Apple Introduces New Child Safety Features and Expanded Age Ratings

The updates aim to enhance parental controls, improve privacy, and provide age-appropriate content through new tools and policies.

Apple is streamlining the creation of child accounts with a new 'Age Range' feature, simplifying parental control setup on iOS 18.4 and later.
New global age rating categories (4+, 9+, 13+, 16+, and 18+) will replace the current system to better align app content with user age groups.
The Declared Age Range API will allow developers to access a user's age range with parental consent, ensuring privacy while enabling age-appropriate app experiences.
Parents will have greater control over the content their children see on the App Store, with restricted visibility of age-inappropriate apps and enhanced transparency about app content.
These updates come as debates continue over who should handle age verification—developers or app marketplaces—with Apple emphasizing data minimization and user privacy.