Age signals overview

The Windows Age APIs provide privacy-preserving signals that apps can use to understand the age group and age-verification status of the signed-in user. The APIs return coarse signals instead of the user's exact age or date of birth. Apps can use these signals to adapt content, features, or access controls and must provide appropriate fallback behavior when a signal is unavailable.

What are age signals?

Age signals are values that Windows returns when an app calls the Age APIs for the current user. The app decides when to request the user's age group or age-verification status to inform the appropriate end-user experience.

An age signal does not directly expose the user's exact age or date of birth. Instead, it provides an age range that the app can use to make content decisions. The GetUserAgeRangeAsync API offers the following age groups:

• Under 10
• 10-12
• 13-15
• 16-17
• 18+

Windows Age APIs

Note

The Windows Age APIs are broadly available to Windows Insiders now starting from build 26220.9472, and will be available to all Windows users soon.

GetUserAgeRangeAsync

The GetUserAgeRangeAsync method returns the user’s age range as a UserAgeRange object with Lower and Upper properties.

Age group	Return values
Under 10	{0, 9}
10-12	{10, 12}
13-15	{13, 15}
16-17	{16, 17}
18+	{18, INT32_MAX}
Unknown	null

When the result is null, the age range is unknown or unavailable. Apps must use their fallback experience and must not interpret null as a specific age group.

GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync

The GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync method returns a UserAgeVerificationStatus value indicating the age-verification state reported for the user. Possible values are:

• Verified: The user's age has been verified.
• Unverified: The user's age has not been verified.
• OptedOut: The user has opted out of age verification.
• TemporarilyUnavailable: The status cannot currently be determined.
• NotApplicable: Verification does not apply, no verification signal is available, or the feature is unavailable or disabled.

Apps must handle every value. NotApplicable and TemporarilyUnavailable do not establish that the user is either verified or unverified.

Caller authorization and consent

The app package must declare the userAccountInformation capability. Access to age signals is also subject to the user's consent to let the app access account information in Windows privacy settings. If access isn't granted, the call can fail with E_ACCESSDENIED. The User object must represent the user running the current process.

Policy and availability

When the Age APIs are unavailable or disabled, GetUserAgeRangeAsync returns null and GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync returns NotApplicable. Administrators can also configure a default age group or verification status through Group Policy or MDM; when configured, the APIs return the corresponding policy-defined value. Apps must check that the methods are available before calling them and retain fallback behavior for unavailable signals.

Identity-provider age signals are currently retrieved only for Microsoft accounts. For other account types, when no administrative default is configured, GetUserAgeRangeAsync returns null and GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync returns NotApplicable.

When to use age signals

Use age signals when your app:

• Displays user-generated content, social features, or communication tools that may not be appropriate for all ages.
• Offers in-app purchases or virtual currencies where age restrictions are relevant.
• Streams or plays media content with maturity ratings.

How age signals work at a high level

Privacy and data handling

Age signals are designed with privacy as a core principle:

• No exact age or date of birth is returned. The APIs return an age bucket and an age-verification status.
• Age groups are generic. They communicate common age groups for various use cases such as gaming or regional law.

Platform requirements

Requirement	Details
Minimum OS version	Windows 11
API surface	Windows Runtime methods on Windows.System.User
User context	Calls apply only to the user running the current process.
App capability	The app package must declare userAccountInformation

See also

• Microsoft Family Safety
• Security and identity development for Windows apps