{"id":559997,"date":"2026-03-25T15:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559997\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T15:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T15:35:08","slug":"apples-ios-26-4-update-adds-age-verification-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/559997\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple\u2019s iOS 26.4 update adds age verification in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Apple now requires users in the UK to verify their age with the launch of iOS 26.4. In <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/en-gb\/126788\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a support page on Apple\u2019s website<\/a>, the company says users must confirm that they\u2019re over 18 to \u201cuse certain services or features, or take certain actions on their account.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">UK users can confirm their age by scanning their ID or using a credit card. If a user already has an Apple account, the company may use a linked payment method to verify that they\u2019re over 18. Otherwise, Apple will automatically enable child safety protections, including features that block adult content on the web and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/4\/21\/23035183\/ios-messages-communication-safety-nudity-sexually-explicit-message-blurring\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">blur messages containing nudity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">Apple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/tech\/899799\/apple-ios-26-4-ai-playlist-purchase-sharing-update\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">launched iOS 26.4 on Tuesday<\/a>, which introduces the ability to create AI-generated playlists in Apple Music, a new concert discovery feature, and a bunch of emoji. Though Apple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/tech\/884306\/apple-age-verification-uk-users-ios-26-4-beta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">initially introduced age checks<\/a> in the UK with the iOS 26.4 beta, company spokesperson Peter Ajemian told The Verge at the time that the rollout was an \u201cerror.\u201d The Verge reached out to Apple with a request for more information but didn\u2019t immediately hear back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1ymtmqpi _17nnmdy1 _17nnmdy0 _1xwtict1\">As noted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/c36dc645-8cd4-4e69-a9ce-3a0ac4071264?syn-25a6b1a6=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">by the Financial Times<\/a>, Apple\u2019s App Store and operating system aren\u2019t covered by the UK\u2019s Online Safety Act, which requires platforms that host content deemed inappropriate for children <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/analysis\/714587\/uk-online-safety-act-age-verification-reactions\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to implement age verification<\/a>. Ofcom, the UK\u2019s communications regulator, called the move a \u201creal win for children and families\u201d in a statement to the Financial Times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple now requires users in the UK to verify their age with the launch of iOS 26.4. In&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[1572,49,48,3692,1575,190,2100,64,61],"class_list":["post-559997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-apple","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-mobile","tag-policy","tag-tech","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}