Apple has been granted a temporary reprieve from needing to adhere to a Texas law forcing it to verify the ages of App Store users in the state.

On January 1st, 2026, Apple was expecting to have to start verifying the age of all App Store users in Texas, after a new state law comes into force. Just over a week before the deadline, a judge has decided to place a hold on its implementation.

In a Tuesday ruling spotted by The Verge, Judge Robert Pitman has granted a preliminary injunction on the Texas App Store Accountability Act,. The decision prevents the law from coming into force in the state, but doesn't strike it down completely.

The Texas App Store Accountability Act is similar to other state-level laws that will make Apple and Google responsible for informing user ages to app developers. The intention was to prevent younger users from seeing inappropriate content.

In his order, Judge Pitman likens it to a law that would require bookstores to verify the age of every customer before gaining entry, and requiring parental consent for minors to buy a book.

Pitman's explanation for his decision isn't a ruling on the case itself, but it does indicate he believes the law's defenders won't do well in court.

The lawsuit was brought by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, who represents Apple, Google, and Meta. The group said that it imposed a "broad censorship regime on the entire universe of mobile apps," and would infringe on the online free speech of teenagers.

The state, which maintains it is a constitutional law, is able to appeal the ruling via the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Since the same style of law is being implemented in other states, as well as federal-level considerations in Congress that Apple CEO Tim Cook has lobbied against, Texas will probably make that appeal in the near future.

At the time of the bill being signed into law in Texas, Apple claimed that it would force the company to collect and store sensitive personal data, such as government IDs, from all users, not just children.

By contrast, Meta, Snap, and X welcomed the bill. The social media companies believed parents wanted a "one-stop shop" for permissions and child age verification. The statement completely bypassed the notion that the responsibility for showing the wrong content to minors could be laid at Apple's feet, instead of the content management policies of the social networks themselves.