Apple has revealed that changes are coming to the App Store for any users or developers that reside in the state of Texas, starting on January 1, 2026. This is to ensure that both Apple and the App Store comply with the state's new "App Store Accountability Act" (SB2420).
The main change for iPhone users in Texas is that they'll have to start confirming they're at least 18 years old before they can create an Apple Account. The law states that all app stores, not just Apple's, will need to "use a commercially reasonable method of verification" to confirm a user's age during the account creation process.
So far, Apple hasn't confirmed how age verification will work, and has spoken out about how the new law could impact the privacy of users by requiring personally-identifiable information. Considering Discord just suffered a major age-verification leak, with 70,000 IDs exposed in the process, that's a reasonable concern to have.
According to Apple, anyone under the age of 18 will have to join a Family Sharing Group, with parents providing consent for all App Store transactions — including downloads and purchases of both apps and in-app content.
Apple has confirmed that similar requirements will be coming into effect in Utah and Louisiana next year. I feel it's quite likely that other states may follow suit in the coming years, too.
What does this mean for developers?
Meanwhile, developers will need to make changes to their own apps in compliance with the law. Apple's helping them out by updating the "Declared Age Range API" so that developers can set up age categories in their apps, as required by the new legislation.
This API works by preventing apps from having specific information about children, including their date of birth. The idea is that it's a more privacy-focused way to ensure that developers can confirm the age range of its users. It's available for developers to implement right now.
The company also aims to develop an API that lets developers add a parental consent option, with the ability for parents to later revoke that consent. More details on how these APIs will work will be announced later this year.
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