Incode brings on-device processing to age estimation for privacy-focused verification
Incode has launched On-Device Age Estimation, an age verification capability that performs age estimation and liveness detection directly on the user’s device, without transmitting facial data off the device. The company’s age estimation models are now available to run entirely on-device. The solution combines on-device age estimation with deepfake and spoofing detection.
More than 30 age assurance laws are now in force worldwide. In the UK, the Online Safety Act’s “highly effective” age check requirement is being enforced, with restrictions on under-16 access to social media planned for spring 2027. Incode is working to close the gap between compliance and user trust: offering an age assurance method that is seamless, inclusive, and built for a stronger standard of privacy.
When a user needs to verify their age online, the check happens where the user already is: the camera opens and Incode’s models analyse the face directly on the phone, tablet, or laptop. The face is not transmitted or stored. What travels onward is the outcome, an estimation of the user’s age together with metadata used to detect tampering, such as someone swapping in a fake camera feed or replaying a recorded video instead of a live one.
In plain terms: the user proves their age. The face stays on the device.
Age checks are becoming a legal requirement rather than a product choice. Facial age estimation technology has emerged as one of the most accessible ways to meet that requirement, it needs no government ID and no database lookup, which makes it a practical option for many users of various age groups, including those who have no documents to show.
“We have always believed that privacy and fraud prevention are not a tradeoff, but part of the same problem – solved together or not at all,” said Ricardo Amper, CEO of Incode. “Age checks are becoming law around the world. Our job is to do what we can so that proving your age asks as little of the user as possible.”
The age assurance industry’s standard for facial age estimation has been a privacy policy stating that biometric data will be handled with care and deleted after the check happens. On-device age estimation is designed to give users a more privacy-preserving option at the moment they face an age verification requirement. Because the face is analysed on the user’s own device, there is no technical way for Incode or any client platform to access a biometric or face image.