Age Verification & Child-Safety Compliance
Age verification stopped being optional. The UK's Children's Code and the EU's Digital Services Act already require you to know roughly how old your users are; Texas and Utah have passed laws that push the check down to the App Store itself. Apple shipped the on-device APIs to answer the question without collecting a single birth date. I wire up the Declared Age Range API, Age Assurance, and Sensitive Content Analysis so your app clears App Review and the regulator's checklist in the same pass.
- the Declared Age Range API and Age Assurance, so you get an age band from the system instead of building a birthday wall users lie to
- Sensitive Content Analysis for on-device nudity, gore, and violence filtering that never sends an image off the phone
- mapping the UK Children's Code, EU DSA, and US state requirements onto the specific iOS work your app has to ship
What clients say
"Vadim was instrumental to the success Epsy enjoyed on iOS, taking it from an idea on a Miro board to the highest rated and most downloaded app of its kind on the store."
James C. · Mobile Engineering Lead, Epsy
"We had a strict deadline, and Vadim managed to complete the job in time. He gave us meaningful feedback and suggested better approaches, not trying to blindly stick to our specification."
Founder · Pre-seed streaming service
"I can say with confidence that it will be difficult to find a better developer. Vadim is achievement-oriented, highly organized, with very good communication skills."
Alex Z. · Co-Founder, eda.so
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Common engagements
Add age gating to a live app
I add age gating that satisfies the regulator without tanking your funnel. The Declared Age Range request itself is easy. The case that sinks most implementations is the user who declines to share, because declining is not the same as being underage, and apps that treat it that way earn a one-star review and a support ticket on the same day. Handling that edge is a product decision with a legal edge, and it is the part I get right before you ship.
Pass a compliance review
You have a deadline from a regulator or a platform, and a checklist that assumes you read law for a living. I translate the Children's Code or DSA obligations into concrete iOS work, flag which items the new APIs cover and which still need a product decision, and leave a written record you can hand to a lawyer. You come away with an answer you can defend in front of a regulator, instead of a stack of framework documentation to interpret on your own.
Build a kids' app that ranks in the new category
Apple added a Kids category this year, and it has its own bar: age-appropriate design, real parental controls, and zero third-party tracking. Most teams either over-build it or trip a requirement they did not know was there, and bounce off rejection. I get you over the bar the category reviewers actually apply, so you launch into a less crowded chart instead of a rejection loop.
Pricing
Architecture reviews, hiring help, second opinions on that thing that's been bugging you.
Features, MVPs, migrations, firefighting. Minimum 5 days.
Priority support: review agency code, join architecture calls, catch problems before they ship.
Questions
Do we actually have to do this, or is it scaremongering?
Depends where your users are and what you show them. If you have UK or EU users and any content that is risky for minors, or any users in a US state that has passed an app-store age law, you are already in scope. The penalty side is real: the UK's ICO and EU regulators can fine a percentage of turnover. If you are a global consumer app, assume you are in scope and scope the work, rather than waiting for the email. Working out whether you are exposed at all is the first thing I do, before anyone scopes a line of code.
Won't an age gate wreck our conversion?
A birthday-picker wall will. The current age APIs are far lighter, and handled right most users never see a screen at all. The conversion hit teams fear comes from implementing this the way you would have in 2019; with the APIs Apple shipped this year, it is close to invisible. Getting it that light is the work, and it is what you are hiring for.
How does this work without collecting birth dates? Regulators usually want proof.
That is the point of the new APIs: the age signal comes from the operating system, so your app receives a range and never the date itself. The harder question is which standard each law you are exposed to holds you to. Some accept the system's Age Assurance signal; a few demand hard identity verification through a third-party vendor. Working out which line you are on is the judgment, and it keeps you from over-building for a law that never applied to you or under-building for one that does.
We use a third-party SDK for user content. Does that change anything?
Yes, and usually for the worse. If that SDK uploads images or runs its own analytics, it can pull you out of the on-device privacy story the new APIs give you, and it can break your App Privacy label. I audit the SDK's data flow first, because there is no point gating age on-device if a dependency is shipping the same content to a server you do not control.
How quickly can you start?
Advisory calls can happen within days. For project work, I typically need 1-2 weeks notice to clear the calendar, though I keep some buffer for urgent firefighting. Check the availability badges above for current openings.
Do you work with early-stage startups?
Yes, from pre-seed to Series C and beyond. For very early teams, the advisory tier often makes more sense than project work: you get architecture guidance without committing to a large engagement before you've validated the product.
What's included in the day rate?
Everything: code, architecture decisions, code review, documentation, async Slack availability during working hours. No surprise add-ons. I bill for time spent working on your project, not for "thinking about it in the shower."
We're in a different timezone. Will that slow things down?
I'm currently in Vancouver (PST), with full overlap for North American teams. For UK and Europe, I'm online by their afternoon. For Gulf or APAC, we'd agree on overlap hours and handle the rest async. I've worked with teams from San Francisco to Dubai.
Areas I cover
Where I've worked CV LinkedIn
Facing an age-verification deadline?
Tell me what you're working on. I reply within 48 hours.
work@drobinin.com