Marko Zivkovic
Texas will now require age verification for use of the iOS App Store, thanks to the state's App Store Accountability Act, which was passed against Apple's wishes.
On Tuesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law an act that requires Apple and Google to verify the ages of App Store users. If a user is under the age of 18, their account must be linked to a parent or guardian, who would then have to approve each app download.
Apple's attempts to argue against the bill, which included a phone call from Apple CEO Tim Cook to Governor Abbott, have seemingly failed. As noted by Reuters, Texas' App Store Accountability will take effect on January 1, 2026. A similar bill in Utah has already passed and took effect on May 7, 2025.
Legislators claim the act itself was created to protect children and prevent them from accessing age-inappropriate content. It's meant to give parents more control over their children's online activity and to comply with the fact that minors can't legally consent to app terms.
Before the bill was signed into law, Apple deployed six lobbyists in Texas and funded local advertising campaigns, which said the bill was "backed by porn websites," among other things.
Apple claimed the bill would force it to collect and store sensitive personal data, like government IDs or other identifying information, from all users, not just children. The iPhone maker's arguments, however, were not enough to prevent the App Store Accountability Act from becoming law in Texas.
While Apple criticized the App Store Accountability Act, some companies have expressed support for it. Meta, Snap, and X applauded the bill, which is in line with their previous statements.
"Parents want a one-stop shop to verify their child's age and grant permission for them to download apps in a privacy-preserving way," said the social media companies. "The app store is the best place for it, and more than one-third of US states have introduced bills recognizing the central role app stores play."
Utah's law and Texas's App Store Accountability Act are part of a broader push by state legislatures to regulate tech companies in the absence of federal action. They could soon become a model for similar efforts across the United States, and companies like Apple and Google are aware of this.
In February 2025, Apple published a whitepaper detailing the age assurance features it would be implementing. Through a new developer API, Apple wanted to make it easier for parents to set up App Store accounts for their children, but it remains to be seen if the company will need further measures to meet the requirements of the bill.
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Charles Martin
Malcolm Owen
Mike Wuerthele
Amber Neely
Andrew Orr
Andrew O'Hara
12 Comments
It's the new Government boondoggle.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/04/digital-identities-and-future-age-verification-europe
There are plenty of products that work at the router level to block access to harmful websites and Apple at least has acceptable parental controls
via Screen Time. The Law of Least Action would put the protection at the gateway or local. Just like we have door locks that prevent casual access to our
homes. We don't have to send our house key to the regional government office or to anyone else.
Good. Kids are more important than profits. Let kids enjoy a wholesome childhood for crying out loud.
As a parent, I can definitely say that this is a bad idea. Apple already lets me mark accounts as a child account. As such, when one of my kids asks to be allowed to download an app, it has to get permission from me or my wife. This is already a simple enough solution to this problem, and it puts the onus of the situation where it belongs: WITH THE PARENTS.
The moment that you are having additional age verification, you are having to store sensitive information. Since the App Store (and Google Play for that matter) would be known for having to store not just the date of birth but some other verification of the age of a child, you now have a known location to try to get all sorts of PII (Personal Identifiable Information). So, by doing this "for our children" you have in effect made them LESS SECURE.
Also, the argument of "parents can't be bothered or ill-informed" is making other entities or people responsible for your kids instead of the parents. It is a nonsense argument at best; and a dangerous one at the worst.
This legislation, if it withstands court appeals, will be an absolute nightmare to implement, most likely absolutely impossible to manage for both sides (App Store and parents). More performance crap from that party that decries the "nanny state" and "big gubbmint." Good god, voting Republicans, learn some logic (esp. hypocrisy) and wake up and stop voting these utter morons into office.