Public Verification

signID publishes a public verification page for every sealed envelope. Anyone who has the envelope ID (or a verify link) can independently check the document’s authenticity, without logging in.

The verify page shows:

• The document SHA-256 hash
• The list of signers with masked emails (only first letter + domain)
• The sealed timestamp
• A redacted audit timeline (key events, times, redacted IPs)
• An opt-in link to download the sealed PDF (if the sender allowed public downloads)

Verification is a first-class feature. It’s how a document holds up under scrutiny: anyone can confirm what was signed, when, and by whom.

The verify page lives at signid.brandid.app/v/<envelopeId>. The URL is generated at seal time and appears on:

• The completion certificate
• The sealed-receipt email
• The signed PDF’s completion page (embedded QR code linking to the verify page)

Anyone can visit this URL. No account, no cookie, no tracking pixel needed. If you shared a sealed document with a third party (a bank, a court, an insurance adjuster), they can visit this URL and re-confirm the document is genuine.

To balance transparency with privacy, the verify page shows a redacted view of the envelope. Full details visible only to signed-in senders and signers.

What’s public:

• Envelope title and status
• Document SHA-256 hash
• Signer count and role labels (not full names or emails)
• Sealed timestamp
• High-level timeline (viewed, signed, sealed events with timestamps but redacted IPs)

What’s redacted:

• Signer emails are masked (e.g. a****@example.com)
• IP addresses are truncated (last octet removed)
• Field values (like text or checkbox answers) are not exposed

The /verify page lets anyone look up a sealed envelope by ID or receipt code. Useful when you have the ID written on a physical document or an email but no direct link.

Just enter the envelope ID and click Verify. You land on the same verify page you’d get from a direct /v/ link.

By default, the verify page shows metadata but does not let anonymous visitors download the sealed PDF. This protects sensitive contracts from being harvested by anyone with a valid ID.

Senders can enable public PDF download per-envelope in the send settings. When enabled:

• The verify page shows a “Download sealed PDF” button visible to anyone
• The download is still audit-logged (anonymous visits are logged with visitor IP)
• The download is time-boxed, meaning the presigned URL expires quickly

Best practice: leave public downloads off for private contracts, and turn them on for envelopes you want publicly verifiable (a marketing announcement, a public commitment, an open letter).

Every envelope has an append-only audit trail that records every meaningful event:

• Envelope events: created, sent, cancelled, expired
• Signer events: link opened (viewed), field filled, declined, signed, adopted signature
• Document events: uploaded, replaced (with version), sealed, SHA-256 computed
• Metadata: timestamps (ISO-8601 UTC), IP addresses, user agents, workspace and user IDs

The audit trail is stored in Postgres, and a JSON snapshot is included in the complete bundle download. This is the primary evidence used to defend a signature in a legal challenge.

signID uses hash-based tamper evidence. When a PDF is sealed, its SHA-256 hash is computed and stored on the envelope record and in the audit trail. Any subsequent modification changes the hash.

To verify a PDF hasn’t been tampered with:

1. Compute the SHA-256 of the PDF file you have.
2. Compare it to the hash shown on the verify page or the completion certificate.
3. If they match, the file is byte-identical to what signID sealed.
4. If they don’t, someone modified the file after signing.

Programmatic verification is available via the public verify endpoint:

GET https://signid.brandid.app/api/v1/verify/<envelopeId>

This endpoint is unauthenticated, meaning anyone can call it. Response includes:

• Envelope status (signed, declined, etc.)
• Document SHA-256 hash
• Signer count and sealed timestamp
• Masked signer info (same redaction as the public web page)

Useful for third-party systems that want to programmatically verify a signID envelope, for example an escrow platform confirming a contract is sealed before releasing funds.

For full API details, see Partner API.