Apple iPhone users in the UK asked to verify age with new update

Apple is rolling out age checks for iPhone and iPad users in the UK that will ask them to verify if they are adults to access "certain services" such as 18-plus apps. After customers accept the latest iOS 26.4 software update, they will be asked to verify their age, which they can do by providing a credit card or scanning their ID, according to an Apple support page, external.

Those who do not confirm how old they are or are underage will have web content filters turned on automatically. The regulator Ofcom called the move a "real win for children and families", but Silkie Carlo, director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said Apple had put a "chokehold on Britons' freedom to search the internet".

Upon updating their device software, users will be faced with a message which says: "UK law requires you to confirm you are an adult to change content restrictions." Ofcom added new rules to the Online Safety Act in 2025 which forced tech firms to strengthen child safety protections, however that does not currently cover bringing in age checks at a device level.

But an Ofcom spokesperson added it had worked closely with Apple and other services to ensure the rules "can be applied in a variety of contexts in order to ensure users are protected". Apple will be able to check if customers already have an existing account or payment method on file to confirm their age, as well as in some instances using the length of time a user has had their account.

According to its support page, children under 13 will also not be able to create an account without a guardian. Carlo told the BBC she believed Apple had "crossed the Rubicon" with its new software update which she described as "more like ransomware", and which she said essentially left millions of Brits owning a "child's device", unless they complied with the age checks.

And she said while she believed children's online safety was vital, it required more thoughtful tech responsibility and not "sweeping, draconian shock demands by foreign companies for all of our IDs and credit cards". Laws introduced in 2025 already require certain websites and platforms, such as those showing pornography, to implement age checks for users in the UK.

This led to backlash from some campaigners who argued handing over personal data was a breach of privacy and that data was at risk of being hacked. Apple's move follows a wider debate in the industry over how to keep young people away from harmful content online and the impact social media can have on children.

The UK government is trialling a test which will see 300 teens have their social apps disabled entirely, blocked overnight or capped to one hour's use - with some also seeing no such changes at all - in order to compare their experiences. The test will run alongside the government's consultation asking whether the UK should follow in Australia's footsteps by making it illegal for under-16s to have access to many social media sites.

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