Implement age signals in a Windows app

This guide shows you how to use the Windows Age APIs to query age signals for your application on Windows. By the end of this article, you will be able to utilize the Age APIs to understand a user's age group and verified status, ensuring your application is providing safe, age-appropriate experiences to all users.

Prerequisites

• Windows 11 or later
• Visual Studio 2022 or later with the Desktop development with C++ workload
• A packaged app that declares the userAccountInformation capability
• A test account with Microsoft account sign-in

Overview of the API surface

The Age APIs are Windows Runtime methods on Windows.System.User. The primary methods are:

Method	Purpose
GetUserAgeRangeAsync	Returns the user's age range as a nullable UserAgeRange object with Lower and Upper properties.
GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync	Returns the user's UserAgeVerificationStatus.

Step 1: Include the C++/WinRT headers

Include the C++/WinRT headers for Windows Foundation and Windows.System.

#include <winrt/Windows.Foundation.h>
#include <winrt/Windows.System.h>
#include <cstdio>

using namespace winrt;
using namespace winrt::Windows::System;

Step 2: Query the age signals

Initialize Windows Runtime, get the current user, and call the asynchronous methods. Use .get() to obtain their results.

int wmain()
{
    init_apartment();

    try
    {
        User user = User::GetDefault();

        UserAgeRange ageRange = user.GetUserAgeRangeAsync().get();
        if (ageRange)
        {
            int32_t lower = ageRange.Lower();
            int32_t upper = ageRange.Upper();

            // Adapt the experience using lower and upper.
        }
        else
        {
            // The age range is unknown or unavailable.
        }

        UserAgeVerificationStatus status =
            user.GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync().get();

        switch (status)
        {
        case UserAgeVerificationStatus::Verified:
            break;
        case UserAgeVerificationStatus::Unverified:
            break;
        case UserAgeVerificationStatus::OptedOut:
            break;
        case UserAgeVerificationStatus::TemporarilyUnavailable:
            break;
        case UserAgeVerificationStatus::NotApplicable:
            break;
        }
    }
    catch (hresult_error const& error)
    {
        wprintf(
            L"Call failed: hr=0x%08X %ls\n",
            static_cast<unsigned int>(error.code().value),
            error.message().c_str());
        return error.code().value;
    }

    return 0;
}

GetUserAgeRangeAsync returns null when the age range is unknown or unavailable. For the 18-or-older age range, Upper is INT32_MAX.

API reference

Note

Detailed API reference documentation will be available when the Windows Age APIs ship publicly. The interface and method names in this article are based on the current specification and may change before release.

• GetUserAgeRangeAsync: Returns a nullable UserAgeRange object with Lower and Upper properties.
• GetAgeVerificationStatusAsync: Returns the user's UserAgeVerificationStatus.