Finally last week, French developers like us received an alert from Apple: the legal minimum age will change. If no action is required, you should know that the App Store in France will automatically mark all applications that were “17+” as “18+”. Don’t panic, it’s just a matter of complying with the law.
Apple adapts the App Store to regional laws
The “17+” marking was the standard until now, since Apple relied on the American classification system (Rated R for films and M for video games). This is why we saw “17+” on applications like Safari which allows access to a large amount of content, in this case the Internet.
In France, we are not talking about a limit of 17 years for adults, but 18 years. The legislation therefore pushed Apple to review its classification, as in Australia.
Here is the press release from Apple:
Apple is committed to making the App Store a safe place for everyone, especially children. In the coming months, the following regional age classifications for Australia and France will be implemented in accordance with local laws. No action is necessary on your part. Where required by local regulations, regional ratings will appear alongside Apple’s global age ratings.
France
Applications with a global Apple rating of 17+ will therefore display a regional rating of 18+ on the App Store in France.
Australia
Apps featuring gambling simulations will display an R18+ regional rating in addition to Apple’s global rating on the App Store in Australia.
Date of change
The changes will be made transparently in the coming months. We imagine that the company must comply before the end of the year. Let us also remember that this deadline also concerns the USB-C port in France. Starting December 28, all iPhones sold will have to offer a single charging port. We therefore ask ourselves the question of the iPhone 14 and iPhone SE currently on sale…
