(Not sure if this is worldwide or only in some countries)

Updating to iOS 26.4DB2 will put your phone into a parental-restricted mode with adult websites blocked on all browsers, warning prompts every time you try to send or receive an explicit image on a messaging app, and all social media apps blocked on the App Store (in Australia)

The settings to disable this mode are locked off until you verify your age either with a credit card, photo ID, or though information Apple already has (like the age of your account).

I've been an apple user my entire adult life but this might finally be the thing that forces me off the platform. Do any other long term apple users have some tips about migrating? I've heard Ashai Linux is pretty good on mac hardware these days and I've been thinking about GrapheneOS for a while.

This is insane. They have to view your images to deem of they are explicit...

Basically a year away from a universal internet ID that will track all movements and can be restricted if your government doesn't like you.

After commercial OS have age verification they will remove it from the programs because the age was already verified, right? (Padme asking Anakin)

I find it odd to protect children they will stalk the hell out of us but won’t arrest known pedophiles …

I hate the world

When I first decided to switch to Linux, I started exclusively using apps that were available on Linux. This way I was able to gradually transition my workflows one app at a time without any rush. When I was ready to install Linux, I did it on a new computer so I still had access to everything on the old computer and there was no risk of going computer-less if the installation went sideways.

Also, keep in mind that Asahi only works on M1 and M2 Macs. (If you have an old Intel Mac, you can just run normal Linux without Asahi)

Oh and Veronica Explains has a great video about her experience with Asahi.

Lame - never updating my stuff and will move off smartphones.

This might be a stupid question but when using ashai can you run any normal linux software or does it have to be specifically built for arm64/apple silicon?

Nope, the CA/CO legislation requires that all applications utilize the OS-level age verification API!

Sadly graphene will have to implement age verification too at some point as these laws spread like the ones in California that require ALL os providers including Linux to implement it albeit a pointless user dob input at account creation or be fined into the afterlife

Better to just hate the whole Epstein Class. They trash the world for everyone else..

It's gotta be built for arm64

prompts every time you try to send or receive an explicit image on a messaging app

Does this mean they caved in to the UK's client-side scanning stuff after all?

I’m only on 26.3 and I got an iOS age verification popup today when opening an app for hospital/medical stuff. I was able to just close it and continue but it was surprising.

I’ll figure out a way to bypass this or switch to Linux entirely.

And then probably end up in a camp.

Yep, I’m not sure how come everyone thinks graphene will somehow be exempt.

Not buying a car made after 2018.

Not buying electronics made after 2025.

Simple as.

What...is this shit? What's the real reason behind this? What senator or governor has a brother in law in the age verification business that got this corruptioned into being a thing all of a sudden?

I hope someday any normal Linux software will be usable in Apple hardware. Unfortunately, there are hurdles.

One of the biggest hurdles was getting code accepted into the Linux kernel.

This became very frustrating for the previous Asahi Linux lead developer. He would push upstream code and the Linux developers would not accept it.

Why didn’t they accept it? Because it was written in memory-safe Rust and not in memory-unsafe C. Old Linux developers don’t want to deal with Rust. So they just refuse to include Asahi Linux updates into normal Linux software.

That was already happening, as the option to block sending and receiving of such content was able to be turned on in your screen time settings, and you could mandate it for your children by managing your kids accounts on the family organizers device. If someone is under the age of 13 they are required to be on a family share, and if you don't have "Ask to Buy" enabled, from what I know you won't get a refund for anything with the excuse my kid bought this without permission.

Overall it all seems logical, but in those scenarios the ages and requirements are mostly all controlled by the parent.

including Linux

How would they enforce that on an open-source platform?

I would imagine the health app has multiple age groups. Where as an 18+ can probably save and share medical data to doctors or store it in iCloud, it's probably illegal some places for minors to have health data being backed up to Apple's shit.

Can you use the makefile and compile?

Scary. I had no idea it went beyond the iCloud scans. I avoided the cloud after that celebrity image leak.

Guess we might see a rise in offline or dumb devices. I wonder how this will affect other nations that already have restrictive internet access. If the US West becomes more locked down where would free and accessible info go?

Alright, time to go to a different phone. Gonna buy Fairphone tomorrow.

(Or Motorola, if it's true that it's gonna have GrapheneOS on it).

If everyone voting for these age requirements don't also vote to require you to use an ID to unlock the safety on a gun or remove a knife from the knife rack, they aren't voting on this to protect the children.

Knives and guns need age verification before someone seeing Kate Upton showing her breasts.

Im going side with none of it needs age verification, and all of it needs parental guidance

I'm pretty sure you can. I never did because I ended up having to go back to macos on the machine I had.

Thank you, Tim Apple, for making 2026 the year of the Linux desktop (but not necessarily the Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint desktop).

I don't give a shit what children see.

They'll live.

Stop spying on adults.

This also means they are tracking all the websites you are going to.

It's not to protect children though. It's for political surveillance.

The example of the age of your account made me realize I’m old

Exactly. Governments around the world, including the U.S., of course, have made it crystal clear through their actions that they don't give a fuck about protecting children.

Wow I just checked when the first purchase was made on my Apple account, turns out it’s old enough to vote

We’ve had a name for them for the last 200 years: the capitalist class, or to be more precise, the haute bourgeoisie. The 1% of the 1%.

If the West follows into the footsteps of the propaganda they are spreading against China, I'd rather go live in China because at least there people don't live paycheck to paycheck despite working multiple jobs. Every accusation against China was a confession.

They’re going to burn this in all the way from the sub-microprocessor DRM/TPM to the browser, aren’t they?

I mean some shit you find online is pretty grim but when I was a kid I knew the internet was for adults and didn't expect everything to be catered to me. Now the status quo seems to be "every website must be kid/advertiser friendly and PG13 by default, everything else must be locked behind a verification prompt". How did we get here?

26.3.1 will be the last version without the mandatory verification

To get a sim card in Australia you need to show identification. There is no anonymity.

Well, my 2G Nokia candy bar phone will come in handy

Yep

It's just a facade to justify mining more data for power, influence and money.

Simple as that.

Right, people can just compile their own, which I will absolutely do if need be

By destroying all general-purpose computing available to consumers.

You mean, like...rounding up every computer and burning them?

I really don't know what you mean by this.

(but not necessarily the Ubuntu, Fedora, or Mint desktop).

Rut. Thanks for ruining my day, sigh. That shit better be a patch away from removal / spoofing...

At least knives have a use outside of killing

For what?//can't even make a call on it as 2g is shut off or well be Shirley depending whee you live.

We let 5 companies control the internet. Instead of being the distributed thing it was dreamed up to be we allowed it to consolidate.