In a new White Paper on Apple’s Developer Website (PDF -Link), Apple has outlined several major changes that come this year designed to help parents and developers produce a safer environment for children when using Apple products.
No timeline is given for when these features arrive – some already appear to be in iOS 18.4 beta (or the building blocks are there), while others can come with iOS 19 later in the year.
There are three main areas that Apple focuses on: changes to child images, age insurance for apps and changes in the App Store.
Easier setup of children’s account
Most of Apple’s children’s protection features require parents to create and manage a children’s account, but many parents don’t know about it and don’t bother to create it.
So Apple will do two things. First, it will streamline setup process for the children’s account, so it is less of a burden. Second, if a parent wants to finish setting up a children’s account at a later date, the device will use more child -care standards in the meantime.
Correcting a child’s age in an account has been a real problem, so Apple fixes it as well. Parents will be able to easily change the age of their child’s account, and if it is under 13, it will be converted to a “children’s account” with a prompt that that account endorses the family group. For many parents have created accounts for their children quickly and with inaccurate ages, and they have been unable to change them to children’s accounts where all the real protection is.
Age varies for apps
Parents will be able to allow their children to share their age group with apps (just a range, not the actual age or date of birth). A new “declared age group” API will let app developers request this age interval and then tailor their content to the relevant age.
This seems to be a volunteer on both sides: Parents have the opportunity to allow their children to share their age group or not, and can turn it off at any time. Developers can use the API to request this age interval but are not required. The child’s actual accurate age or date of birth is never shared, regardless.
Recently, some regulators have suggested that “portguards” such as Apple and Google must be responsible for verifying ages for their users, so only adults see adult-oriented content. Apple has opposed this and claims that it creates privacy and requires the company to collect sensitive information from both users and developers, even where it is not necessary. This age range -function appears to be at least partially Apple’s preferred solution.
The App Store changes
Apple also updates its current age assessments for apps in the App Store. Currently, ages are 4+ years old, 9+, 12+ and 17+. New age will be 4+, 9+, 13+, 16+ and 18+, a better spread that does not leave a five-year hole among young people.
The current “App Nutrition Labels” is not far enough to help parents know what content an app can have. So Apple adds the highlights of whether the app contains user -generated content or advertising that can make users of the app view content that is beyond the app’s official age and content guidelines. This seems primarily aimed at apps on social media.
Developers will also be able to say if the app has its own content controls or requires proof of age. And later in the year, the App Store shows only apps whose specified age assessment does not exceed the assessment of their parents. But this seems limited to areas where Apple curates apps, such as the front of the tabs today, games and apps it is unclear whether a children’s account would see an app of higher age if they searched for it.