Verifications
The Twilio Verify REST API allows you to verify that a user has a claimed device, phone number, or email address in their possession. The API lets you start a new verification for a user, and then check that the verification was successful.
Prerequisites:
Verification Response Properties
These fields are returned in the output JSON response. The type SID<VE> is a unique ID starting with the letters VE.
| Resource Properties in REST API format | |
|---|---|
sid
|
The unique string that we created to identify the Verification resource. |
service_sid
|
The SID of the Service the resource is associated with. |
account_sid
|
The SID of the Account that created the Verification resource. |
to
|
The phone number or email being verified. Phone numbers must be in E.164 format. |
channel
|
The verification method used. One of: |
status
|
The status of the verification. One of: |
valid
|
Use "status" instead. Legacy property indicating whether the verification was successful. |
lookup
|
Information about the phone number being verified. |
amount
|
The amount of the associated PSD2 compliant transaction. Requires the PSD2 Service flag enabled. |
payee
|
The payee of the associated PSD2 compliant transaction. Requires the PSD2 Service flag enabled. |
send_code_attempts
|
An array of verification attempt objects containing the channel attempted and the channel-specific transaction SID. |
date_created
|
The date and time in GMT when the resource was created specified in RFC 2822 format. |
date_updated
|
The date and time in GMT when the resource was last updated specified in RFC 2822 format. |
sna
|
The set of fields used for a silent network auth ( |
url
|
The absolute URL of the Verification resource. |
Start New Verification
https://verify.twilio.com/v2/Services/{ServiceSid}/Verifications
To verify a user's phone number or email, start by requesting to send a verification code to their device, or use the Silent Network Auth channel to perform the verification without sending a code.
These are the available input parameters for starting a verification. The type SID<VE> is a unique ID starting with the letters VE.
Phone numbers must be in E.164 format. Learn more about how to turn phone number input into E.164 format.
Parameters
| Parameters in REST API format | |
|---|---|
service_sid
Path
|
The SID of the verification Service to create the resource under. |
to
Required
|
The phone number or email to verify. Phone numbers must be in E.164 format. |
channel
Required
|
The verification method to use. One of: |
custom_friendly_name
Optional
|
A custom user defined friendly name that overwrites the existing one in the verification message |
send_digits
Optional
|
The digits to send after a phone call is answered, for example, to dial an extension. For more information, see the Programmable Voice documentation of sendDigits. |
locale
Optional
|
Locale will automatically resolve based on phone number country code for SMS, WhatsApp, and call channel verifications. It will fallback to English or the template’s default translation if the selected translation is not available. This parameter will override the automatic locale resolution. See supported languages and more information here. |
custom_code
Optional
|
A pre-generated code to use for verification. The code can be between 4 and 10 characters, inclusive. |
amount
Optional
|
The amount of the associated PSD2 compliant transaction. Requires the PSD2 Service flag enabled. |
payee
Optional
|
The payee of the associated PSD2 compliant transaction. Requires the PSD2 Service flag enabled. |
rate_limits
Optional
|
The custom key-value pairs of Programmable Rate Limits. Keys correspond to |
channel_configuration
Optional
|
|
app_hash
Optional
|
Your App Hash to be appended at the end of your verification SMS body. Applies only to SMS. Example SMS body: |
template_sid
Optional
|
The message template. If provided, will override the default template for the Service. SMS and Voice channels only. |
template_custom_substitutions
Optional
|
A stringified JSON object in which the keys are the template's special variables and the values are the variables substitutions. |
device_ip
Optional
|
Strongly encouraged if using the auto channel. The IP address of the client's device. If provided, it has to be a valid IPv4 or IPv6 address. |
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Start New Verification With Silent Network Auth
Verify Silent Network Auth (SNA) is currently in the public beta release stage, talk to an expert to request access to this feature.
Silent Network Auth (SNA) is a secure verification channel that verifies user possession of a mobile number without explicit user intervention by using its built-in connectivity to the mobile network operator (carrier). In the background, Twilio verifies the phone number by confirming directly from the carrier that the number corresponds to the SIM card located in the device requesting the authentication. This all happens without one-time password prompts or visible redirects for the end-user.
See Verify Silent Network Auth Overview for more information on this exciting feature.
It takes three steps to use SNA:
- Start a new Verification with the
snachannel using Verifications API. - Send
POSTrequest to response propertysna.urlfrom client device that is connected to a mobile network. - Check that the Verification was successful using Verification Check API.
To begin, use the Start New Verification endpoint with the parameter channel=sna.
