UK firm Yoti launches digital identity app to make proving ID simpler, faster and safer

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: UK firm Yoti launches digital identity app to make proving ID simpler, faster and safer.

Yoti, a UK-based digital identity app that puts people's ID on their phone, has been launched. Founded in 2014, a team of over 180 people have built a secure digital identity platform that helps consumers and businesses fight back against the growing threat of identity fraud – an issue which is costing the economy billions every year.

Yoti will let people:

• Prove their age on nights out and at supermarket self-checkouts
• Prove identities to businesses without showing and photocopying paper documents
• Confirm the identity details of people they meet online, e.g. dating and classified websites
• Log in to websites more securely using biometrics instead of passwords
• Tackle touts by preventing login bots and through attaching verified identities to tickets

The free app is available for Apple and Android phones and takes less than five minutes to set up. People take a selfie and scan a passport or driving licence with their smartphone, which is transformed into a digital identity. For consumers, their digital identity will always be free to use and lets them prove their identity in seconds. It also slashes the time and cost required for businesses to verify customers.

It uses advanced hybrid encryption to secure user details and puts individuals in control of their data – people know exactly what details they share and who with, instead of disclosing their full identity with a paper ID document. Yoti manages data differently. Only the individual can see their personal data - even Yoti can't see it. Because of that, Yoti cannot sell people's data to third parties.

141,000 people from around the world (95,000 in the UK) have downloaded Yoti during its beta phase – 43,000 in the last month alone. With new businesses coming on board every day, Yoti is targeting over a million users by summer 2018, expanding into India, the US and Europe.

Robin Tombs, founder and CEO of Yoti said "As we increasingly live more of our lives online, the way we prove who we are is outdated. It's too easy for people to pretend they're someone else, or gain access to all of our personal details. This is shown by the continued rise of identity related fraud and issues that cost time, money and inconvenience to many people every day."

"Yoti makes it faster, simpler and safer for people and businesses to prove identities and know who they're dealing with. We want to build trust and transparency in the personal information people share - making it safer to get stuff done and do the things we love, via a secure platform"

Yoti takes just hours for businesses to integrate with a suite of APIs and SDKs. Tim Howard, marketing director, at The Deltic Group, the UK's largest nightclub chain said "Yoti will not only make checking ID quicker and therefore reduce queues, but will also provide improved security against fraud. We are pleased to be one of the first companies to trial Yoti and put it through its paces, as with all new tech."