Arizona legislators have introduced what may be the most aggressive app store age verification bill in the country. House Bill 2920 would require age verification not just for app downloads, but for preinstalled software, the browser, the text messaging app, the search bar, the calculator, and the weather widget. Every piece of software on a mobile device would be subject to age-gating ID checks under this proposal.
The bill, introduced on January 27 and currently pending before the House Science & Technology Committee, creates a surveillance architecture that applies to every mobile device user in the state. App store providers would be required to verify every account holder’s age category and share that data with developers.
HB 2920 divides users into four age categories: children under 13, teenagers between 13 and 16, older teenagers between 16 and 18, and adults. Every person who creates an app store account in Arizona would be sorted into one of these buckets through what the bill calls “commercially available” verification methods, a phrase it declines to define with any precision. The Arizona Attorney General would be tasked with creating rules to establish acceptable verification processes.
For anyone under 18, the bill mandates that their account be “affiliated” with a parent account. The app store would then be required to obtain “verifiable parental consent” before allowing the minor to download an application, purchase an application, or make any in-app purchase. This consent requirement extends to preinstalled apps as well. The first time a minor launches their browser or messaging app, the system would need to check with the parent account before allowing access.
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The law does not specify how parent-child account affiliation would actually be verified. It grants app stores broad authority to determine parenthood through unspecified commercially reasonable methods, but provides no regulation for how this determination would occur.
The bill’s reach extends beyond initial downloads. If a developer makes what the legislation calls a “significant change” to an application, the parent account must provide renewed consent before the minor can access the updated version.
The definition of significant change covers modifications to privacy policies, changes to data collection categories, alterations to age ratings, the addition of in-app purchases, or the introduction of advertisements.
This means a weather app that adds a banner ad would require fresh parental consent. An update to a note-taking app’s privacy policy would trigger the consent mechanism. The bill creates a system where routine software updates become opportunities for access to be blocked.
Developers would be required to notify app stores of any significant change, and app stores would then be required to notify parent accounts and obtain renewed consent before providing access to the changed version. The burden falls on both parties, with civil penalties of up to $75,000 per violation and a private right of action allowing parents and minors to sue for $1,000 per violation plus punitive damages.
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