After a federal judge on Tuesday blocked As Texas implements a new age verification law for app stores, Apple announced that it will suspend previously announced plans for the state while it continues to monitor the “ongoing legal process.”
Apple said its previously announced age-guarantee development tools would remain available for testing and use.
The law, SB2420, or the App Store Accountability Act, would have required app stores, such as those run by Apple and Google, to verify users’ ages and require parental consent for those under 18 to download apps or make purchases. Additionally, it would have required age data to be shared with developers.
A judge, citing First Amendment concerns, blocked implementation of the law that was set to take effect in January. The ruling was a victory for the tech giants and a setback for Texas lawmakers, who said the legal fight will continue. The Texas attorney general’s office noted in a court filing that plans to appeal the decision, a Reuters report noted.
To comply with the upcoming law, Apple had announced in October a series of new requirements for apps in Texas, including that all users under the age of 18 would have to join a family sharing group, where parents or guardians would give consent for all App Store downloads, app purchases, and in-app transactions. Parents could revoke their consent for an application at any time.
Apple said it too Declared Age Range APIA technology the company introduced to help it comply with the growing number of age guarantee laws around the world, would be updated in the coming months to provide the required age categories for new account users in Texas. Apple had planned to release new APIs for developers to request parental consent again if their app was significantly updated.
Apple had opposed this law, and similar laws coming next year in Utah and Louisiana, on privacy grounds, not child protection.
“While we share the goal of strengthening children’s online safety, we are concerned that SB2420 will impact user privacy by requiring the collection of sensitive, personally identifiable information to download any app, even if a user simply wants to check the weather or sports scores,” Apple explained in a statement. a developer announcement earlier this year.
Apple announced Thursday that other development tools to comply with new-age warranty laws will continue to be available for testing, including its Declared Age Range API, PermissionKit Significant Changes API, New age rating property type in StoreKitand App Store Server Notifications. Additionally, the Declared Age Range API is still available worldwide on iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 and later.
