Support for iOS 26 “Declared Age Range” Framework

[wiesri]

Apple introduced the new DeclaredAgeRange framework in iOS 26, which allows apps to request a user’s declared age range (e.g., “13–15”, “16 or older”) in a privacy-preserving way.

It would be extremely helpful if .NET for iOS/macOS included official bindings for this framework. Is this planned for future releases?

Why this is important

• Regulatory compliance: Laws such as Texas’s Texas Senate Bill 2420 require age-appropriate experiences and age verification in apps starting January 1, 2026! The Declared Age Range framework enables meeting such legal requirements while protecting user privacy.
• Privacy first: Apple's commentary emphasizes that the mechanism avoids collection of full birthdates, enabling “age-appropriate experiences … without the App Store collecting unnecessary sensitive personal data.”

References

• Apple documentation: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/declaredagerange
• Apple Newsroom: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/06/apple-expands-tools-to-help-parents-protect-kids-and-teens-online/
• Legislative context (TX SB 2420): https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=SB2420

Suggested labels

enhancement, iOS26, feature-request, age range, child-safety

[rolfbjarne]

It looks like this framework is Swift-only, and unfortunately we don't support Swift-only API yet.

As of today, the only way to use a swift library is via a proxy library, and the general idea is described here learn.microsoft.com/en-us/xamarin/ios/platform/binding-swift: basically you would need to expose the APIs you need via a Swift glue layer that exposes the method via the swift bridge header and then creating a C# binding project for this.

[dalexsoto]

Here is a small example on how this API can be exposed to a .NET for iOS / MAUI App, I still need to work a little more on the documentation of the steps but so far it is functional https://github.com/dalexsoto/DeclaredAgeRangeSample and builds on the idea that @rolfbjarne suggested via a swift bridge header.

[wiesri]

Here is a small example on how this API can be exposed to a .NET for iOS / MAUI App, I still need to work a little more on the documentation of the steps but so far it is functional https://github.com/dalexsoto/DeclaredAgeRangeSample and builds on the idea that @rolfbjarne suggested via a swift bridge header.

Nice job - very many thanks for this. I have tried it and it worked out of the box.
Is it planned to have this released as a nuget package - like the android equivalent of this framework?

[viswanath-pamarthi]

@rolfbjarne Will this new iOS 26 age range API be available in Apps(MAUi or .NET for iOS) build with .NET 9 workloads for iOS or maui apps in SDK 9.0.36 and with Xcode 26.0 ?

[dalexsoto]

@viswanath-pamarthi what do you mean? Are you asking if we are going to include this manual binding in the official release of .NET for iOS/MAUI? If so the answer is no, we are not including manual swift/objc glue code right now into the official product as we are working on a different solution for swift. That said we do try to help with examples like this https://github.com/dalexsoto/DeclaredAgeRangeSample so you can self serve until we can actually ship official Swift binding APIs.

[viswanath-pamarthi]

@dalexsoto Thank you for the binding sample. The "Declared Age Range" API is available only in iOS 26+ . So, in the same context I was asking @rolfbjarne whether it would be sufficient to build the App with .NET 9 workloads(SDK 9.0.36) with Xcode 26.0, so, the new age API would work/be available using the manual binding approach.

[dalexsoto]

@dalexsoto Thank you for the binding sample. The "Declared Age Range" API is available only in iOS 26+ . So, in the same context I was asking @rolfbjarne whether it would be sufficient to build the App with .NET 9 workloads(SDK 9.0.36) with Xcode 26.0, so, the new age API would work/be available using the manual binding approach.

Yes you just need to use Xcode 26.0+ along with the released workloadset 9.0.306+ so anything newer than this release and the upcoming .NET 10 release will also include support for this as well.

[viswanath-pamarthi]

Thanks for confirming @dalexsoto

[viswanath-pamarthi]

@dalexsoto

Below is the latest guidance from Apple on 11/04 regarding new introduced or updated APIs in iOS 26.2 Beta to comply with Texas App store Accountability Act.
https://developer.apple.com/news/?id=2ezb6jhj

Can we expect Xcode 26.2 (this is in Beta now) support in .NET 9 SDK? If Apple releases a stable version of Xcode 26.2, how long does it take for your team the release support in .NET SDK ?

Please help with above, trying to get an understanding by when we would make changes as the deadline is Jan 1st, 2026 to comply the new law.

[dalexsoto]

@viswanath-pamarthi there are no planned updates for .NET 9 to support Xcode 26.2, we just released support for Xcode 26.1 but this is only for .NET 10. About how long it takes us to support a new Xcode version it really depends on the complexity and what is new, we are currently working on Xcode 26.2, you can follow progress here I don't have a good timeline here for you since Beta 1 of Xcode 26.2 has only been out for a couple of weeks. That said as you can see with the example provided here https://github.com/dalexsoto/DeclaredAgeRangeSample, this works with Xcode26.0 and .NET9 today so it really depends on which APIs from DeclaredAgeRange you need you can expose them that way

[viswanath-pamarthi]

@dalexsoto I appreciate your swift reply. It was a bit unclear whether Apple updated the DeclaredAgeRange API in iOS 26.2 Beta vs iOS 26. From their wording in the apple article in my previous comment, It felt like they did update the for Texas App store act. If they did update the API, we do need the Xcode 26.2 support along with the Binding sample you have shared.

Sure, will follow for updates on XCode 26.2 support. Thank you for the information.

[dalexsoto]

I don't see new members added in the Apple documentation https://developer.apple.com/documentation/declaredagerange but maybe they have not updated it yet, I'll check later in Xcode itself