iOS 27.2 Lets You Prove Your Age With a Selfie. Here's How It Works and What Happens to Your Photo

Apple has just released iOS 27.2 and iPadOS 27.2, and tucked inside is a new way to prove you're an adult when your iPhone or iPad asks. Instead of typing in card details or scanning your passport or driving licence, you can take a short selfie and let Apple estimate your age. More and more of us in the UK are being asked to confirm our age, so I want to explain how this works, where it pops up, and what Apple says happens to the picture of your face afterwards.

What Apple has added in iOS 27.2

According to a new Apple support document, reported by MacRumors and 9to5Mac, some countries and regions now require you to confirm you're an adult before you can do certain things with your Apple Account. Apple lists the UK among the places where these requirements may apply, alongside Australia, Brazil, Singapore, South Korea and Texas in the United States.

You could already confirm your age with a credit card or by scanning an ID document, and iOS 27.2 adds a third choice, which is a selfie. Apple uses what it calls an age-estimation model, which is simply software trained to look at a face and judge whether the person is an adult.

You might be asked to confirm your age when you:

• Set up an Apple Account
• Install a software update
• Open or download apps rated 18+
• Change certain safety settings

The good news is that Apple says once you've successfully confirmed you're an adult, you won't need to do it again.

How the selfie check works

If you're asked to confirm your age and the selfie option is offered, the steps are quite simple:

• Choose the option to take a selfie, then tap Get Started.
• Hold your iPhone or iPad in front of you and line your face up in the frame.
• Slowly turn your head right, left, up and down, following the prompts on screen, so it can see your face from all four directions.
• Wait a moment while it works out your age.

It's worth doing this somewhere with decent light and taking your time with the head movements, because the prompts are there to guide you rather than rush you.

What happens to your photo

This is the part most people ask me about, so here's what Apple says. The checking is done partly on your own device and partly using something Apple calls Private Cloud Compute, which is Apple's own secure server system built so that the data sent to it can't be seen by Apple or anyone else. The results are then brought together on your device.

Apple says the selfie "isn't accessible to anyone, not even Apple," and that once your age has been confirmed, the image is deleted straight away and isn't kept in any form. So the picture is used for the check and then thrown away.

Will you see it in the UK?

Apple is clear that the selfie option isn't available everywhere, and it varies by location. The UK is on Apple's list of places where age checks may be required, but the sources don't confirm whether the selfie option itself is being offered here yet. If you're asked to confirm your age, you'll see whichever options are available where you are, and the selfie may or may not be one of them.

What it means for you

For most people this will only come up now and then, perhaps when you update your iPhone or set up a new Apple Account, and because Apple says you only need to do it once, it shouldn't become a nuisance. If you'd rather not hand over a card number or dig out your passport, the selfie gives you another way through, where it's offered.

If you want to get iOS 27.2, go to Settings, then General, then Software Update, and the same applies on an iPad with iPadOS 27.2. Just be aware that installing an update is one of the moments when you could be asked to confirm your age, so don't be alarmed if a prompt appears. You can read more about the latest version on Apple's iOS page.

What I think

I'd be happy recommending the selfie option to customers over uploading a passport or driving licence to a website. It's far more convenient this way, because you don't always have those things to hand, and being able to sort it out with your face in a few seconds is a lot easier than hunting around for a document.

If a request to prove your age feels off

With more sites asking for proof of age, it's sensible to stay alert, because scammers know people are getting used to these requests. My advice is simple. If you're ever unsure, stop, and ask for advice from that website's support email. If you can't find it, open a new tab and search for the company on Google to find their contact details yourself, rather than trusting anything in the page or message that's asking you.

If you've got a quick question about age checks or updating your iPhone or iPad, you can ask iHelp AI at /chat any time. And if you'd like someone to walk you through it, we can help remotely anywhere in the UK or in person across Dorset, so just book a session with us.

Alex