How to safely send a copy of your passport or ID

1. Ask what they actually need

Often a photo page is enough and the back of the card isn't needed, or the recipient only has to see the document rather than keep a copy. Asking takes a minute and halves what you hand over.

2. Add a watermark with recipient, purpose and date

A watermark such as "Copy for Green Street Lettings — tenancy check — 25 Oct 2026" printed across the image makes it much harder to reuse the copy for something else, because anyone it's later presented to can see it wasn't made for them.

1. Open our free ID copy watermark tool.
2. Drop in the photo or scan of your document.
3. Type who it's for, the purpose and today's date. Use the tiled layout so it covers the whole document, including the photo.
4. Keep the text readable but the document still legible, then download.

Everything happens in your browser; your document is never uploaded. Some organisations require an unaltered copy — if they say so, ask how they store it and when it will be deleted.

3. Cover what they don't need

If the recipient doesn't need your document number, signature or machine-readable zone, cover them with a solid box using the redact tool. Use a solid box rather than blur for text: blurred numbers can sometimes be guessed.

4. Strip metadata

A phone photo of your ID taken at home may include the GPS location of your home. Run the final image through the metadata remover before sending.

5. Don't leave copies lying around

• Delete the photo from your camera roll and from Recently Deleted, or keep the original in an encrypted vault rather than in Photos.
• Prefer sharing methods that expire. In Hushkeeper you can share selected files as a separate encrypted vault with an expiry date, a limit on how many times it can be opened and exports blocked — and revoke it at any time.
• Avoid sending ID copies over social media direct messages, where they tend to stay for years.