your iPhone can know your age, and you can no longer lie to it

Updated March 24, 2026: iOS 26.4 is available, here we explain everything you need to know about the update for iPhone

For a whole bunch of reasons, we sometimes have to answer this question “are you over 18?” If today the user is the only holder of the truth, iOS 26.4 has just completely reshuffled the cards. Apple has indeed introduced a new feature in its second beta version of the update. Although it is only available in the United Kingdom at the moment, it could quickly arrive in France.

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Concretely, users who have installed iOS 26.4 (beta 2) in the United Kingdom face a new notification. At the top of the Settings app, iPhone asks them to “confirm that they are over 18 years old”. Apple specifies that it will use all the data at its service to verify whether you are trying to lie to it or not. By pressing the “confirm” button at the bottom of the screen, the phone will then perform a Face ID scan.

In the overwhelming majority of cases, the process will take only a few seconds. Apple will notably look at how many years you have had an Apple account, or if you have credit cards in your name in the Cards application. This data allows him to deduce your age, or at least to ensure that you are of legal age.

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You will then have unlimited access to your iPhone. If you are not an adult, some applications will not be downloadable to your phone. As for websites, they have another system for age verification and the iOS 26.4 update does not yet block access to it. We will modify this article if this were to be the case.

Why did Apple put this option in place?

Don’t think that Apple developed this cheating feature to control its users and collect valuable data on these. The Cupertino company even fought in court to avoid having to launch this option. Age verification in the UK is one of new measures imposed by the government under the Online Safety Act.

On paper it wants to protect children and adolescents against applications, sites and content that are not made for their age. Apple, like Google, had to adapt their operating system to avoid heavy fines.