TextNow is committed to ensuring the safety and security of our users. Because of this, we may request that you complete identity verification through our trusted service provider Persona.
Why Identity Verification?
By completing identity verification, we can confirm and validate the identity of an account user, helping to mitigate fraudulent attempts to compromise user accounts. We appreciate your cooperation and understanding throughout this process so we can ensure the security of your TextNow account.
Verifying a user's identity also helps us protect all TextNow users from others who may be misusing the platform. This allows us to be sure that anyone attempting to use TextNow for fraudulent activities or anything that violates our Terms of Use is removed from our platform and enables legitimate users to regain access to their accounts more quickly.
What is Persona?
Persona is a specialized service provider in identity verification, used by TextNow. To better understand your data privacy during the verification process, we encourage you to review Persona's privacy policy here for more on how Persona collects, uses, and protects your data as part of the verification.
The personal information collected as part of this verification process will only be used by TextNow to verify a user’s identity and prevent fraud on our services. To review our privacy practices, you can find our Privacy Policy here.
How to Complete Verification
If you've been asked to complete identity verification, you'll receive a message from Team TextNow. Click on the Verify Me button at the bottom of the message to complete the identity verification process.
If your identity verification was successful, and we confirm that you are the rightful owner of the account and are not in violation of our Terms of Use, you'll receive an email from us letting you know that your account has been reinstated and you should regain full access.
Do I need to complete Identity Verification to get my account back?
If you choose to opt out of the identity verification process, you can wait for your appeal to go through the standard process which may require a manual review. Completing identity verification through Persona will enable us to get you back into your account more quickly, but it is not mandatory.
How can I delete my data?
If you want to have your data deleted, you'll need to delete your TextNow account to ensure that personal information submitted to Persona and other data tied to the account is removed. For more information and steps on how to delete your TextNow account and data, please visit this article.
Biometric Information Notice:
As part of the verification process, TextNow, Inc. ("we", "us", or "TextNow") engaged a third party service provider called Persona (“Persona” or "Service Provider") to assist in verifying your identity. If you choose to proceed with this verification process, certain biometric identifiers and biometric information, namely face scan information (face geometry information and information based on that) will be collected. This information is collected and used by our Service Provider to authenticate and verify your identity, and help prevent fraud on our services.
This section describes how our service provider treats scans of facial geometry extracted from photos as of the effective date of this Privacy Policy. Note that our service provider may update their privacy policy from time to time. If you are asked to undergo identity verification, you will be taken to our service provider’s website or mobile app; please review the privacy policy published there for the most up-to-date information about treatment of your biometric information.
Our service provider uses technology that compares the data from a scan of facial geometry extracted from the government identification document that you upload to the data from a scan of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload, in order to help verify your identity (“Verification”); and may also use your information, including data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the government identification document and photos of your face that you upload, to detect and prevent fraud (“Fraud Prevention”).
The images obtained from the government identification document and photos of your face that you upload, and data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the government identification document and photos of your face that you upload, are collected, used and stored directly by our service provider on behalf of TextNow.
Our service provider is contractually required to securely store all photos of identity documents that you upload, photos of your face that you upload, and data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload in an encrypted format. Additional third-party vendors may have access to the data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload to provide some or all of the analysis, to store the data, to maintain backup copies, and to service the systems on which such data is stored.
Our service provider is contractually required to permanently destroy data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload within a reasonable period of time after completion of Verification, unless our service provider is otherwise required by law or legal process to retain the data.
Our service provider is contractually required to use the reasonable standards of care within its industry to store, transmit, and protect from disclosure data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload in a manner that is the same as or more protective than the manner in which it stores, transmits, and protects other confidential and sensitive information. Our service provider is contractually prohibited from selling, leasing, trading, or, other than to provide the Verification and Fraud Prevention services, otherwise benefitting from data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload. Other than as set forth herein, our service provider is contractually prohibited from disclosing, redisclosing, or otherwise disseminating data from scans of facial geometry extracted from the photos of your face that you upload unless doing so:
- Completes a transaction requested and authorized by you or your legally authorized representative;
- Is required by state or federal law, or municipal ordinance;
- Is required pursuant to a warrant or subpoena issued by a court of competent jurisdiction; or
- Is expressly consented to by you.
For more information about our Service Provider's practices, you can review the Persona's Privacy Policy.