Apple has started applying Texas’s app-store age-assurance requirements to new Apple Accounts created in the state, putting the iPhone account setup flow at the center of another U.S. state effort to control minors’ access to apps and in-app purchases.
The rules come from Texas Senate Bill 2420, which requires app marketplaces and developers to verify age categories and obtain parental or guardian consent before users under 18 can download apps, make in-app purchases, or receive significant app changes. Parents must also be able to revoke consent after an app has already been approved.
For iPhone and iPad users, the practical change is that Apple will handle the age signal at the account level and pass a broad age range to developers when needed. Apple’s Declared Age Range API is designed to avoid sharing a precise birth date or identity document with every app, while still giving developers a compliance signal for Texas users. A related Significant Change API lets apps request renewed parental consent when a material change is made.
The mobile angle is important because state lawmakers are increasingly moving age checks upstream to app stores rather than leaving each website or app to build its own flow. Utah led that push with mandatory age checks for mobile app stores, and other U.S. states have been advancing similar rules.
Apple has already been adapting mobile age-verification tools in other markets. In the United Kingdom, the company rolled out age verification for iPhone users in iOS 26.4, though some users later reported failures in the new flow.
The Texas implementation follows the lifting of a court injunction that had blocked the law. Apple says developers should validate their implementations in its sandbox environment before applying the tools to live accounts.
Sources: Apple Developer, Apple Developer Support
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By the Mobile ID World Editorial Team
