Announcing improvements to User Identities API for trustworthy email verification

Announced on | Rollout starts | Rollout ends
April 3, 2025 | April 3, 2025 | April 11, 2025

As of today, we’re introducing two new properties to the User Identities API that will help provide clarity and trust as to whether a user has verified their email address, including how and when that verification took place. With this update, you’ll be able to track the method of verification to understand if the email address is a reliable point of contact and one that the user has access to.

This announcement includes the following topics:

What’s changing?

Why is Zendesk making this change?

What do I need to do?

What’s changing?

We’re adding two new properties to the User Identities API: verification_method and verified_at. The verified_at property returns the date and time when verification_method is updated to "full". It does not update for other values and clears if the verification_method changes from "full" to any other value. Both properties are read-only and can only be set by Zendesk.

Below is a description of the verification_method property, its possible values, and the resulting verified property value.

verification_method property

Description

verified property

none

An email address has been added to a user’s profile, but without proof of ownership

verified=false

low

An agent or an API request has set the email as verified

verified=true

sso

The Identity Provider (IdP) has included the email as part of the single sign-on (SSO) login flow

verified=true

If your SSO is configured using OpenID Connect, we will respect the value that’s passed in the email_verified claim.

embed

The email was provided in a JWT as part of an embedded Web Widget or SDK login flow. See Setting up user authentication for messaging

verified=true

full

Zendesk has completed an email verification flow first hand

verified=true

Why is Zendesk making this change?

Currently, an email address identity on the User Identities API that’s marked as "verified=true" doesn’t specify the method used for verification, leading to uncertainty about whether a verified email address is actually trustworthy. With these new properties, we’re going to change that. Here’s how they’ll benefit you:

You’ll know how each email was verified—by a team member, through an external system, or directly by Zendesk. This helps you decide which email addresses you can trust.

When an email is marked as verified through the "full" verification method, it indicates that the user has demonstrated that they can access that email inbox. This gives you confidence that you’re reaching a real person.

What do I need to do?

You don’t need to take any action. The new properties are available for you to consume if you so choose.

If you have feedback or questions related to this announcement, visit our community forum where we collect and manage customer product feedback. For general assistance with your Zendesk products, contact Zendesk Customer Support.