Adults on Character AI flagged as minors confused over missing Age Assurance pop-up

Character AI’s rollout of age verification measures ahead of the November 25 deadline has turned into a frustrating mess for many adult users who find themselves caught in the system’s crosshairs. Users who have never lied about their age are now staring at notices warning them that they’ll lose access to character chats in a week, with no clear way to prove they’re actually over 18.​​

The chaos kicked off when numerous adults started seeing pop-ups warning them about losing chat access. One 18-year-old paying subscriber posted a screenshot showing they received the warning despite being born in 2007 and actively paying for Character AI Plus.

Another frustrated adult user explained that while they received the verification pop-up, the actual tab to perform age verification is missing from their application entirely. Similar complaints flooded in from users that you can check out here, here, here, and here.

The mess appears to stem from the age verification rollout that was detailed last month, where Character AI announced Age Assurance measures for minor accounts.

However, the system seems to be catching adults in its net without giving them any way out. Users described trying everything from logging out, clearing website data, and updating their apps, but the age verification option remains absent from their settings.

A community moderator directed users to Character AI’s support article about the missing Age Assurance pop-up, which explains that the feature is being rolled out gradually and may not appear for all users immediately.

The article states that if users don’t see the pop-up, the Advanced setting won’t be available, and they don’t need to take action yet. However, this explanation doesn’t address why adults are receiving warnings about losing chat access while simultaneously being denied the ability to verify their age.

Some users have found a potential silver lining after digging through the comments. If you haven’t experienced any time limits or feature restrictions before receiving this notice, there’s a chance you weren’t actually flagged and this is just a blanket reminder sent to multiple accounts. One way to test this is by using the app for two hours straight. If you don’t get timed out, you’re probably in the clear.

That said, we’ll keep an eye out for any further developments and will post an update if and when there’s something to share.