GoKawiilTech trends aren’t always easy to spot at an early stage, but there’s a very clear exception right now: the age verification requirement a growing number of countries and US states are introducing.
Apple is impacted by at least some of this legislation as certain apps are rated as suitable only for adults, and the company has so far introduced age verification in three countries …
Apple age verification in the UK
The highest-profile launch of Apple age verification has been in the UK. Those on the developer beta track last month got a preview of the new age verification process in iOS 26.4 Beta 2. The company later said that this was an error and that it shouldn’t have been included in the beta at the time, but it went live last week.
For me, the experience was an entirely painless one, taking less than 30 seconds. All I had to do was tap a confirm and continue button, and Apple told me that the length of time I’d had an Apple account was used to confirm that I’m 18+.
Others, however, experienced difficulties with the process timing out or failing to complete. We summarized some of the steps you can take to try to address this. Apple has since listed additional acceptable ways to verify your age.
You can confirm your age with a credit card, or by scanning a driver’s license or one of the following PASS-accredited Proof of Age cards: CitizenCard, My ID Card, TOTUM ID card, or Young Scot National Entitlement Card.
If you don’t verify your age, then you’ll be treated as a child or teenager, meaning that both the web content filter and communication safety features are switched on.
Now live in Singapore and South Korea too
A new Apple support document reveals that age verification has also gone live in Singapore and South Korea.
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