What a bar sees when it scans your ID, and what it can keep

What the barcode on a US license holds

The barcode on the back of a US driver's license or state ID is a PDF417 code, laid out under a standard set by AAMVA, the association of US and Canadian motor vehicle agencies. Almost everything it carries is also printed on the card.

Every barcode under the standard carries:

• The full name: first, middle and last
• The date of birth
• Sex, height and eye color
• The street address, city, state and ZIP code
• The license or ID number, plus a number for that particular card
• The issue date, the expiration date and the issuing country
• On a driver's license, the vehicle class, restrictions and endorsements

A state may add optional details, such as hair color, weight, place of birth and the dates the holder turns 18, 19 and 21. The standard requires this data to be unencrypted, so any PDF417 reader can decode it.

The standard also asks states to put nothing in the barcode that is not printed on the card, and to tell the cardholder when they do. Texas law goes further: its licenses may hold nothing in electronically readable form beyond what is printed on them and a physical description.

AAMVA DL/ID Card Design Standard (2025), Annex DTex. Transp. Code 521.126

What staff see, and what a scanner can keep

Reading the barcode and keeping what it holds are separate steps. A scanner decodes it to work out the age and check the expiration date. What it then shows on screen or stores depends on the scanner and how the venue set it up.

Some states limit what a scan may reach. Rhode Island lets a business access only six details from a license, and only to determine age: the name, age, date of birth, signature, photo and expiration date. In Utah, the state's verification program for bars, taverns and restaurants specifies scanning technology that displays no more than the name, age, ID number, date of birth, gender and the status and expiration date of the ID.

R.I. Gen. Laws 31-10-26Utah Code 32B-1-407

What state laws say about keeping scan data

State rules on keeping scan data range from a ban to a short list of details or a fixed period. Six examples:

For any other state, each guide in ID scanning laws by state answers the same question, "Can you keep data from an ID scan?", from that state's law.

What AgeShield shows and keeps by default

At the door, the AgeShield result screen leads with one result in capital letters, such as PASSED or UNDERAGE. The guest's name, age and expiration date always show on the phone, because staff need them to make the call.

Every scan creates a visit record: who scanned, when, the document type, the result, the scan mode and what staff decided. By default the record also keeps the guest's name, date of birth, gender, issuing state, ID type and expiration date. The full ID number is never stored, only the last four digits and a one-way code that lets the app recognize a returning or banned guest.

Guest details are kept for 30 days by default. After that the personal details are removed and the visit stays with its decision and an age range. Banned guests are kept while the ban lasts. Guest photos are a Pro feature, off until the venue turns them on.

What a venue can change

Owners and managers set each field per venue in the hub: excluded, shown at the door only or shown and stored. The name and the expiration date cannot be excluded, because staff need them at the door, and a venue can store only whether the guest is old enough instead of the birth date. Excluded fields are dropped on the phone as the ID is read, so they are never shown, sent or stored.

Retention is a number of days, up to two years on Core or five years on Pro, and it can be set to 0. Lowering it also shortens records the venue already holds. With every unneeded field excluded, only whether the guest is old enough stored, guest records off and retention at 0, a scan leaves a record that it happened and what the check and staff decided, with nothing from the ID in readable form.

Some things stay even then. Any note staff type is kept as written, codes derived from the first and last name are kept though the name itself is not, and the audit log records that a scan happened, with the device and staff member, for seven years. The cost is at the door: returning guests are no longer recognized and banned alerts stop firing.

With the consent screen on, each guest sees what is collected, how long it is kept and who it is shared with, under the venue's name and privacy policy link, and their I Agree or Decline is saved with the visit. And each time someone opens a guest's details, the log records who, when and from which device. Privacy controls has the full list.

Answering a guest who asks

An answer can be short and still cover why the door scans, what is kept, for how long and where the privacy policy is. Written once from the venue's settings, it stays the same from every staff member.

Whether a guest can refuse the scan is a separate question that each state guide answers. The bar door policy template has room for what the door does when someone says no.