Apple is building new systems to encourage the use of parental controls on iOS. Interestingly, these systems are skewed toward privacy and make an effort to hide children’s birth dates from app developers.
In its Helping Protect Kids Online whitepaper, Apple explains that it is introducing a refined setup process to help parents set up Child Accounts with content restrictions. If parents skip this setup process, children will be placed under default content restrictions and cannot access the App Store—parents may implement their preferences at any time thereafter, or even change the age of their child if they screwed things up during setup. (Child Accounts are required for kids under the age of 13 but optional for older teens.)
Additionally, Apple will expand App Store age ratings to boost the efficacy of content filters, particularly for teenagers. The existing age ratings—4+ years old, 9+ years old, 12+, and 17+—will soon be joined by 13+, 16+, and 18+ buckets.
While these are some genuinely great improvements, they’re not nearly as impactful as the Declared Age Range API that Apple plans to release in late 2025.
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App Developers Will See Kids’ “Age Ranges,” Not Birthdates
The Declared Age Range API is a very straightforward method of “data minimization;” developers who use the API are not allowed to ask for a child’s date of birth. Instead, they may request access to the child’s general age rage—this is done through a pop-up when you first open a new app, and parents have the option to block age-range sharing if they wish.
Apple believes that this system will help developers offer an age-appropriate experience to children of all ages without exposing their dates of birth. It may also eliminate the need for a DoB entry field in most apps, which reduces kids’ ability to lie about this age.
“The Declared Age Range API is a narrowly tailored, data-minimizing, privacy-protecting tool to assist app developers who can benefit from it, allowing everyone to play their appropriate part in this ecosystem. It gives kids the ability to share their confirmed age range with developers, but only with the approval of their parents. This protects privacy by keeping parents in control of their kids’ sensitive personal information, while minimizing the amount of information that is shared with third parties.”
Apple’s expanded App Store age rating system, which we discussed earlier, will be reflected in the Declared Age Range API. So, young teenagers who are bound by parental content filters will be less likely to see content intended for older teens. Similarly, the granular age range system may prevent older teens from feeling “held back” by content restrictions that are designed to accommodate 12- or 13-year-olds.
I should note that the Declared Age Range API is an opt-in system for developers. Age ratings in the App Store, however, are set by Apple and required for all apps. In effect, an app that’s tailored for multiple ages is incentivized to use the Declared Age Range API—it’s something that may prevent such apps from being indiscriminately or wrongly blocked by parental content filters.
That said, the API may be forced onto developers in regions that enact child online safety laws requiring age verification. I assume that Apple anticipates an uptick in such laws, but the company has mentioned nothing of the sort.
Most of Apple’s new child safety features are available in the iOS 18.4 beta and will enjoy a broad release in the coming weeks. The Declared Age Range API is slated for later this year, as is the ability to correct a child’s age after an account has already been made. It’s possible that these not-yet-available features are planned for iOS 19, which should arrive in September.
iPhone 16e
The iPhone16e is an affordable addition to the iPhone 16 line, priced at $200 less than the base iPhone 16.
Source: Apple via TechCrunch
