iOS 26.4 age verification without credit card or plastic ID

Proving that I am over 18 years old.

As you may be aware the latest update iOS26.4 in the UK requires me to prove that I am over 18 years old, I realise that this is a UK Government requirement and as such Apple UK are only prepared to as little as possible to close this requirement. Here is my issue, the means of identification that has been decided upon are as I am sure you know, either a Credit Card (because you have to be over 18 to have one) or a valid and full plastic drivers licence.

I am 66 years old, I no longer needed a credit card, a decision I took some years ago, so unlike a lot of people I do not have one. I gained my full motorcycle licence in 1985 and my full car driving licence in 1995, I have the same paper licence that was issued to me by the DVLA when I moved into my current address in 1997 (29 years ago).

I was born in December 1959, at the age of 9 in 1969 I watched live as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to step on the Moon. I left school in 1977 after staying on to do my GCE O Levels in sixth form, I have a valid National Insurance Number and can provide my NHS number, I even have a birth certificate that gives the date and further details of my birth. Apple even know my date of birth, its part of the information held by the company to enable my Apple Account. I also have a 66 year old face that I have to use to open my iPhone every time I want to use it, the same face I use for Apple Pay every time I use that and my online banking. Apple have details of my home address and my family, the British Government hold many many details about me that prove that I am over 18 years old, yet because I have chosen not to keep a credit card or unnecessarily update my driving licence or hold a Passport of a Government ID Apple refuse to allow me to prove that I am not a child. Is Apple UK really being as lazy as it appears? After all I am not the only OAP who holds no state recognised form of ID, and why should I? I live in a free country where I am not required to constantly prove my identity.

[Edited by Moderator]

iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 26

Posted on Mar 26, 2026 7:56 AM

Top-ranking reply

TCHDMF

Level 1

134 points

Posted on Mar 26, 2026 8:16 PM

lobsterghost1 wrote:

That's all good and well. But no matter how much you argue what OFCOM this or that is or isn't, isn't helping anyone who can't verify their age. This might be a great Social Media discussion. But this isn't a Social Media site. This is a technical support forum for users to ask how to do something on their iPhone. It simply makes no difference what OFCOM or the UK Government or Apple does here. None of those entities are here, nor will any of those entities comment here. I can imagine if you go to Reddit or Quora, you may find loads of people who will be happy to debate this with you. But this forum isn't the place to debate policies, regulations or laws no one here can change or has any control over.

Maybe I can explain this again in a way you can understand.

The original poster's issue is that he can't complete age verification on his UK iPhone because he does not have any of the three forms of identification Apple chose to implement in their age verification approach.

He was given the advice to call Apple support, which is good because at this time that is his only solution. Call Apple and complain and hope Apple changes the approach they have implemented. (Neglecting the option of obtaining one of the three required ID methods Apple has decided to accept.)

That's it, that's his only option. It is also the only option of the large number of us that have exactly the same issue. That is the correct tech support answer at this time. Which, by the way, he apparently did along with a large number of other people.

He then received incorrect advice to complain to the UK Government (which would be OFCOM in this case) about the problem because OFCOM is responsible because OFCOM picked the acceptable identification documents that Apple implemented. There are a large number of comments like that in this thread.

That advice was wrong.

OFCOM did not pick the acceptable documents or even method of age verification that Apple implemented. OFCOM specified the rules and regulations that must be followed and then they provided guidance to developers and companies as to possible methods of satisfying those rules and regulations. As far as I can find they never said, Apple you must implement age verification by examining Driving Licenses, or Credit Cards, or any other specific for of ID. OFCOM provided a non-extensive list of methods they thought could be acceptable and Apple chose three and created a fourth that they implemented.

So my post explained this and provided the relevant information from OFCOM for several reasons: So the original poster would understand why to call Apple as opposed to OFCOM or his MP or someone else, so that the original poster might have some additional information to relay to Apple with his complaint so they might take some note and escalate the issue, and because when I originally simply said no this is really an Apple issue and not an OFCOM issue without any backing to that statement my post was removed by a moderator.

So, no, I am trying to provide some actual peer-to-peer tech support to the original poster.

I am sorry if my posts aren't clear enough for you to see that. I don't know your motivation for attacking my post. Possibly you think actually explaining the root cause of an issue is somehow irrelevant to someone asking for assistance. If that is how you feel, I disagree with you, particularly when there is currently no actual solution to their problem other than call and complain. Personally I wish there was a solution, a simple do this, do this, then do that. I would do it myself. But unfortunately there doesn't seem to be.