Example 5
Send POST request to response property sna.url
Check your response from the Start New Verification endpoint for the sna.url property:
"sna": {
"url": "https://mi.dnlsrv.com/m/id/ANBByzx7?data=AAAglRRdNn02iTFWfDWwdTjOzM8o%2F6JB86fH%2Bt%2FFftUPj0pFA0u8%2FibWuYwzmMeMOtdTwYlsO8V%2FXF%2BJmngMhbeGKYhHeTOF2H9VrGEYKcEEklPxHgb5GgL3XtYa33j3lIU%2By6InvoV%2FowWHBzA0QeFPBh6vmJ8LoUPJqGE7q0PRz618Z4ym1AGq%2BaomSq9PlP4rCduv9Cmtxu%2FrvPSBwocs0GCWDE8seK8t9epmPQW7gwODxkAiKr9UxhJd9KvmBVuAQPf%2BoFQVo86USXkhXqTvUzB2bNUYY9FCy3CWgZFTOa1D3H1CVxf1eHzYIswNA7SmOzP%2FBX8g6%2B0hkzwMRkcit3gBNs4evAVJiqAgYvUlrtGwwv9bFx4X7jWSHY4%3D&cipherSalt=yANeDq09bwM38SJs"
}Then do an HTTP Post request to sna.url over the end user’s mobile network to continue the authentication process. Note that sna.url is unique for every Verification Attempt, has a defined time-to-live of 10 minutes, and can only be processed once.
curl -X POST https://mi.dnlsrv.com/m/id/ANBByzx7?data=AAAglRRdNn02iTFWfDWwdTjOzM8o%2F6JB86fH%2Bt%2FFftUPj0pFA0u8%2FibWuYwzmMeMOtdTwYlsO8V%2FXF%2BJmngMhbeGKYhHeTOF2H9VrGEYKcEEklPxHgb5GgL3XtYa33j3lIU%2By6InvoV%2FowWHBzA0QeFPBh6vmJ8LoUPJqGE7q0PRz618Z4ym1AGq%2BaomSq9PlP4rCduv9Cmtxu%2FrvPSBwocs0GCWDE8seK8t9epmPQW7gwODxkAiKr9UxhJd9KvmBVuAQPf%2BoFQVo86USXkhXqTvUzB2bNUYY9FCy3CWgZFTOa1D3H1CVxf1eHzYIswNA7SmOzP%2FBX8g6%2B0hkzwMRkcit3gBNs4evAVJiqAgYvUlrtGwwv9bFx4X7jWSHY4%3D&cipherSalt=yANeDq09bwM38SJsThis POST request will prompt multiple redirects behind the scenes, including contacting the carrier to confirm phone number ownership. You can expect to receive a 200 response from this request in under four seconds.
Next, use Verification Check API to confirm that the POST request and Verification Attempt was successful.
Start New Verification With Automatic Channel Selection
Verify Automatic Channel Selection is currently in the Pilot maturity stage, please contact sales to request access to this feature.
Automatic Channel Selection is a verification channel that attempts to verify with Silent Network Auth (SNA) and uses SMS as a fallback if needed. Read more about Automatic Channel Selection here.
Take the following steps to use Automatic Channel Selection:
- Start a new Verification with the
autochannel using Verifications API, including the optional parameterdevice_ip. - Check the response for the
channelproperty to see ifsnaorsmswas used. - If
snawas used: Continue following the SNA Verification process, see Send POST request to response property sna.url for instructions. - If
smswas used: No further actions required, skip to step 3. - Check that the Verification was successful using Verification Check API.
Example 6
Example 7
Email Channel Configuration
Verify's email channel requires additional Service configuration. Please refer to the email channel setup documentation for detailed instructions.
The email ChannelConfiguration parameter is an object that supports the following keys:
from |
string | Optional parameter. If included must be a valid email address. |
from_name |
string | Optional parameter. Name of the sender. |
template_id |
string |
Override the default template from the Verify Service email integration. Create a new template in the SendGrid dashboard or learn more in the SendGrid docs. |
substitutions |
object |
Variable substitution for dynamic email templates (learn more). i.e. |
Localization and Supported Languages
Verify supports delivering verification codes in more than 30 languages over SMS, Voice and WhatsApp. A verification message's language will automatically resolve based on the country code of the phone number provided, with English as the fallback language. To find out more about which languages are supported visit our page on Supported Languages.
Canadian Carrier Data Support
By default, Verify will not return carrier data for Candian phone numbers. If you need carrier data on Canadian phone numbers, please visit our support site to enable this feature.
Fetch a Verification
https://verify.twilio.com/v2/Services/{ServiceSid}/Verifications/{Sid}
Parameters
| Parameters in REST API format | |
|---|---|
service_sid
Path
|
The SID of the verification Service to fetch the resource from. |
sid
Path
|
The Twilio-provided string that uniquely identifies the Verification resource to fetch. |
Example 1
Update a Verification Status
https://verify.twilio.com/v2/Services/{ServiceSid}/Verifications/{Sid}
Mark the verification as "approved" after your application had validated the verification code.
Mark the verification as "canceled" to start a new verification session with a different code before the previous code expires (10 minutes). Only recommended during testing or if you're using custom verification codes.
For most other use cases, Verify is able to manage the complete lifecycle of a verification with the Verification Check Resource.
Parameters
| Parameters in REST API format | |
|---|---|
service_sid
Path
|
The SID of the verification Service to update the resource from. |
sid
Path
|
The Twilio-provided string that uniquely identifies the Verification resource to update. |
status
Required
|
The new status of the resource. Can be: |
Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Next: Check a Verification
Validate if the code a user provided was correct or that the Silent Network Auth process was successful with the Verification Check API.
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