- Apple’s strengthening his parental control and experience with children’s account
- Later in 2025, global age assessments are expanded and you can convert any default account to a child account
- There is also a new API designed to help customize the in-app experience by age
Apple has long offered parental control on devices and children’s accounts, but is now making some changes to strengthen its offer and make it a safer experience for all parties involved. Some of these adjustments are on the end user’s side, such as creating a children’s account and the App Store adjustments, but several are on the developer’s side in the form of API changes.
The new features and functionality were divided into a new whitepaper entitled “Helping Protect Kids Online”, which you can read fully here. The changes begin by streamlining the process of creating a child account. As seen in recent betas for iOS 18.4 and iPados 18.4, Apple now allows you to choose an age interval when you create an account; Once selected, this information informs the precautions for parental control.
Creating the account, of course, adds your child as a user and allows family sharing of iCloud services and purchases in the App Store. However, to streamline the process, you can still give the child access to the new device with more limited functionality if you want to complete the rest of the account setup later.
Probably even more important and good news for some is that Apple later in 2025 allows you to update the age of an Apple account. This way, if you enter the wrong date of birth, you can adjust it. Apple requires that children under 13 have a child account associated with a parenting agent Apple ID in the United States. The under 18 can choose to be created in this way for these advanced protections and some presets.
The App Store experience currently offers four age assessments around the world, two of which are 12+ and 17+. Apple is aiming to create a more curated, safe experience and will expand global age assessments later this year. This will bring Apple’s age assessments closer to Google and its Play Store, which already offers age-based ratings in multiple categories depending on the region.
Apple’s expansion is a little more focused and standard across all regions, with four new categories targeting specific age groups.
- 4+, which means no critical content is in the app.
- 9+, which means the app may have content that is unsuitable for children under nine. It is described in the paper as “rarely or mild cartoon or fantasy, gang or raw humor or mature, suggestive or horror or fear-theme content.”
- 13+, which is described as potentially with: “Rarely or mild medical or treatment -focused content, referrals to alcohol, tobacco or drug use, sexual content or nudity, realistic violence or simulated game; or frequent or intense competitions, gangs or raw humor, horror or fear-themed content or cartoon or fantasy violence.
- 16+, described as “including through unlimited web access, frequent or intensely mature or sucking content or medical or treatment -focused content.”
- 19+, “Including through cases of games, frequent or intense simulated games, referrals to alcohol, tobacco or drug use, sexual content or nudity or realistic violence.”
These will be the minimal age recommended for the app. This should allow developers to more precisely determine the age assessment for the experience they create and parents can find it easier to decide if it is safe to download. If a parent has turned on parental control to app downloads to the app, the App Store will only earn age-passing apps when this arrives later in 2025.
It comes at a time when in the United States at both state and federal level there is debate about who should be responsible for age verification to use apps, either the store – ie. Apple’s App Store – or developers themselves. It is packed in major conversations about laws about children’s protection of children relating to digital experiences and connected devices.
Apple believes that one level per App is better for age verification and reduction of data sharing in general. This is where the upcoming declared age -song API will come into play. Instead of asking a user to enter a date of birth, the developer may choose API. If it is approved via a pop-up in the app, the app draws the age range from the user’s Apple account.
It’s a lot in line with how other apps request to use things like the camera or microphone and even to sign up for messages to the app. Apple’s attitude here is to reduce a user that potentially oversets, while still ensuring a safe experience; Apparently the method per. App level a better way to do this.
The company also says in the paper that it looks like buying alcohol in a store in a shopping center, “After all, we ask merchants who sell alcohol in a mall to verify a buyer’s age by controlling IDs – we do not ask everyone to turn their birth date to the mall if they just want to go to the Food Director.”
Apple’s approach is in violation of other companies and even legislators who believe that enforcement and verification should be handled by where you get the app. The information is there because Apple is asking for the age group to create an Apple account and one is required for a user under 13. From a privacy perspective, Apple is not just handed over this information but wants to use them safely through this API.
Apple’s approach to age verification is undoubtedly better from a privacy perspective for everyone, but requires active parental involvement.
Avi Greengart, TechSponental
Avi Greengart, founder of TechSponental, wrote in a statement to Techradar, “Apple is trying to penetrate the needle between forcing everyone to share data that proves their age and allow parents to protect their children from content that is inappropriate for them. Apple’s approach to age verification is argued better from privacy for all, but requires active parental involvement. minor.
The procedure here with the declared age interval API is likely to bind back to Apple’s further strengthening of child accounts, making them easier to create and control and connect them to make use of devices such as iPads and iPhones and services on them more secure.
We are already seeing some of these changes, such as choosing the New Age series to create a child account. However, the updated age assessments arrive for apps, the opportunity to adjust the age of an account, and the new API arrives all by the end of 2025.
Ultimately, time will show who is responsible for age verification. Still, it’s excellent to see Apple make it easier to create childcare that offers a little more protection and protective measures. The full paper released by Apple can be seen here.
