Apple will block the downloads of apps rated 18+ in Brazil, Australia, and Singapore, while also rolling out other features to comply with laws in Utah and Louisiana in the U.S.
The company informed developers on Tuesday that it’s expanding its set of “age assurance” tools, including an updated Declared Age Range API now available for beta testing.
These tools allow developers to obtain a user’s age range without gaining access to the user’s personal information, like their date of birth. The need for a technical solution like this came about as more governments around the world have created laws to block or restrict certain apps like social media that can only be used by adults 18 and up.
Also, developers whose games contain loot boxes — a gambling-like mechanism that lets players spend money for a random chance at in-game rewards and that lawmakers believe shouldn’t be available to kids — will see their apps’ age ratings updated to reflect an 18+ audience in Brazil, specifically.
In the U.S., new users in Utah and Louisiana will soon have their age categories shared with their developers’ apps through the Declared Age Range API as well. The company said it has expanded its other tools around age ratings and permissions to meet its compliance obligations.
“New signals are now available through the Declared Age Range API, including whether age-related regulatory requirements apply to the user and if the user is required to share their age range,” reads the Apple blog post. “The API will also let you know if you need to get a parent or guardian’s permission for significant app updates for a child.
This is a difficult choice for them to make. Like Mozilla, they can refuse to implement privacy-friendly age verification(1), but at the cost that some apps/websites will then use terrible methods like just scanning your ID and sending it to a third-party.
(1) Of course, the entire concept itself is privacy-invasive.
I feel like however it is better if it is handled at the device level. This is the only way you know your info isn’t secretly sent to a server despite the company promising not to. Do something like FaceID where it is stored in a safe place.
Governments aren’t going to give up on this, so as much as I hate the idea of age gating everything, having a trusted device level identifier that doesn’t expose your PII is going to be the best way to do this.
Or if you start to refuse, you’ll slowly be locked out of interacting with the internet and society as a whole.
I’m surprised nobody shared this:
ARCHIVE: https://archive.ph/csAm4
Apparently, the primary way they will determine your age, is from your credit card, because you need to be 18 to have one, and from the age of your account. If you can’t get automatically verified that way, you have to scan your ID.
I wonder if it will be the same in the rest of the world. I refuse to provide my ID to Google or Apple.
I also can’t help but wonder, can Apple tell the difference between a credit card and a debit card,
Because I’m pretty sure most people in the UK use a VISA debit card. Not a credit card. Especially young adults. And I’m not sure if you need to be 18 to have a visa debit card.
Lastly, Apple allows you to change your name in your profile. I have done it in the past.
I don’t remember if you can change your DOB, but I think you can. Though I suspect doing that will trigger alarm bells in 2026.
I’ve always wanted to create a fake Apple ID account, but I guess it’s probably too late now.
Also, I have been using virtual credit card for years, and always used a fake name for all of them. What will Apple do if they see that the name on your credit card doesn’t match the name on your profile?
Should have read the article. This is an incredibly disappointing way to to it. I thought Apple would have designed a local-only way to check it. Instead, tied to your account.
I don’t understand what the legal basis or the age verification in the UK is. I thought the “Online Safety Act” applied to websites, not app stores or operating systems? And from the Verge article it sounds like they’re doing it for all apps, not just the 18+ ones?
There is never a need for why governments want to do anything. If they want to do something, they’ll find a reason that sounds reasonable but any critical thinker will find faults. It’s just unfortunate that people are not revolting this en masse because few understand the dangerous precedents and illogical reason for everything they are trying to do.
The politicians are tech and tech policy illiterate.
UPDATE: Apple says UK verification prompt was an error and that they removed it.
I am personally still suspicious that this will eventually be the rule in some near future.
Certainly Apple has to be preparing for this as it’s being considered worldwide. We have a limited window where we can speak up to stop this before it’s normalized.
Whoops haha I accidentally programmed an age verification prompt
Oh no I accidentally pushed the code into the beta version lol I’m so clumsy
- some Apple developer