Apple is holding off on implementing planned changes to its App Store policy in Texas after a federal court blocked the state’s new age verification law, marking a temporary respite for developers and users as the legal battle rages on. The company said it will follow the case and keep new age developer tools available for testing but won’t enforce Texas-specific rules in the meantime.
Texas Age Assurance Law Is Blocked by Court Order
The measure in question, SB2420, known as the App Store Accountability Act, would have mandated that app stores confirm ages of users and parents (in cases where users are under 18); it also required app stores to share the age data with developers. A federal judge blocked enforcement on First Amendment grounds, finding that the measure likely violates protected speech and appears to create sweeping obligations for the platforms. The Texas attorney general’s office has said it will appeal, Reuters reported.
The law was set to be enacted in the coming days, prompting fundamental operational changes for Apple and Google. There are increasing calls for similar age and parental consent requirements in other states, raising the stakes of the Texas decision not only for the broader tech industry but also for lawmakers considering how to regulate minors’ access to digital services.
Apple Pauses State-Specific App Store Rules
For SB2420, Apple’s specs had drawn lines around Texas-only App Store requirements that were established in the fall. As part of those plans, Family Sharing would have been a requirement for users under 18, and would work as described: an adult in the family could approve every purchase, meaning app install, app purchase, or even in‑app transaction — with actual consent revocation at the call of his or her finger.
Apple also prepared technical plumbing for age assurance at scale. The company’s Declared Age Range API was configured to give Texas-defined categories for new accounts on its platform in that state and new developer APIs were going to be introduced that would lead to renewed parental consent being required when an app received a material update. With the court’s order, Apple says it has put these changes on hold in Texas — but that tooling is still available for developers who want to test app launches and updates with its requirements in mind.
Features that you can work with now include:
- Declared Age Range API
- Significant Change in PermissionKit API
- Age rating property type in StoreKit
- App Store Server Notifications to synchronize consent flows
The Declared Age Range API has been made available worldwide within iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and on macOS 26 and later.
Privacy And The First Amendment Tensions
Apple has also said sweeping age verification requirements would lead to the over-collection of sensitive personal data, and that identity checks might be needed for even benign apps like weather updates or sports scores. Free speech and privacy advocates, led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy & Technology, have argued that overly broad age gates could chill lawful speech and nudge services toward collecting more intrusive data.
State-level online safety laws are coming under greater scrutiny in the courts. California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code is still mired in lawsuits, and social media parental consent laws in states like Utah and Arkansas have been subject to constitutional challenges from industry groups like NetChoice. The Texas case is the latest test of where to draw a line between shielding minors and preserving anonymous access and expressive rights for adults.
The policy stakes are large. According to Pew Research Center, 95% of teens in the United States have a smartphone, and Common Sense Media has seen significant engagement among under-13s on social platforms despite rules prohibiting them from joining until they turn 13. Legislatures say we need tighter gates; critics reply that coarse verification can do more harm than good if it forces identity checks (in the United States) or involves sharing information (Europe).
What Developers Can Do Now to Prepare for Changes
Make no mistake, for the state of Texas, nothing changes right now: developers don’t need to add the paused, location-based flows. However, teams can use that breathing room to try out Apple’s age assurance APIs, map consent states to their core features and document privacy impacts. The same tooling may be required in other areas where age verification rules are progressing, or already in place.
Practical steps include:
- Designing age-aware onboarding that does not collect more data than necessary
- Building parent approval loops that are robust over updates
- Maintaining clear opt‑outs and revocation pathways
Small studios should also follow guidance and litigation from trade groups and civil society organizations, which frequently release implementation checklists and model notices.
What Comes Next in the Texas App Store Dispute
The challenge will decide whether Texas can implement SB2420 or rewrite it. In the meantime, Apple’s decision to suspend but maintain tools in developers’ hands signifies a two-track strategy, complying rapidly if asked and signaling to the world its privacy objections. The result could influence how age verification is carried out on app stores nationwide — and if future laws would favor device-level controls and parental tools or platform-wide identity checks.
