If you're in Texas, yes, your approval is now legally required before your kid can download nearly any app or make an in-app purchase, not just the obvious ones like games or social media. Texas's App Store Accountability Act took effect June 4, 2026, after the Supreme Court let the state start enforcing it while a legal challenge continues, and it puts Apple and Google, not individual apps, in charge of verifying age and collecting your consent. Utah has a similar law already active, and Louisiana's version took effect July 1, 2026, so this isn't staying a one-state story.
What Texas's App Store Accountability Act Actually Requires
The law requires app store operators, meaning Apple's App Store and Google Play, to verify every new account holder's age at sign-up and sort them into one of four categories: under 13, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, or 18 and older. If the account belongs to a minor, it has to be linked to a verified parent or guardian account, and that parent has to give explicit consent before the minor can download an app or make an in-app purchase. If you revoke consent later, the store is required to notify the app's developer so access can be cut off. This is enforced by the Texas Attorney General as a deceptive trade practice violation, which gives it real teeth rather than just being a policy suggestion.
Why This Isn't Just About Texas Anymore
Utah passed its own version first, with a compliance deadline in May 2026, and Louisiana's law took effect this July. More than a dozen other states are considering similar bills. Apple and Google build their systems once and roll them out broadly rather than maintaining fifty different state-by-state versions of their app stores, so features built to satisfy Texas's law are already showing up for accounts tied to Texas addresses and will likely expand further as more states pass comparable requirements. If you're outside these states today, the direction this is heading is still worth paying attention to.
What Apple and Google Are Actually Building to Comply
Apple's approach requires new accounts created by users in Texas to confirm whether they're 18 or older, and anyone under 18 has to join a Family Sharing group where a parent or guardian actively approves App Store downloads, app purchases, and in-app purchases. That's a meaningful shift from how Family Sharing has worked in the past, where parental oversight was available but not mandatory for every transaction. Google is building comparable age-category and consent infrastructure into Google Play for the same reason.
Why I Think This Beats Platform-By-Platform Age Checks
I've written before about age verification systems that live inside individual apps, Roblox scanning a face, a social platform checking an ID. Those only work if that one app decides to build and maintain them well. Putting age verification and consent at the app store level instead is a structurally better idea, because it means one system covers every app a kid tries to download, not just the handful of platforms that bothered to build their own check. The tradeoff is that it hands Apple and Google an enormous amount of sensitive age and identity data across every account, and a legal challenge to this exact law is still working through the courts on First Amendment grounds. I think the app-store approach is the right instinct even if the current version of it gets modified by ongoing litigation.
What to Set Up on Your Kid's Phone This Week
If you're in Texas, Utah, or Louisiana, open Family Sharing on your kid's Apple account, or the equivalent parental supervision settings in Google Play, and confirm your consent settings actually reflect what you want approved automatically versus what should require your explicit yes each time. Don't assume the default settings match your intent, because these systems are new enough that plenty of parents haven't checked yet.
