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Apple is introducing age verification for iPhone and iPad users in the UK to control access to 18-plus apps and services. Following the iOS 26.4 software update, users will be prompted to confirm they are adults by providing a credit card or scanning an ID. According to Apple’s support page, users who are underage or choose not to verify their age will have web content filters enabled automatically on their devices.
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 said 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.
