Apple recently explained how it will comply with an App Store age verification law in Texas, and it will now face a similar requirement in California. Apple found a privacy-respecting approach to the Texas law, and it seems that it will be able to adopt a similar one here … The Texas law The Texas law takes effect on January 1, 2026. Anyone who creates a new Apple account after that date will need to confirm whether they are 18 years old or older. Fortunately, there is no obligation to capture photo ID to prove a user’s age, and Apple has found a way to allow developers to comply without exposing any personal data to them. If that new user is a minor, they will be required to join a Family Sharing group so that parents or guardians can provide consent for all purchases, download activity, and more […] To assist developers in meeting their obligations in a privacy-preserving way, we’ll introduce capabilities to help them obtain users’ age categories and manage significant changes as required by Texas state law. The Declared Age Range API is available to implement now, and will be updated in the coming months to provide the required age categories for new account users in Texas. The California law A similar law has now been introduced in California after gaining unanimous support in the State Assembly. As Wired reports, this one places more of the responsibility on parents and again doesn’t require any photo ID. Children will still be able to download apps without their parents’ consent. The law doesn’t require people to upload photo IDs either. Instead, the idea is that a parent will enter their child’s age while setting up a device for them — so it’s more of an age gate than age verification. The operating system and/or app store will place the user into one of four age categories (under 13, 13-16, 16-18 or adult) and make that information available to app developers. There should then be very little work for Apple to do to comply, simply ensuring that parents are able to specify their child’s age, with iOS then putting them into one of the four age bands and exposing that to developers. The law was introduced alongside another one on browsing privacy. 9to5Mac’s Take It’s both a strength and weakness of the US Constitution that states are able to enact individual laws like this. On the plus side, it means there is no need to wait for sufficient political support at the federal level. The downside is that laws are created piecemeal, with consumers offered different levels of protection depending on where they live, and companies like Apple having to ensure they provide the appropriate support for each state. As with privacy laws – where states have again acted unilaterally – it does seem that it would make far greater sense to enact a federal law for this issue. Photo by Dibakar Roy on Unsplash