Why it’s worth verifying your face

On Amara, verifying your face is optional. You can see people, like, match and chat without it. We still think it’s worth the 10 seconds, and this post explains why, how the check works, and what happens to your data.

Why it’s worth it

The most common problem on dating apps is simple: people who aren’t who their photos say they are. Fake profiles are how most romance scams begin, and they waste everyone’s time and trust even when no money is involved.

A live face check is hard to pass with someone else’s photos. When you pass, your profile shows a verified badge, so the people you talk to know it’s really you. And when you’re deciding who to talk to, you can look out for the badge on their profile.

It also helps keep reports fair. Only reports from verified members count towards automatically hiding a profile, so nobody can create a batch of fake accounts to get a real person taken down.

How the check works

It takes about 10 seconds:

1. In the app, open your profile and choose to verify.
2. Hold your phone in front of your face and follow the instructions on screen. You’ll see a short sequence on the screen while the camera records a few seconds of video.
3. Liveness check: our provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS Rekognition), checks that a real, live person is in front of the camera, and not a photo of a photo, a screen or a mask.
4. Face match: we compare your face with up to 3 of your profile photos.
5. If both checks pass, you get a verified badge on your profile.

What we keep, and what we don’t

This is the part people care about most, and rightly so.

We keep: whether you passed, the liveness score, the face match score, and when you did it.

We don’t keep: the video, the still image, or any face template or “faceprint”. The image used for the comparison is used once, in memory, and is never saved to our storage.

We don’t use your face for anything else: not for advertising, not to find you in other photos, and not to train our own systems. Our Privacy Policy explains this in full, along with your rights under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023.

What verification does and doesn’t tell you

A verified badge tells you that the person matches their photos. It doesn’t tell you their character, their intentions, or anything about their past. We don’t run criminal background checks.

Not everyone on Amara has verified, and a missing badge doesn’t mean someone is fake; they may just not have done it yet. So the badge is a helpful signal, not a reason to switch off your instincts. Keep chatting on Amara before you meet, have a video call, and read our first date checklist.

If it doesn’t work first time

Sometimes the check can’t be sure. Usually it’s the light or the photos, not you. Try these:

• Find good, even light. Face a window or a light. Avoid strong light behind you.
• Remove sunglasses, face masks and hats. Normal glasses are usually fine.
• Hold the phone at eye level and keep still.
• Check your profile photos. The face match compares your live selfie with your photos. If your photos are group shots, very old, heavily filtered or don’t show your face clearly, swap in a clear, recent one.
• Use a stable connection. A poor network can make the check time out.

You can try up to 5 times a day. If you still have trouble, contact us at [support email].

Will I have to verify again?

Sometimes. Our team may ask you to verify again if there’s a reason to check that an account still belongs to the person in the photos, for example after a report. Until you do, your profile doesn’t show the verified badge. It’s the same quick check.

The bottom line

Verifying is optional, free and takes about 10 seconds. It tells the people you meet that you are who your photos say you are, which is a good way to start any conversation.