Questions and answers

What does Copy cat do?

It turns one photo of you into a sheet of passport or ID photos, framed to your country’s official measurements: photo size, head height and where the eyes go. You print the sheet on ordinary photo paper (10×15 cm, 13×18 cm, 4×6″ or 5×7″) at home or at any photo lab, and cut the copies out along the marks.

A sheet of 10×15 holds several copies, so one print costs a few cents instead of what a photo booth or a studio charges.

Why not just go to a photo booth or a studio?

A booth or a shop charges around €10 for four photos, and you get one go, posing in a hurry with someone waiting. At home you can take as many as you like, calmly, and keep the one you like best.

Then a single 10×15 print, about €1–2 at a photo lab (or a few cents at home), gives you up to 15 copies in real photo quality. You can even put several takes, or the whole family, on the same sheet.

Is it free?

Yes. There is no account and nothing to pay; the site shows a few ads to cover its costs.

Does my photo get uploaded anywhere?

No. Framing, the sheet and the JPG and PDF files are all made in your browser. The photo stays on your device; if you save a sheet, it is kept in your browser’s storage, encrypted. Only if you turn on Google Drive sync does a copy go to your own Drive, encrypted so that nobody else can open it.

How do I take a good photo at home?

Stand about 1.5 m from the camera, in front of a plain light wall, facing a window or another soft light so there are no shadows on your face or behind you. Hold the phone (or ask someone to) at eye level, not above or below.

Look straight at the camera with a neutral face, mouth closed and eyes open. Take off glasses and hats unless your country allows them, and tie hair back from your face. Take several and pick the sharpest.

A plain light wall is still best. If yours isn’t, turn on “Plain background” on the print step: see below.

Can it make the background white?

Yes. On the print step, tick “Plain background” under a photo: Copy cat finds where you end and the wall begins and puts you on the plain colour your document asks for (white for most). It also evens out the light the way a white wall would have, so your face isn’t left dark against a bright background, which looks fake and gets photos rejected. If it still looks too dark or too bright, move the “Light” slider.

It all happens on your device with a small AI model (Google’s MediaPipe), downloaded once, about 30 MB. It only outlines the person; it doesn’t recognise anyone, and your face isn’t retouched.

Hair against a busy background is the hardest part: check the edges on the preview, and if they look odd, a photo against a plainer wall will do better.

How do I print it the right size?

Print the JPG or the PDF at 100 % (“actual size”), never “fit to page” or “borderless”, on the paper size you chose. Every sheet has a 10 mm ruler: measure it after printing. If it measures 10 mm, every photo on the sheet is exactly the right size.

At a photo lab or a print kiosk, order the JPG as a normal print of the paper size you chose (for instance 10×15). The file already says it is 300 dpi.

Which paper should I use?

Glossy or satin photo paper, the same you would use for holiday prints. Most authorities ask for photos on photographic-quality paper, so plain office paper won’t do.

Will my photo be accepted?

Copy cat gets the measurements right, but the authority decides on everything else: expression, lighting, background, sharpness, how recent the photo is. Each format links to the official page it comes from, with the date we last checked it: read it before you apply.

Some applications don’t take printed photos at all (online passport renewals, for instance, often want a digital photo or a code from an approved shop). Check what your application needs first.

Can I put several people on one sheet?

Yes: add another person in the sheet step and Copy cat shares the copies between them. Handy for a family renewing passports together.

My country or document isn’t listed

We are adding countries in batches, each checked against its official source. Until yours arrives, if you know its size and head height, a format from another country with the same numbers works just the same. You can also ask us for it through nubuza.com.

Why “Copy cat”?

Because the app copies your photo many times on one sheet, and Mimi, our cat, takes copying very seriously.