Meta announced it’s adding an obligatory age confirmation feature on the Quest platform, which in addition to asking you for your real birthday, could also put up a hard barrier on younger users accessing apps that aren’t age appropriate.
Within the next few days users will be prompted in-headset to confirm their age by re-entering their birthdate, which essentially divides users according to three specific age groups: adults, teens and preteens.
Here’s what those tiers mean:
- Adults (18+): Choose between private or public profiles, control visibility of activity, and manage follower interactions.
- Teens (13-17): Default to private profiles, with teens having control over follower requests and activity visibility. Parental supervision tools are available.
- Preteens (10-12): Require parental approval for account setup, with strict privacy settings and parental control over app access.
Users who don’t want to insert their real birthdates don’t seem to have much choice in the matter, it seems. Meta is allowing users a 30-day window to re-enter birthdates, otherwise Quest accounts may be temporarily blocked until you do.
Furthermore, the company says in the announcement blogpost that users will be able to resubmit previously incorrect birthdates by verifying with the company, which is done either by submitting an ID or a credit card.
While Meta accepts a number of ID forms, such as government-issued IDs and multiple non-government-issued cards like library cards and student cards, the company says in its ID acceptance guidelines they do allow you to cover any non-essential information on your ID beyond your photo and date of birth.
“On our app store, we want to make it easier for developers to better understand the ages of people who use their apps so they can provide age-appropriate experiences for preteens, teens, and adults. Parents, in turn, can trust that apps are providing the most age-appropriate experience and protections the app offers for their child’s age,” Meta says in the announcement.
Meta announced last year it was reducing age requirements for Quest users, bringing the previous 13+ minimum down to 10+. The policy change brought with it parent-managed accounts to the Quest platform for the first time, which allows parents to manage things like screen time limits, privacy and safety settings, and access to specific types of content, which will specify whether apps have a social component.