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BRUSSELS — The European Commission’s age verification app is now technically ready and is expected to be made available to EU citizens for use in confirming their age when accessing online platforms, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Tuesday.
In July 2025, the European Commission published guidelines aimed at protecting minors online under the Digital Services Act and introduced a “white label” age verification app designed to help websites and platforms meet compliance requirements under the law.
The app later moved into a pilot phase, where it was tested across several EU member states. Those countries either integrated the system into their digital identity wallets or released versions through app stores, adapting the interface to national systems while keeping core privacy features unchanged.
Aylo, the operator of Pornhub and other high-traffic platforms, has taken part in the pilot program.
In a statement, von der Leyen described the app as “a free and easy-to-use solution that can shield our children from harmful and illegal content.”
“First, it is user-friendly,” von der Leyen said. “You download the app. You set it up with your passport or ID card. You then prove your age when accessing online services. Second, it respects the highest privacy standards in the world. Users will prove their age without revealing any other personal information. Put simply, it is completely anonymous: users cannot be tracked. Third, the app works on any device — phone, tablet, computer, you name it. And, finally, it is fully open source – everyone can check the code. This means that our partner countries can also use it. This is very important, that this can be used by our global partners.
“But more importantly, online platforms can easily rely on our age verification app,” von der Leyen added. “So there are no more excuses.”
Von der Leyen identified France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Ireland as early adopters of the system.
“They are planning to integrate the app into their national wallets,” she said. “I hope more Member States and private sector will follow so that every citizen can soon use the app.”
She also warned that the Commission would take enforcement action against companies that fail to comply with child protection requirements.
“This is why we are moving ahead with full speed and determination on the enforcement of our European rules,” she said. “We are holding accountable those online platforms that do not protect our kids enough.”
As an example, European Commission Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen pointed to recent enforcement actions involving Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos. A Commission investigation last month preliminarily found those platforms in breach of provisions under the Digital Services Act aimed at preventing minors from accessing adult content.
“They simply do not have proper age verification tools in place to keep our children away from their adult content,” Virkkunen said. “As platforms do not have proper age verification tools in place, we came up with the solution ourselves.”
Virkkunen also said she is establishing an EU-wide coordination system for accrediting age verification solutions, “to ensure that we continue to build one solution for the EU, not 27 different ones.”
“Our blueprint is open-source, and any private company is free to use the blueprint to develop innovative solutions,” she said. “We only have two conditions: respect the privacy standard. And make sure we have the same technical solution everywhere in the EU.”
Following the announcement, reports emerged raising concerns about potential vulnerabilities in the app, along with questions about whether its open-source nature could introduce security risks. Responding to those reports, European Commission Digital Spokesperson Thomas Regnier said, “A new version has just or will soon today be updated … the code will be constantly updated and improved. It’s open source, and I cannot today exclude or prejudge if further updates will be required or not.”
