Some users in the UK began seeing an age verification prompt after installing iOS 26.4 beta 2. Apple now says the message appeared in error. Here are the details.
’That message was displayed in error, and has been fixed’
A few days ago, my colleague Ben Lovejoy shared his experience with the age verification prompt that users in the UK started seeing after installing iOS 26.4 beta 2.
This age verification requirement is a result of the UK’s Online Safety Act, which will require platforms to confirm users are adults before granting unrestricted access to certain content.
To comply with this and other recently implemented or upcoming laws globally, Apple has been updating its age verification APIs, some of which use signals to try to automatically determine whether a user is an adult.
That includes the payment methods associated with the account, as well as the length of time the Apple Account has been active. As Ben pointed out, his iPhone prompted him to confirm he was 18+ after installing iOS 26.4 beta 2, and he shared the process in his post.
By all accounts, it looked like Apple had included these steps in the system ahead of an upcoming official rollout, possibly in iOS 26.4. Now, Apple has confirmed that the pop-up was displayed to some users by mistake, and that it has since removed the prompt.
In a statement to The Verge, Apple said:
Some users on the beta software in the UK temporarily saw a message suggesting age verification is required to download apps. That message was displayed in error, and has been fixed. Developers may continue to use the Declared Age Range API to provide age appropriate experiences for users.
To learn more about the UK’s Online Safety Act, follow this link.
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