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159 replies

Apr 2, 2026 2:49 PM in response to ScrapyardGuitar

A passport would be common sense, where there seems to be lacking with this! Another example I set my Apple ID up in 2007 now I’m no Einstein or a mathematician but that tells me anyone who has an Apple ID set up 2007 or before is a adult

Apr 3, 2026 8:28 AM in response to Trilliano

Trilliano wrote:

A passport would be common sense, where there seems to be lacking with this! Another example I set my Apple ID up in 2007 now I’m no Einstein or a mathematician but that tells me anyone who has an Apple ID set up 2007 or before is a adult

The process for setting up a U.S. passport as a digital ID on an iPhone is a bit onerous and, as I understand it, requires cooperation from the U.S. government. If Apple has no arrangements with the UK government to verify a passport, they can't very well use it.

asahiart

Level 1

36 points

Apr 3, 2026 12:34 PM in response to Phil0124

In my case this did not occur- called support and pointed out a friend and I started an account same year. They had no issues, I was asked to prove age. Ps he younger than I and lives not far away. As in same country it feels like a lottery

Apr 4, 2026 7:00 AM in response to Dillonuk

Dillonuk wrote:

Just found out Apple won’t allow passport to be used as id in uk because for verification they would have to pay a fee for the process.

Really? So the UK mandates age verification, but one of the forms of identification a person might want to use would require a fee to be paid? I think I'd be complaining to my elected officials vociferously if this is true.

That said, I have searched and can find nothing which suggests this is indeed fact. Your source, please?

Apr 4, 2026 8:35 AM in response to Deanl34

Deanl34 wrote:

I can’t understand how they will accept a credit card but not a passport, doesn’t make sense 😂

No one here can answer this either. Because no one here on this user to user only forum works for Apple. I'm sure if Apple could use Passports, they likely would. My guess and it's only a guess is there needs to be a handshake between iPhone and the UK government to accept Passports, but clearly that handshake doesn't yet exist. Whether it will in the future is between Apple and the UK Government and Apple never discusses things they are working on.

TCHDMF

Level 1

134 points

Apr 9, 2026 9:56 AM in response to ScrapyardGuitar

In case anyone is wondering, iOS 26.4.1 apparently does not change the methods available for age verification. So no addition of face scan or mobile number verification or any of the other OFCOM suggested methods.

Apr 12, 2026 6:10 AM in response to micklowiss

micklowiss wrote:

I am 68 years old and have a uk drinking licence but the apple system will not scan it

You need a license to "drink" in the UK? 😳 Jokes aside, assuming your "driving" license has your photo ID on it, many have suggested, you need to place it on a dark surface and place your phone further away for the camera to focus appropriately on it and hold it steady for longer than you may think for the license to be fully scanned for Age Verification.

Apr 17, 2026 6:49 AM in response to myfairlady12345

myfairlady12345 wrote:

I did it , I am now officially an adult..it’s only taken one long phone call, 2 forms. , 1 postal order,2 weeks and nearly £30.

Adulting is hard and frequently annoying.

Glad you got it worked out.

TCHDMF

Level 1

134 points

Apr 18, 2026 7:25 AM in response to lobsterghost1

lobsterghost1 wrote:

TCHDMF wrote:

In case anyone is wondering, iOS 26.4.1 apparently does not change the methods available for age verification. So no addition of face scan or mobile number verification or any of the other OFCOM suggested methods.

Which shouldn't actually be surprising since nothing in the release notes for 26.4.1 suggested it did. With every iOS update, on the update page are release notes. The release notes for 26.4.1 simply suggested Bug Fixes Recommended For All.

No, I am not surprised, but not because of the release notes Anyone that has spent time reading Apple's Release Notes for any of their software releases, which I assume you have, knows that the information is top level at best and never all inclusive. Therefore, it seemed reasonable to me to provide this bit of information.

Sineh

Level 1

32 points

Apr 18, 2026 7:53 AM in response to TCHDMF

Thanks for the heads-up. Yes, I'm not surprised at all, albeit I tried again, and it was a little different. The apps told me to click twice on the right side button to confirm it would verify with the Wallet. I really don't believe Apple will fix that ever. Crazy indeed.

Mar 26, 2026 8:57 AM in response to Phil0124

If that is the case then I retract the statement, but perhaps information regarding a point of contact should be provided to question the validity of this process.