Apple introduces new child safety initiatives, including an age-checking system for apps

Apple on Thursday announced a range of new initiatives designed to help parents and developers create a safer experience for kids and teens using Apple devices. In addition to easier setup of child accounts, parents will now be able to share information about their kids’ ages, which can then be accessed by app developers to provide age-appropriate content. The App Store will also introduce a new set of age ratings that give developers and App Store users alike a more granular understanding of an app’s appropriateness for a given age range. Product pages for third-party apps on the App Store will also be updated to include additional information that can help guide parents’ decisions, like whether an app features user-generated content or ads, or if the app offers its own parental controls. These updates will roll out to parents and developers later this year, Apple says. The changes arrive amid ongoing legislative disputes both at the state and federal levels over how tech companies ... Read full article.