Anonymize my ID — share your ID, not your identity

How to send a copy of your passport safely

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Sooner or later, someone asks for “a copy of your passport.” A hotel at check-in, a car-rental desk, a visa application, a new employer, a bank. Most people do the obvious thing: snap a photo and send the whole page. That single image contains almost everything needed to impersonate you — and you have just handed it to a stranger’s inbox, where it can be stored, forwarded or leaked without you ever knowing.

How to redact a passport or ID card (and what to hide)

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Redacting a document sounds technical, but it comes down to one idea: cover the fields a stranger could use to be you, and keep only the fields that prove you are you to the person asking. Get that split right and a copy of your passport or ID becomes almost useless to a fraudster while still doing its job.

Cover before sharing
Usually safe to leave visible

A passport data page, field by field. The same split applies to an ID card — only the layout changes.

What to hide

These are the fields that do the damage if they leak. Cover every one of them:

How to watermark a copy of your passport or ID

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Redaction is the step everyone thinks of first, and rightly so. But redaction only decides what a copy shows. A watermark decides what that copy is worth to whoever ends up holding it — and it is the difference between a document that can quietly be reused somewhere else and one that obviously cannot.

What a watermark actually does

It does not hide anything. Its job is to bind the copy to a single context. A passport copy with your name and photo visible is still, in principle, usable by someone else to support a claim about who they are. The same copy with “For Acme Ltd onboarding — 28 July 2026” repeated across it is:

What is the MRZ on a passport or ID card, and why hide it?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Look at the bottom of your passport’s photo page, or the back of a national ID card, and you will see two or three lines of capital letters, numbers and < characters that look like a typo. That is the MRZ — the machine-readable zone — and it is the part of the document every one of our guides tells you to cover before sharing a copy. Here is what it actually is.

Can someone steal your identity from an ID photo?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Not from any photo, though, and not through some abstract “hacking.” It comes down to a handful of fields — and once you know which ones, the risk is straightforward to manage.

What specifically makes a photo dangerous

Fraud built on a stolen identity usually needs to answer questions a system asks to “prove” you are who you claim to be: your document number, your date of birth, sometimes a signature to match. A single clear photo of a passport or ID data page contains all of it, in a form that can be copied perfectly and reused indefinitely. The machine-readable zone makes this worse, not better — it repeats the same data in a format built for machines to read automatically, at scale.

Blurring your ID yourself vs using a dedicated app

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Your phone already has a markup tool. Draw a black box or a blur over your passport number, and it feels done. Mostly, it is — but there are a few specific ways this falls short of what a copy meant to leave your hands should actually protect.

What manual editing gets right

Covering the obvious field — usually the document number — with a black box or a heavy scribble stops a casual glance from reading it. For low-stakes situations where you trust exactly who’s receiving the image and it’s staying with them, that’s often genuinely enough.

Redacting a Spanish DNI vs a passport: what's different

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Most of our guides talk about passports because the risk and the fix are the same worldwide. If you’re in Spain, though, you’re just as likely to be asked for your DNI — and it’s laid out differently enough that it’s worth spelling out where the sensitive fields actually sit.

The passport: one page, everything together

A passport’s data page puts your photo, name, document number, dates and the machine-readable zone all in one place. Redacting it means covering several fields on a single image.

Is it safe to give a hotel a copy of your passport?

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

You arrive at the front desk, tired, and the receptionist asks for your passport “to make a copy.” It feels routine, and often it is. But “a copy” usually means a full photograph or photocopy of the page that holds your document number, date of birth and machine-readable zone — and that copy then lives in the hotel’s files, on its email, or in a folder you will never see again. So the honest answer to is it safe? is: it can be, if you control what the copy shows.

Is it safe to send an Airbnb host a copy of your ID?

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Short-term rentals collapse two things people usually keep separate: a platform with verification systems and support, and an individual host with a phone and a chat window. When the ID request arrives, it matters a great deal which of those two is actually asking.

The platform has already done this

Airbnb and comparable platforms run identity verification as part of the account, precisely because handing documents around between strangers does not scale safely. When that check happens, the document goes into the platform’s system — not into a person’s camera roll.

Is it safe to give a landlord a copy of your ID?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A letting agent emails after a viewing: “Please send a copy of your passport or ID to start referencing.” It is one of the most common requests in renting — and one of the easiest to comply with in a way that still protects you.

Why landlords and letting agents ask

Referencing exists to confirm you are who you say you are, match your income and history to your application, and reduce fraud on both sides. In many places landlords or agents are also expected to carry out some form of identity or right-to-reside check before signing a tenancy. None of that requires them to hold a complete, unprotected scan of your passport or national ID sitting in an inbox or a filing cabinet — it requires proof that matches your name, photo and application.

Is it safe to send a new employer a copy of your ID?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A job offer arrives, and with it an onboarding email: “Please attach a copy of your passport or ID for our records.” It feels like paperwork, but the same rule that applies to a hotel or a landlord applies here — you can prove who you are without handing over a document that also proves everything else about you.

Why employers ask

Onboarding typically needs to confirm your identity, match your details to your contract and payroll, and in many places verify that you’re legally entitled to work there. All legitimate reasons — none of them require a permanent, unprotected copy of your full passport or ID sitting in an HR inbox or shared drive.

What ID copy does your bank actually need?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Opening an account, or sometimes just keeping one open, a bank asks to verify your identity. Unlike a hotel or a landlord, this one usually has a real regulatory basis — but not every way of asking for it is equally safe, and it’s worth knowing the difference.

