uploaded.

Why was I asked to re-submit a selfie for verification and why am I verified more than once in a week?
  1. If your verification is designated as “inconclusive,” you will be requested to resubmit the selfie. You will have only 30 minutes to complete the re-verification, failure to do so will result in a temporary suspension, and you will not be able to take bookings until you have made an appeal to us and it has been resolved by our team.
  2. If your account behaviour is very suspicious, you will be subjected to 2 verification every 7 days for the next 30 days, however, if no suspicious behaviour is detected, your verification frequency will be decreased to once every 7 days.
For the following scenarios, you will be subjected to additional verification:-
  1. If we get a complaint against you by a rider that a different driver came for pickup.
  2. If you have submitted too many inconclusive selfies.(please refer to What could cause an ‘inconclusive’ result?”)
  3. If you submit a selfie after 1 hour but before the 3 hour deadline.(please refer to How quickly do I need to submit my selfie?)
  4. If you have been identified in the last 30 days as mismatched but have been on-roaded by the UK city team.
How will I know that my selfie has been verified?

Selfie verification will take no longer than 3 minutes

Once your selfie has been verified, you will get a message stating “Your identity has been successfully authenticated. You will now continue to receive bookings.”
What could cause an ‘inconclusive’ result?

The following scenarios will result in inconclusive results:-
  1. Selfie image submitted by you cannot be compared with your current profile image because it didn’t match the clear image submission criteria.
  2. Your current profile image is not usable and needs to be updated.
What could cause my account to be suspended?

For the following scenarios your account will be suspended and you will have to
  1. Your submitted selfie image didn’t match with your current profile picture.
  2. You failed to submit within 3 hours given to complete the verification process.
  3. You submitted multiple inconclusive selfies within a period of time.

What to do in case my account is suspended due to failure of selfie verification?


If you failed the selfie verification, you can appeal against the suspension by selecting the “APPEAL THIS” option, which will launch an appeal form. Before submitting your appeal, include as many details as possible. This will assist the team in addressing the appeal.

How does the appeal process work?

If you appeal the offroading decision within 7 days, then your appeal will be looked into by our Fact-Finding Team.

They will look at the evidence available (depending on the reason that you were offroaded. This includes speaking with you to understand your version of events. Please ensure that you call out any mitigating circumstances here (in your initial written appeal)

Once the investigation is complete, you will be contacted with the decision as to whether you will be allowed back on road, or will remain permanently offroaded, along with the rationale. In cases where drivers are permanently offroaded, we are also required to report these cases to the local regulatory authorities