UK's BBW calls on Apple to remove age verification on iOS

UK’s BBW (Big Brother Watch) has written a letter, calling for Apple to remove age verification on iOS. The feature went live with the iOS 26.4 update and was met with widespread criticism. It requires you to scan your National ID or Driver’s License, and many are unhappy with this.

The letter, which comes from Siklie Carlo, the Director of BBW, raises several valid concerns regarding the enforcement of OS-level age verification on iOS. Carlo argues that age verification should be opt-in, and not a mandatory requirement for all users. Since BBW is a fairly large non-profit organization, there’s a chance that Apple will take this letter seriously.

One major point, according to the letter, is that the blanket method Apple has adopted for age verification is not mandated by UK law, and the new child protection laws in the UK don’t require such OS-level ID verification. The writer calls it an unnecessary privacy interference, which goes against Apple’s long-standing privacy-centric position.

A video from BBW posted on X explains what these changes mean for the rights of UK citizens. You can view it below.

👁️No ID, no full & free internet access

Apple’s adult users in the UK are being forced to either submit to intrusive ID checks or have child-locked phones

This is part of a wider issue.

Our director @silkiecarlo explains what this means for our rights & freedoms online⤵️ pic.twitter.com/NaEuynodQp

— Big Brother Watch (@BigBrotherWatch) April 2, 2026

While it’s clear that companies are under pressure from regulatory offices, an overreach from regulatory bodies still does not make it lawfully accurate. Apple has not enforced such a harsh mandate even in countries such as Australia, where social media was recently banned for those under the age of 16.

Apple has restricted the open internet for UK citizens, and child-locked devices have several restrictions. Other claims the letter makes are that these laws don’t really protect children from harm, exclude millions from open internet access, pave the way for national ID systems, censorship, and wider device controls, and more.

Another accusation on platforms like X mentions that Apple had the choice to say no, but decided to bow down to the government instead of prioritizing users. As is obvious, the general user sentiment about this update is very negative. Several users have decided to stick to older iOS versions, which is another problem because they have major vulnerabilities that affect device security.

There’s also a lack of transparency with this update. The changelog does not mention OS-level age verification anywhere, and only talks about new Emojis, the Concerts feature, bug fixes, etc. It isn’t even mentioned anywhere under “Learn More.” For anyone who hasn’t been following the news, updating to iOS 26.4 may have quietly subjected their device to Apple’s new age verification checks without any clear prior notice.

BBW argues that these moves from Apple are inappropriate and urges the company to reverse this decision urgently and repackage it as an optional add-on that parents can enable for children’s devices. You can let us know what you think about the age-verification situation in the comments.

We stand out from the tech-media crowd because we break news stories; we mainly bring you stuff that you won’t find anywhere in the mainstream tech media. Our stories have been picked up by some of the world’s most popular websites and media outlets—more info is available here.