BSI-certified technology, intelligent Real-Time Guidance and international scalability: With Passport 5.0, pixolo sets new standards for the digital creation of biometric passport and visa photos. The international market launch is scheduled for January 2027.

Frankfurt am Main, October 28, 2026 – With Passport 5.0, pixolo GmbH introduces its next-generation smartphone-based solution for creating biometric passport and visa photos. The application is part of a comprehensive, secure and internationally scalable service platform for digital identity and document services.

Guided by the vision of “Trusted Digital Passport & Visa Services”, pixolo combines certified security procedures with intelligent image processing, modern user guidance and a powerful cloud infrastructure.
The platform enables retailers and other service providers to offer biometric passport and visa photos for a wide range of national and international document requirements – simply, efficiently and without additional specialized photo capture hardware.

The introduction of Passbild 5.0 is already underway in its German home market. As part of a large-scale rollout, existing installations of the previous pixolo passport photo solution are being progressively migrated to the new platform. In the first few weeks alone, several thousand app installations and migrations were successfully completed on retail employees’ smartphones.

Starting in January 2027, Passport 5.0 will be available internationally, opening up the platform to new retail partners and service providers worldwide. At the same time, comprehensive product information and further details about the platform will be published at pixolo.com.

The legal requirements for digital passport photo creation in Germany, which have been in force since May 1, 2025, have fundamentally changed the requirements for the secure creation and transmission of biometric photos.
Since then, biometric photos for applications for German passports, identity cards, electronic residence permits and travel documents issued under German immigration law must be provided through a secure digital channel.

pixolo is one of the few technology providers in Germany – fewer than a handful – to hold the relevant certification from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI).
Certified in accordance with BSI TR-03170-2, the pixolo IDENT app is a component of the overall solution that enables the secure digital transmission of biometric photos to appropriately certified cloud infrastructures, from which the relevant authorities can retrieve the images.

Implementing these demanding German security requirements also provides a key technological foundation for the further international development of the pixolo platform

One of the most important technological innovations in Passport 5.0 is intelligent real-time support directly in the live camera view. While conventional solutions often assess biometric suitability only after a photo has been taken, Passport 5.0 supports the person taking the photo from the positioning and alignment stage onward.

The new Real-Time Guidance technology analyzes relevant capture criteria directly in the camera view and provides clear suggestions for improvement. These include, for example, correct head positioning, appropriate framing, open eyes and other biometric quality criteria.

Employees can therefore see, before pressing the shutter, whether the photo meets the relevant requirements or which adjustments are needed. The result: a more intuitive capture process, fewer unnecessary retakes and greater process reliability.

This real-time support is complemented by cloud-based biometric checks and automated image and background processing.

Passport 5.0 has been designed with a consistent focus on simple, flexible and cost-effective use in retail and by other service providers. The smartphone-based application requires no additional specialized camera or photo capture equipment. This eliminates complex hardware installations and significant barriers to entry associated with conventional fixed photo capture systems.

Centralized administration, digital registration, integrated onboarding support and cloud-based deployment allow new locations and employees to be integrated into the platform in a very short time. This enables rapid, cost-effective scaling across large store networks and numerous users.

At the same time, the solution is expressly suited to smaller businesses as well. Thanks to the minimal technical installation effort and flexible platform architecture, providers with only a few locations can also benefit from the technology.

Interested businesses can contact the pixolo sales team ahead of the international market launch for advice on their individual use cases, technical requirements and the introduction of Passport 5.0.

The strength of the platform approach is already evident in practice: Passport 5.0 is undergoing a large-scale rollout in its German home market. Within just a few weeks, several thousand app installations and migrations from the previous application to the new solution have already been completed.

Broad international market availability begins in January 2027. From that point onward, all product details and further information will also be available on pixolo.com.
pixolo will share further milestones and insights from the ongoing rollout shortly.

Another advantage of the smartphone-based solution becomes apparent when photographing babies and young children. For these customer groups in particular, fixed photo capture systems can sometimes reach practical limits because of their design and predetermined camera positions.

For example, photo capture systems used by public authorities in Germany are designed for people between 1.20 and 2.10 meters in height, in seated and standing positions, as the German Federal Government explained in a response to a parliamentary question in June 2026.

By contrast, pixolo’s flexible smartphone solution allows considerable freedom in camera positioning, making it particularly easy to adapt to the individual needs of babies and young children.

Passport 5.0 supports dedicated capture processes for these age groups and takes their specific biometric requirements into account.

This enables retail partners to offer a convenient, flexible passport photo service to families with babies and young children as well.

Passport 5.0 has been designed for international use from the outset.
The platform can be configured to accommodate different national document requirements and biometric specifications.

Whether for German identity documents, international passports or visa applications, different document types and country-specific requirements can be supported on a common technological foundation.
For retailers operating internationally, this opens up the opportunity to provide these services across national borders on a single platform.

Both different biometric specifications and country-specific requirements for capture, processing and output workflows can be taken into account.

With Passport 5.0, pixolo is pursuing a long-term platform strategy.
The company will continuously expand its technological infrastructure with additional capabilities for the secure digital capture and processing of biometric identity data.

Areas of focus include advanced methods for biometric data capture (Biometric Enrollment), additional security and verification mechanisms, and technologies for liveness verification (Liveness Detection).

The further development and provision of new services will consistently be guided by the respective legal and regulatory requirements of each country.
In this way, pixolo is laying the groundwork for meeting future national and international requirements for digital identity processes in a flexible, secure and efficient manner.

The aim is to continuously expand a modular platform for digital identity and document services that can be deployed internationally.