Why banks ask: KYC and anti-money-laundering rules

Financial institutions are generally required by law to know who their customers are — a set of checks usually called KYC (know your customer), part of wider anti-money-laundering regulation. This isn’t a bank being nosy; verifying identity before opening or maintaining an account is a compliance obligation in most places, and it’s one of the few ID requests in this guide series with a hard legal basis behind it.

Is it safe to give a car rental desk your ID copy?

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

At the rental counter, alongside your licence, the agent asks for “an ID or your passport too.” It’s routine at most desks — and, like every other version of this request, worth handing over deliberately rather than automatically.

Why rental desks ask for more than your licence

Your driving licence proves you’re entitled to drive; it doesn’t always carry your legal name the way your passport or national ID does, which is what the rental agreement, the security deposit and the insurance are actually written against. Many desks photocopy both documents as standard practice — particularly for visitors renting on a foreign licence, where matching the two matters more.

Is it safe to send a selfie holding your ID?

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

At some point a request lands that feels different from the usual ask for a document copy: send a photo of yourself holding your ID up next to your face. Sometimes with a sheet of paper, today’s date written on it. It is common enough that it feels routine — and that is exactly why it works as a scam. The answer is not that verification selfies are wrong. It is that the legitimate ones almost never arrive the way this request did.

Is it safe to send your ID over WhatsApp or email?

Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It is the path of least resistance: a landlord, a recruiter or a rental host asks for your ID, and you send a quick photo over WhatsApp or email. Done in seconds. The problem is that both tools were built to deliver images, not to protect them — and once your document arrives, it takes on a life of its own.

What happens to the image after you send it

The moment your passport or ID photo leaves your phone, copies start multiplying in places you do not control:

Can a company legally keep a copy of your ID?

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

“We need a copy of your ID for our records.” It is such a routine sentence that most people never ask the obvious follow-up: for which records, and for how long? In the EU, those two questions have actual legal weight behind them.

The question is not “can they ask” — it is “why, and for how long”

A business is generally entitled to satisfy itself that you are who you say you are. What it is not automatically entitled to do is keep a permanent, unedited image of the document that proves it. Those are two different things, and the gap between them is where most over-collection happens: it is simply easier to photograph the whole page than to record the one detail that was actually needed.

You already sent an unredacted ID copy. What now?

Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Almost everyone has done it at least once: a request came in, it looked routine, and a full photo of a passport or ID card went out before there was time to think about it. If you are reading this shortly afterwards, the useful thing to know is that this is a manageable situation with a clear order of operations — and that the worst response is either panic or doing nothing.

Privacy Policy

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Summary

Anonymize my ID processes your documents 100% on your device. There is no account, no server and no upload. The photos you capture or select, and the anonymized copies you create, never leave your phone unless you choose to save or share them.

This Privacy Policy explains, in line with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Spanish Organic Law 3/2018 (LOPDGDD), what limited data is involved.

1. Controller

NEXO APEX S.L. (“we”, “us”) is the data controller for any personal data processed in connection with this app and website.

About

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Every traveller has done it: a hotel, a car rental or a visa form asks for “a copy of your passport”, and you end up emailing or messaging a full, unprotected photo of your most sensitive document. That copy can be stored, forwarded or leaked — and with it your document number, date of birth and machine-readable zone.

Anonymize my ID fixes that. Photograph your ID or passport and the app creates a safe copy with the sensitive fields hidden and a watermark applied — entirely on your phone. No account, no upload, no server. The free version hides everything in black & white with a watermark; a one-time unlock of about €4 (excl. VAT, varies by region) gives you full control over what to hide and how (blur, pixelate, partial, colour) with unlimited use.

Contact

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Have a question about the app, a privacy request, or a press enquiry? Reach out and we’ll get back to you.

Support & general: hi@nexoapex.com
Privacy & data protection: rgpd@nexoapex.com
Phone: +34 659 696 741
Location: El Vendrell, Catalonia, Spain

For the company’s full identification details, see the Imprint and Legal Notice & Terms.

NEXO APEX S.L. · Edificio Camí Reial, c/ Camí Reial 13-17, 3a planta, 43700 El Vendrell, Tarragona, Spain · TIN B55467146

Imprint

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Anonymize my ID is a product of:

NEXO APEX S.L.

Registered address: Edificio Camí Reial, c/ Camí Reial 13-17, 3a planta, 43700 El Vendrell, Tarragona, Spain
TIN / VAT: B55467146
Telephone: +34 659 696 741
General e-mail: hi@nexoapex.com
Privacy / data protection: rgpd@nexoapex.com
Website: nexoapex.com

NEXO APEX S.L. is registered in Spain. Responsibility for the content of this website and the Anonymize my ID app lies with NEXO APEX S.L.

Apple and App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Legal Notice & Terms

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Legal Notice (LSSICE)

In compliance with Act 34/2002 of 11 July, on Information Society and Electronic Commerce Services (LSSICE), the following identification data is provided.

Identification data

Domain name: anonymizemyid.com
Product: Anonymize my ID
Company name: NEXO APEX S.L.
TIN: B55467146
Registered address: Edificio Camí Reial, c/ Camí Reial 13-17, 3a planta, 43700 El Vendrell, Tarragona, Spain
Telephone: +34 659 696 741
E-mail: hi@nexoapex.com

Terms of Use

By downloading, installing or using the Anonymize my ID app, or by using this website, you accept these terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the app or website.