iPhone age verification is now nagging people who live outside affected regions — but the mystery has been solved
Publish Date: 2026-07-03 09:46:00
Source Domain: www.techradar.com
- A user got bugged to verify their identity on their new iPhone
- They shouldn’t have needed to, as their local laws didn’t require this
- The culprit was their iPhone, which was imported from the UK
Apple has just jacked up its prices across the board, and while the iPhone is safe for now, many users are wondering if it’s only a matter of time before Apple’s best iPhones feel the weight of price rises. If that sounds familiar, you might have snapped up a second-hand iPhone in a bid to get ahead of the game — but that could leave you falling foul of an annoying, unforeseen consequence.
That’s exactly what happened to Reddit user, who said that their new iPhone was forcing them to verify their age, despite the fact that they live in Bulgaria, an EU country where age verification is not required by law.
Understandably, they were reluctant to upload their ID documents, describing the process as a “huge privacy black hole.” But due to their refusal to do so, they were unable to access “certain types of content, social apps, GTA games and other things I paid for.” As they put it, “Content and privacy restrictions, scanning my chats, FaceTime calls and photos in gallery are forced upon me without my will and consent.”
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The case seems to be a confusing one, as Bulgarian users are not subject to ID verification laws that mandate them to confirm their age before accessing certain apps and services. But there is one nearby country that does have laws like this, and it proved to be the key to unlocking the mystery.
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(Image credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd)
The UK has enacted laws that necessitate users to verify their identities in order to access certain apps and services on their devices, with the stated aim of protecting children from online harms. But the regulations — specifically the Online Safety Act — has caused much controversy among privacy advocates and has resulted in a surge of angry users downloading…
